Download File - Ossett History

Nazi Soviet Pact 1939
Tehran Conference 1943
Hitler and Stalin agree to divide
Poland between them. Hitler
was then able to invade Poland
and start the Second World War.
Had Stalin not signed this then
Hitler may not have invaded
Poland because he might have
feared having to fight both
France and Britain on one side,
and Russia on the other (e.g.
they would be surrounded).
First meeting of Stalin, Roosevelt
and Churchill. Stalin made clear he
wanted all territories he took in
1939-40 including Poland. Roosevelt
and Churchill didn’t object. They
would later in future conferences
and after the war, especially with
regards to Poland.
Britain and USA agreed to invade
Northern France, rather than the
Balkans (in South-eastern Europe)
as Churchill wished. This meant the
USSR would be free to liberate and
then control Eastern Europe as they
pushed the Nazis back. Churchill
had sought to prevent that by
arguing for the US and Britain to
invade the Balkans and not France.
The West would later call this a
betrayal that helped to cause
the Second World War.
Potsdam July to August 1945
Stalin, Truman and Churchill met
but then Churchill was replaced by
Clement Attlee after an election.
The talking points that were
discussed about at the Potsdam
conference were Germany, Allied
control council, reparations,
Poland and Council of Ministers.
Germany was discussed and they
agreed on German
demilitarisation but they couldn’t
agree on denazification which was
removing all the Nazi party
ideology, propaganda and
symbols. At Yalta it was agreed
that Poland should be awarded
substantial accessions of territory
from Germany so then they are
been compensating for the land
annexed by the USSR
Atomic Bombs (first used August
1945)*
The first atomic bomb was tested and
was successful on the 16th July 1945.
The destructive potential of the bomb
was much greater than expected and
then was used immediately to use
against the Japanese. This was
displayed when atomic bombs were
dropped on Hiroshima, killing almost
half the population and three days
later, Nagasaki killing a further 40,000
people. With the two events, with
threat of more led by the USA, and the
Manchuria, resulted in Japan having to
surrender.
Once the atomic bomb had been
displayed to be effective , Truman was
faced with two alternatives; the USA
could seek to retain its nuclear
monopoly, or, that it could hand over
the control of the bomb to the UN.
November 1944 Tito’s Yugoslavia
established*
Titos independence and self
confidence were to cause Stalin
considerable problems. Britain gave
Yugoslavia weapons and
equipment, laying the foundations
for a communist takeover in 1945.
Tito established communist
governments in both Yugoslavia and
Albania which is forces controlled
by November 1944. Stalin was able
to exercise a firmer control over
Titos policy.
Yalta Conference Feb 1945
Attended by Stalin, Roosevelt and
Churchill. Besides creating plans
for finishing the war in Europe and
eastern Asia, it also attempted to
lay the foundations of the coming
peace. Plans were finalised for the
occupation of Germany. The
Allied leaders also discussed the
future of Germany, Eastern
Europe and the United Nations.
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin
agreed not only to include France
in the postwar governing of
Germany, but also that Germany
should assume some, but not all,
responsibility for reparations
following the war.
Iron Curtain Speech March 1946
Winston Churchill made he Iron
Curtain speech in Fulton, USA.
Churchill observed that ‘from
Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste, in
the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has
descended across the continent’.
He delivered this speech beside
President Truman, even though
he wasn’t the Prime minister of
the UK anymore. This showed
that Truman still supported
Churchill's views even when he
wasn’t Prime minister. It caused
tension as Stalin believed that
this was Churchill trying to hint
at war and called him a
‘warmonger’.
Creation of SED April 1946
Stalin was in charge of east
Germany and was involved in the
communist party (KPD) and there
was the democratic group in
Germany called the (SPD). Stalin
asked the Eastern people of the SPD
to join forces with the KPD to form
the SED. They refused at first but
20,000 democrats were
interrogated or in worse cases,
murder until they gave in and join
the SED. This violence in the east
forced suspicion and fear in the
west which reduced its chances of
getting westerners to join the SED
as when SPD voters in the west
were asked by the SPD leaders of
berlin to join forces, 82% declined
angering the East and casing
suspicion in the minds of the west
Creation of Bizonia Jan 1947
At the end of the Cold War
Germany was divided between all
the major allies countries Britain,
France, USA and Russia zones with
Berlin also being split up equally.
Then Britain and US joined together
economically in 1947 which was
then to be called bizonia. It was
hoped that Bizonia would gradually
attract the French and Russian zone
into a united national Germany
economy. This was the plan as the
capitalist countries thought this
would be a good way of paying back
the reparations demanded at
Potsdam. The soviets thought this
was a first step towards creating a
different west German state.
Cominform September 1947
The whole point of its formation
was to promote the ideology of
communism amongst the
communist parties in Europe. All
of the soviet bloc communists
joined as well as some Italian
and French parties. By this the
goal was to co-ordinate the
activities of the communist
parties around the world (even
in western states) also the goal
was to sovietisation of satellite
states.
