Origins of the Cold War Practice Questions

Study Source A below, then answer the question.

Source A: From an editorial in an American newspaper, published in February 1946, one year after the Yalta Conference.

Written for practice: not a real historical source.

One year ago in the Crimea the Big Three promised the peoples of liberated Europe free elections and governments of their own choosing. Twelve months on, that promise is worth very little. The Red Army has not gone home. In Poland the communists who arrived behind Soviet tanks hold every office that matters, and the free vote we were assured of is always postponed until some better day. Our negotiators came away from Yalta believing that goodwill alone would be enough. It was not. Eastern Europe is being remade in Moscow's image while we congratulate ourselves on an agreement.

Study Source A below, then answer the question.

Source A: From an article in a Soviet newspaper, published in July 1947, after the Paris talks on American aid to Europe.

Written for practice: not a real historical source.

The Americans offer dollars and call it generosity. In truth the plan drawn up in Washington would allow a single creditor to inspect the budgets and the industries of every country that takes its money. The Soviet delegation was right to leave the talks in Paris. Those states freed from fascism by the Red Army will not sell their independence for credits, however tempting the sums. The real purpose of this aid is not the recovery of Europe but the splitting of Europe into two camps, with the western zones of Germany rebuilt as a base for American power.

Study Sources B and C below, then answer the question.

Source B: From an article in a Czechoslovak communist newspaper, published in July 1948, a few days after Yugoslavia was expelled from Cominform.

Written for practice: not a real historical source.

The leaders of Yugoslavia have chosen the road of nationalism and betrayal. They were warned by their brother parties, and they refused to listen. They boast that Yugoslavia freed itself, forgetting that the Red Army fought on their soil and that Soviet friendship protected them after the war. A party which turns away from the Soviet Union turns, whether it wishes to or not, towards the imperialists in Washington. Cominform was right to expel them. The workers of Yugoslavia will not long follow leaders who have abandoned the camp of peace and socialism.

Source C: From a report written by a British diplomat in Belgrade for the Foreign Office in London, December 1949.

Written for practice: not a real historical source.

Eighteen months after the break with Moscow, Tito is still in power and the country is still communist. The neighbouring communist states have cut off almost all trade, and the Yugoslav newspapers are full of incidents on the Hungarian and Bulgarian borders. Elsewhere in Eastern Europe, leading communists suspected of sympathy with Belgrade have been put on trial and executed. Tito has had little choice but to look west: the Americans have agreed a loan, and more help is being discussed. He will not join our camp, but by surviving he has shown that Moscow cannot always have its way.