Early tension between East and West Flashcards

All 10 cards in this deck

What was the Grand Alliance?

The wartime alliance of the USA, the USSR and Britain, formed in 1941 to defeat the Axis powers despite their ideological differences.

What did the Big Three agree about Germany at the Yalta Conference (February 1945)?

That Germany would be divided into four zones of occupation, run by the USA, the USSR, Britain and France.

What did Truman tell Stalin at the Potsdam Conference (July 1945)?

That the USA had successfully tested an atomic bomb, which made the negotiations at Potsdam far more tense.

What was the main ideological difference between the USA and the USSR?

The USA was a capitalist democracy with free elections and private business; the USSR was a one-party communist state with a state-controlled economy.

What was Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' speech (1946)?

A speech at Fulton, Missouri in March 1946 in which Churchill said an 'iron curtain' had descended across Europe; Stalin regarded it as a deliberate provocation.

True or false? The countries of Eastern Europe freely chose communist governments after 1945.

False. Stalin created satellite states — countries under Moscow's control — through rigged elections and the removal of opposition.

True or false? Churchill represented Britain for the whole of the Potsdam Conference (July 1945).

False. Churchill was replaced partway through by Clement Attlee, who became Prime Minister after Britain's 1945 general election.

What was the Long Telegram (February 1946)?

A secret report sent to Washington by George Kennan, a US diplomat in Moscow. It warned that Stalin saw capitalism as an enemy, and that the USSR would build up its armed forces while working to split and undermine the Western powers.

What was the Novikov Telegram (September 1946)?

A secret report sent to Moscow by Nikolai Novikov, the Soviet ambassador in Washington. It claimed the USA wanted to dominate the world and was working to reduce Soviet influence in Europe.

What did the Big Three agree about Eastern Europe at the Tehran Conference (November 1943)?

That after the war the USSR would have a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, and that Poland's borders would be moved westwards, securing the USSR's western border.