Historical+Context+-+Europe

The Cold War: Political and Historical Context



The syllabus states that the period which relates is from the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. It is important to examine the effect this period of anxiety had on ways of thinking, the questioning of traditional values and how these were reflected in literature. In order to fully the impact of this time period, we need a deeper understanding of the historical events of the years spanning 1945- 1989.

**1: During World War II there were a number of conferences held. Outline the major participants and decisions made at the following conferences: The Teheran Conference, The Yalta Conference and The Potsdam Conference. ** __Teheran Conference 1943 __- In November 1943, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt met together in Teheran to discuss military strategy and post war Europe. It was the first World War 2 conference between the Big Three. The central aim of the conference was to plan the final strategy for the war against Nazi Germany and its allies and the chief discussion was centred on the opening of a second front in Europe. __Yalta Conference 1945 __- This conference was the wartime meeting of the heads of government of the US, UK and Soviet Union for the purpose of discussing Europe’s post-war reorganisation. It had been preceded by the Teheran Conference and it was intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war torn Europe. __Potsdam Conference 1945 __- This conference was the last of World War 2 and was attended by Harry Truman, Winston Churchill and Stalin. The issues discussed were the allied control of Germany, reparations, the Oder/Neisse Line and Russia joining the war in the East. Stalin's main concern at Potsdam was to obtain economic help for the Soviet Union. However, unlike at Yalta, the Allies were no longer willing to look sympathetically at Stalin's demands. With Germany defeated and the USA now possessing the Atom Bomb, the Allies no longer needed the cooperation of the Soviet Union. (//Posted by: Ashley Coburn - Lambton High School, 2011//)

**2: How was Germany administered in the years immediately after the war? ** After Germany’s surrender on May 8th, Germany was separated into four zones of occupation by the victorious allies- France (in the southwest), the UK (in the northwest), the U.S. (In the south) and the Soviet Union (in the East). (//Posted by: Madeline Link - Lambton High School, 2011//)

**3: What was the Cold War? Explain the term "The Iron Curtain". ** America and the Soviet Union both depicted each other, through the media, as the enemy and worse than themselves. However a mutual enemy, Nazi-Germany, meant they fought alongside one another in WWII. Although, the two ways of life - communism and democracy - caused conflict between them and they were no longer allies. The Cold War lasted from about 1946 to 1991. The conflict was between the Western world (The US and its allies) and the Soviet Union and its allies. There was never an engagement of military forces with each other. Rather, they conveyed their conflict through propaganda, espionage, nuclear arms race, military coalitions, aid to states that were vulnerable, appeals to neutral nations, proxy wars, technological competitions such as the Space Race, and a general rivalry. America used the first atomic bomb against a country, Japan, in 1996. The Cold War’s nuclear arm race meant that many countries were forming nuclear weapons in response to other countries making nuclear weapons. No country wanted to feel weak and vulnerable, especially not the United States, and so copious amounts of nuclear weapons were created. Primarily, both sides were concerned about the spread of the opposition’s ideologies. The Cold War truly began to end when the world saw Eastern Europe nations rise against Communism, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Diplomatic relationships between the major players in the Cold War were re-established in the 1990’s.  The Iron Curtain was a physical and metaphorical boundary that separated the Warsaw Pact countries and the NATO countries (or the Soviet Bloc and Western Europe) from 1945 to the end of the Cold War in 1991. The ideological form of the Iron Curtain was that one side viewed Communism as correct while the other favoured democracy. Winston Churchill famously said, “An iron curtain is drawn down upon their front. We do not know what is going on behind." The physical border that was the Iron Curtain was merely a chain link fence in places, while in others it was a heavily guarded area which only people with government permissions could enter. This divide stretched for thousands of kilometers, and was particularly enforced in Germany where the Berlin Wall became a significant icon of the Iron Curtain. (//Posted by: Micaela Phillips - Lambton High School, 2011//)

**4: What was the Berlin Blockade? **

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5: Outline the formation of NATO. Why was it formed? ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Conflict between the Western allies - including the __ [|United States] __, Great Britain and France - and the Communist Eastern bloc led by the USSR began almost as soon as the guns fell silent at the end of [|World War II]. The USSR oversaw the installation of pro-Soviet governments in many of the areas it had taken from the [|Nazis] during the war. In response, the U.S. and its Western allies sought ways to prevent further expansion of Communist influence on the European continent. In 1947, U.S. leaders introduced the Marshall Plan, a diplomatic initiative that provided aid to friendly nations to help them rebuild their war-damaged infrastructures and economies.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">A year after the partition of Czechoslovakia and the Berlin Blockade brought about by the USSR the foreign ministers of 12 countries in North America and Western Europe gathered in [|Washington, D.C.], to sign the North Atlantic Treaty. It was primarily a security pact, with Article 5 stating that a military attack against any of the signatories would be considered an attack against them all. When U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson (1893-1971) put his signature on the document, it reflected an important change in American foreign policy. For the first time since the 1700s, the U.S. had formally tied its security to that of nations in Europe--the continent that had served as the flash point for both world wars.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The original membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) consisted of Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States. NATO formed the backbone of the West's military bulwark against the USSR and its allies for the next 40 years, with its membership growing larger over the course of the [|Cold War] era. Greece and Turkey were admitted in 1952, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in 1955 and Spain in 1982. Unhappy with its role in the organization, France opted to withdraw from military participation in NATO in 1966 and did not return until 1995. <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">(//Posted by: Mrs Byrne - Lambton High School, 2011//)