Truman Doctrine March 1947
Said by many historians to be the
“unofficial declaration of the cold
war”. Truman stated “it must the
policy of the united states to
support free peoples”. On 12
March 1947, Truman conducted a
speech in which he stated the
seriousness of the international
situation and how Europe was
increasingly becoming divided
into two mutually hostile blocs.
Stalin saw this act as an exercise
of propaganda, but it soon
became clear that it marked a
new and fundamental US policy
initiative. It was the first real
public acknowledgement of the
two different ideologies.
Marshall Plan June 1947
London Conference of Foreign
ministers November 1947
The foreign ministers of the USSR,
Britain, France and the USA met in
London to sort out what to do
with Germany. The USSR did not
want Germany to be divided as it
would mean the Ruhr would be in
the USA zone. The Ruhr was the
centre for industry in Germany.
The London conference broke up
on 15th December and the soviets
accused Britain and the USA of
violating the Potsdam Agreement
and of denying the USSR its share
of reparations. The west rejected
Stalin's proposal for a united
Germany as they thought the
USSR would gain control of it .
Deutschmark and Berlin
Blockade June 1948
On June 20th, without consulting
the soviet union, introduced the
Deutschmark. In response the
soviet forces restricted the
movement of people and goods
between West Berlin and West
Germany and eventually
completely blocked the rail and
road links and the electricity
supply. They argued that the
blockade was a defensive
measure to stop the soviet zone
being swamped with the devalued
Reich mark which was being
replaced with the deutschmark. In
July 1949, Stalin was forced to
stop the blockade due to the
Berlin Airlift.
It was argued that only through
political and economic
integration could western
Europe solve its problems. They
wanted to create a market that
would prevent the spread of
communism, and possibly pull
the Eastern Europe states out of
the soviet bloc. Build a political
structure into which West
Germany, or indeed the whole
of Germany, could be integrated
and so contained, as well as
boosting the economy .
Paris Negotiations July 1947
After Marshalls speech, the British
and French called for a
conference in Paris to come up
with plans for the acceptance of
the US aid. Stalin sent Molotov to
Paris in case, USA were
attempting to interfere with the
domestic affairs of the European
states. Molotov rejected Britain
and Frances idea that the
European states should do a joint
programme for spending the aid.
Therefore Stalin feared that a
joint programme would enable US
economic power to undermine
soviet influence in Eastern Europe
by encouraging free trade and
growth of capitalism and ideas
with west.
COMECON January 1949
NATO April 1949
USA gradually developed the
framework for a North Atlantic –
Western European military
alliance with its allies in Europe.
Key thing was that the USSR was
suspicious on why they was a
huge alliance being built
between the USA and European
countries as they thought of it as
a threat.
It led to the Warsaw Pact which
was created 6 years after in the
year 1955.
Warsaw Pact May 1955 (FRG
entry to NATO)
World Peace Movement
November 1948
In November 1949 Cominform
was given the task of mobilising a
soviet backed peace movement .
Stalin intended to use the peace
movement to appeal to the fears
of many in western Europe who
believed there was going to be a
third world war. The campaign
was mainly supported by eastern
bloc countries. Stalin behind in
nuclear weaponry so he wanted
to totally ban the atomic bomb so
that he would not be behind. This
was a plan to try and get the
capitalist companies to get rid of
their nuclear armoury
Polish Crisis June 1956
Stalin Note March 1952
Stalin wrote a note to the west
stating he wanted free elections
with a neutral Germany with low
reparations and a small army.
The west did not accept simply
because the lack of trust
between them because of things
like rigged elections in Poland
e.c.t. this made the west look
bad to many but whether Stalin
was serious or not we do not
know. They officially started to
split Germany up following this
rejection.
Hungarian Uprising October
1956
East German Uprising June 1953
Workers demanded increased
pay, more political freedom and
the re-establishment of the
German Social Democratic Party.
In East Berlin, 100,000 people
protested on the streets. The
East German government
appealed to the soviet union to
intervene and the soviet troops
surpressed the uprising.
Berlin Crisis 1958-61
Détente (roughly 1968 Nonproliferation to 1979
Afghanistan)
Prague Spring 1968
Ostpolitik 1970-72
May 1972 SALT I
Helsinki Accords August 1975
Invasion of Afghanistan 1979
Solidarity 1980-82
Star Wars SDI 1983
South Korean Airliner September
1983
Gorbachev 1985
Told Eastern European leaders
not to expect Soviet force July
1989
Solidarity wins election August
1989
Hungary Opens borders August
1989
Berlin Wall opens November 9th
1989
Czechoslovakia elects new
President 29th December 1989
Baltic States Leave March-May
1990
Boris Yeltsin becomes leading
Russian politician after elections
May 1990 (and President June
1991)
Coup 18th-19th August 1991
Gorbachev Resigns December
1991
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