History

Page 1

Hungarian Uprising 1956:

- Why did the Hungarian Uprising

happen?

Hungary under Stalin

·

Stalin claimed the Soviet troops had

liberated Hungary from the Nazis

·

However, Stalin imposed an oppressive

regime on Hungary

o

Hungarian Land was redistributed to

other Eastern European countries.

o

Hungarian supplies were shipped off

to other countries whilst Hungarians suffered

o

Non-communist parties were abolished

o

Rakosi was appointed as Hungary’s

dictator

Rakosi

·

Was Hungary’s dictator

from 1949-1956

·

Was nicknamed the ‘Bald

Butcher’

·

He developed ‘salami

tactics’ which described how he got rid of opponents slice by slice.

·

Used terror and

brutality to rule, killing 200 and imprisoning 387,000

Imre Nagy

·

Following Khrushchev’s policy of

‘destalinisation’, the people of Hungary began to demonstrate in Budapest,

which soon became violent.

·

As a result, Khrushchev put Nagy into Hungary as

he was more liberal

·

Nagy

proposed the following reforms

o

Hungary should leave the Warsaw Pact and become

neutral

o

The communist government should end

o

Hungary should ‘westernise’, by having a

democracy with free elections

o

Hungary should ask the United Nations (UN) for

protection from Russia

Khrushchev’s response to Nagy

·

Nagy’s reforms ended Hungary’s alliance with the

USSR

·

Khrushchev believed that is Hungary were allowed

to get away with this, other countries would follow, breaking down the Warsaw

Pact and communism

·

In 1956, 200,000 soviet troops were sent into

Hungary to crush the new government

·

20,000 Hungarians were killed and 200,000 fled to

Austria

·

Nagy’s government was defeated and Khrushchev

said this was a ‘lesson to other leaders’ and acted as a threat if they wanted

to act this way too.

International reactions to the Invasion

Although

America had encouraged the Hungarian Uprising, they didn't offer any military

assistance. However, they did offer $20 million worth of food and medical aid

to Nagy’s government. America’s failure to support the Hungarian Uprising

proved it was committed to liberating Europe from communism, but did not go as

far to offer military help.

The

UN also officially condemned the invasion, but did not do anything about it.

Many countries were also put off the idea of following Hungary.

Page 2

The Cold War

How did the

cold war develop? 1943-56

Origins of the Cold War...

Tehran Conference 1943:

Features:

·

Between Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt.

·

Cemented their war time alliance.

·

The percentages deal followed this conference.

Agreements:

·

A sphere of influence

was agreed in the west and the east.

·

A western attack (D-Day) was pressured by Stalin

and agreed. Stalin needed this as he got the full force of Germany on them.

Strains:

·

Stalin thought Germany should be punished whereas

Churchill and Roosevelt felt Germany should be rebuilt. They did not want to

repeat the mistakes of the treaty of Versailles.

·

Roosevelt and Churchill also discussed the Atomic

Bomb without Stalin. They feared they would lose Russia as an ally.

Yalta Conference 1945:

Features:

·

Between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin

Agreements:

·

Stalin agreed to help the USA defeat Japan once

Hilter was defeated.

·

Germany should be divided into 4 zones, one for

each ally

·

That Berlin should also be divided into 4 zones.

·

A communist government would be allowed to be

established in Poland.

·

There should be free elections in Europe.

·

Sphere of influences reinstated.

·

Establish the United Nations, to work for and

maintain peace in Europe.

Strains:

·

Disagreements over what to do with Poland

·

Disagreements over what democracy meant; Stalin

believed it meant communism and to Roosevelt democracy meant voting in free

elections.

Potsdam Conference 1945:

Features:

·

Harry Truman was the new US president and

replaced Roosevelt. Truman was more anti-communist so was more suspicious of

Stalin

·

Churchill was replaced by Clement Atlee, but

Churchill attended as he was the war time leader

·

They no longer had a common enemy so tensions

were high, especially due to Truman’s and Stalin’s disagreements.

·

Stalin had been taking over eastern European

countries and making them communism. People were fleeing from a fear of

communist takeover

Agreements:

·

Agreed that each ally could take reparations from

their zone

·

Confirmed division of Germany

·

To prosecute Nazi war criminals and ban the Nazi

party.