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">6: Outline the formation of the Warsaw Pact. Why was it formed? ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The formation of the Warsaw Pact was in some ways a response to the creation of NATO, although it did not occur until six years after the Western alliance came into being. It was more directly inspired by the rearming of West Germany and its admission into NATO in 1955. In the aftermath of [|World War I] and World War II, Soviet leaders felt very apprehensive about Germany once again becoming a military power--a concern that was shared by many European nations on both sides of the Cold War divide.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">In the mid- [|1950s], however, the U.S. and a number of other NATO members began to advocate making West Germany part of the alliance and allowing it to form an army under tight restrictions. The Soviets warned that such a provocative action would force them to make new security arrangements in their own sphere of influence, and they were true to their word. West Germany formally joined NATO on May 5, 1955, and the Warsaw Pact was signed less than two weeks later, on May 14. Joining the USSR in the alliance were Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland and Romania. This line-up remained constant until the Cold War ended with the dismantling of all the Communist governments in Eastern Europe in 1989 and 1990.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Like NATO, the Warsaw Pact focused on the objective of creating a coordinated defence among its member nations in order to deter an enemy attack. There was also an internal security component to the agreement that proved useful to the USSR. The alliance provided a mechanism for the Soviets to exercise even tighter control over the other Communist states in Eastern Europe and deter pact members from seeking greater autonomy. When Soviet leaders found it necessary to use military force to put down revolts in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968, for example, they presented the action as being carried out by the Warsaw Pact rather than by the USSR alone. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">(//Posted by: Mrs Byrne - Lambton High School, 2011//)

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">7: Outline the major differences between the Soviet Communist and Western Democratic systems of government. ** **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">8: Briefly explain the significance of: ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">- The Hungarian Uprising of 1956 ****<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">- **

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closet the world had ever come to a nuclear war. The U.S was at their strongest state of readiness and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was invaded. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">On October 22, Kennedy announced the discovery of the missile installations to the public and his decision to quarantine the island. He also proclaimed that any nuclear missile launched from Cuba would be regarded as an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union and demanded that the Soviets remove all of their offensive weapons from Cuba. Tensions built on both sides. Kennedy ordered a low-level reconnaissance mission every two hours. On the 25th Kennedy pulled the quarantine line back and raised military readiness. The next day Khrushchev sent an impassioned letter proposing to remove the Soviet missiles and personnel if the U.S. would guarantee not to invade Cuba. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">A U-2 was shot down over Cuba and EX-COMM received a second letter from Khrushchev demanding the removal of U.S. missiles in Turkey in exchange for Soviet missiles in Cuba. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Tensions finally began to ease on October 28 when Khrushchev announced that he would dismantle the installations and return the missiles to the Soviet Union, expressing his trust that the United States would not invade Cuba. Further negotiations were held to implement the October 28 agreement, including a United States demand that Soviet light bombers be removed from Cuba, and specifying the exact form and conditions of United States assurances not to invade Cuba. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">(//Posted by: Tenea Myers - Lambton High School, 2011//)

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Red Scare in the USA ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px;">The red scare in the USA refers to the period in history after World War II (19-39-1940) in which there was a widespread fear of the spread of Communism, and its rumoured ill-effects in the USA. Fear that communism would overthrow America’s democratic values led to both state and federal government movements against this ideology. One of the most well-known of these was the instigation of investigative committees such as that of Senator McCarthy which sacked many government workers on suspicion of being Communists. They also investigated the Media industry that was suspected of spreading Communist propaganda through movies, songs and advertisements. The Red Scare in the USA is a significant period in time as it shows how easily society can be manipulated and controlled through scare-mongering. It also considerably changed the mood of American society. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">(//Posted by: Jessica Provost - Lambton High School, 2011//)

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The building of the Berlin Wall ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">After World War II, West Berlin was an island 130km behind the Iron Curtain. It was: "a wall or war." In 1961, the Berlin Wall was built by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) as a barrier to cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. Built shrouded in secrecy, the wall prevented access from East to West. Originally constructed from barbed wire fences and cider blocks, it was later replaced by concrete walls topped with barbed wire, punctuated by watchtowers and mines and patrolled by guards with machine guns. It was forever being reinforced. Within a year the Wall was 7.5 miles long and fences stretched the remaining 91.7 miles around the city, bisecting the nation, dividing streets and families.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The Berlin Wall segregated the East and West sector of Berlin for economical and political purposes. Between 1949 and 1962, 2.5 million East Germans whom were professionals, intellectuals and skilled workers, had fled from East to West Germany. The loss of 2.5 million people threatened East Germany's economic capability, which was a prominent reason behind their building of the Wall.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">The security for the Wall when it was first built was relatively lax, the Germans and Soviet authorities allowed some movement between the two sectors. This was to lead the Kennedy administration to think that the Wall was temporary. But the security became more strict over the years. By the time the West found out that it was a permanent barrier, it was too late. From August 23, 1961, people of West Berlin were no longer allowed to cross over to the East. There were forced evacuations of households and people were killed trying to climb over the Wall to escape. During the years that the Berlin Wall was being built and reinforced, there were 37 800 successful escapes over, through or under the Wall. <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; text-align: left;">(//Posted by: Georgia Osland - Lambton High School, 2011//)

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">9: The United Nations Organisation was formed after World War II. How, why, when and where was it formed? **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Bibliography:** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">__Question 3:__ http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/what%20was%20the%20cold%20war.htm; http://www.wisegeek.com/what-was-the-cold-war.htm <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;"> http://www.wisegeek.com/what-was-the-iron-curtain.htm; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">__Question5:__ http://www.history.com/topics/formation-of-nato-and-warsaw-pact <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">__Question 6:__ http://www.history.com/topics/formation-of-nato-and-warsaw-pact <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -10000px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 731px; width: 1px;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPAMwaVfZDw&feature=related