Strains:

·

Stalin was informed about the atomic bomb. This

is thought to have been said to scare Stalin and stop him spreading communism.

·

They still disagreed over what was to happen to

Germany. Stalin wanted to cripple to stop future threats, but Truman didn't

want to repeat Treaty of Versailles mistakes

·

Stalin wanted compensation as 20 million Russians

died and the Soviet had been devastated. Truman and Churchill didn't want this.

·

Stalin broke his word about Poland and only set

up a communist government.

·

Stalin wanted a ‘buffer zone’ to separate the

communist east and capitalist west

Domino Theory: An idea which suggested that if one country turned communist, the

neighbouring countries would follow.

Iron Curtain: In Churchill’s speech, he said an ‘iron curtain’ had descended. He

meant that the former allies now treated each other with suspicion, and there

was clear hostility between the allies.

Britain and the

USA were alarmed by the Soviets actions. They agreed on a sphere of influence, and that Stalin would heavily influence that

region, but they did not expect complete soviet domination.

Early

Cold War...

Novikov’s

Telegram 1946:

·

A telegram sent to Stalin

·

Reported that the USA wanted world domination

·

Stated that the USA no longer wanted to cooperate with

the Soviet

·

Said that Americans were now preparing for war

The

Long Telegram 1946:

·

A telegram sent to Truman

·

Reported that Stalin had given a speech which stated that

Stalin wanted to completely wipe out capitalism

·

There could be no peace with the USSR as long as it

stayed capitalist

·

Stated that the USSR was building up its military power

The USA’s responses

The USA

needed to respond to the claims of the Long telegram quickly. They knew

something needed to be done about Russia as it was rapidly taking over Eastern

Europe. It was believed that Russia would continue to take over countries,

especially those devastated by WWII as they needed help. The USA responded with

the Marshall

Plan and the Truman Doctrine. This was described as two

halves of the same walnut. It was America’s dual strategy for conquering

communism.

Truman

Doctrine 1947:

·

A policy to stop devastated countries becoming communist.

·

The doctrine stated that

o The world

had a choice between communism and capitalism

o America

would fight wherever liberty was threatened

o Communism

shouldn’t be allowed to grow

o America

would send troops and aid to those threatened by communism

·

Symbolised the ending of America’s ‘isolationism’ policy.

The

Marshall Plan 1947:

·

Dual strategy for fighting communism

·

Aimed to beat communism through military force

·

$13 billion of American money would go towards countries

threatened by communism.

·

Aimed to weaken the attraction of communism

·

To qualify for the money, the countries would have to

trade freely with America. This meant Americas economy was boosted too,

Reactions to the Marshall Plan

European leaders met in Paris in 1948 to

discuss the Marshall Plan. Many countries were tempted by Americas offer and

were keen to receive Marshall Aid. USSR representatives were furious with

America’s policy and stormed out of the conference. They claimed it was the

first step into creating two camps and that it would soon lead to a war. Stalin

insisted that countries under the soviet sphere of influence should refuse the

offer. 16 countries accepted Americas offer, they saw it as a way to stop

communism from entering their own countries and boosting their economy.

USSR’s responses to the Marshall

Plan

Stalin feared that Americas Marshall Aid

would weaken communism. He knew he had to come up with a communist response to

stop the temptation of the Soviet’s sphere of influence countries. He came up

with Cominform and Comecon.

Cominform

1947:

·

Communist

Information Bureau

·

An organisation

which coordinated all the communist parties together

·

Ensured that the

communist parties were loyal to Stalin

·

Communist parties

were told to organise strikes against the Marshall plan.

Comecom

1949:

·

Stalin’s answer to the Marshall plan

·

Aimed to encourage the economic development in Eastern

Europe.

·

Attempted to prevent trade with Western Europe and the

USA.

·

Meant American influence was kept low in Eastern Europe

·

Any economic benefits of Eastern Europe stayed within the

Soviet sphere of influence. However, this meant they couldn’t access the

prosperity of the West.

The USSR and the USA both acknowledged the split into ‘two

camps’ since the Potsdam conference. This split was hardened by the Marshall

plan and the Soviet’s responses of Cominform and Comecon. The two previously

unofficial spheres of influences were clear after the Marshall plan and Comecon

turned them into two economic alliances.

First

Confrontation...

Source of friction

Germany

was still a talking point as nothing had been decided still over what was to

happen to it. There were four key issues:

·

Should Germany be part of the American or Soviet sphere

of influence?

·

Should the reunited Germany have a communist or

capitalist government?

·

Should Germany receive Marshall Aid?

·

Should troops still be allowed in Germany after it is

reunited?

These key

issues still hadn’t been solved, but because of the strong ideological

differences between the USA and the USSR, these issues didn't seem close to

being agreed, especially without arguments.

The

formation of Trizonia (Britain’s, USA’s and France’s zones), meant there was a

clear difference between East and West Germany and Berlin. Trizonia started to

rebuild Germany and begin to make changes without Stalin and his input. Stalin

believed that this could lead to a permanently divided Germany. Stalin opposed

this division for a number of reasons:

·

He didn't want America to have more influence in Germany.

·

He didn’t want troops to remain in Germany

·

He realised most of Germanys economic benefits were in

West Germany and her feared they would be used against him if a war was to

break out.

The

Berlin Blockade 1948-9:

In order to prevent to establishment of a

separate state in West Germany, Stalin set up a blockade

around West Berlin to prevent the

western powers from getting in to the capital. Stalin also hoped that it would

get the whole of Berlin to completely

rely on Russia so Germany would become wholly communist. Truman responded

with an airlift which meant allied planes transported supplies into Western

Berlin to keep communications good. This blockade was successful and made

Stalin seem aggressive and Truman peaceful. More importantly, it showed that Truman was serious about his containment

policy. The blockade ended in 1949 and was a success for America, but a

failure for the USSR. A month later, West Germany was

officially created as an independent state (FDR) and East Germany was created

as GDR. This highlighted the clear divisions between to two powers.

Formation

of NATO 1949:

The

Berlin Blockade was the first military confrontation of the Cold War. It raised

the possibility of a war in Europe. Western powers established NATO, an

alliance which was formed in order to keep the ‘USSR out and the USA in’. The

main NATO policy was that if any country under NATO came under attack, all NATO countries

would come to their defence. Although

there had been other clear divisions and disagreements between the two powers,

NATO was a military alliance with the direct aim to defend the West against

communism. The East responded with the Warsaw

Pact, which mirrored NATO and its policies.

Arms Race

·

The USSR could easily conquer West Germany, but didn't in

fear of America attacking with the nuclear bomb.

·

Both countries were now in a position to build more effective

nuclear weapons.

·

The idea was that the more nuclear weapons you had, the more

powerful you were

·

The USA poured money into the development of nuclear weapons

Stalin’s death

·

Stalin died in 1953

·

Khrushchev emerged as the leader

·

Khrushchev wanted destalinisation as Stalin was an oppressive leader. Khrushchev wanted a more

liberal approach.

·

These destalinisation policies included

o

Release more political prisoners

o

Close down Cominform

o

Improve standards of living

·

However, Khrushchev did want to maintain the ‘buffer zone’

against the West

Now, the Cold War was well and truly established. The Iron Curtain was

prominent and the Arms Race had begun.

Page 3

Cold War

Who was to blame for the Cold War?

The USA

·

Didn’t give enough compensation to Russia even though they

bore the brunt of the attack of Germany

·

They formed NATO, which was a clear military alliance

·

Truman threatened Stalin at Potsdam with the atomic bomb

·

Started to rebuild and set up West Germany without consulting

Stalin

·

Set up the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan which gave

help to Stalin’s countries under his sphere of influence

The USSR

·

Abused the power of the sphere of influence. If they didn't

take control of so many countries, there may not be this situation

·

Set up the Berlin Blockade which was a clear physical

resistance against Trizonia

·

Set up communist governments all over Europe

·

The Hungarian uprising slaughtered many and caused

international tension

·

Russia’s attitude is cruel- wanted to cripple Germany, not

rebuild it

·

Stalin had an oppressive regime which the USA couldn’t led

extend

Both

·

Both were very untrusting and always treated each other with

suspicion

·

Both over exaggerated and made things worse by taking an

aggressive stance.