548916
Description
Flashcards by s.ghillean, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by s.ghillean
almost 11 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Reasons why the USA could be blamed | The USA were to blame due to several reasons. One of these was the secret development of the atom bomb. They were also desperate for the rest of the world and mainly Europe to be capitalist, which would also open up trade links for the USA. As a result of this eagerness to spread capitalism the USA did their best to stop communism. They tried to do this with the Truman doctrine (which tried to prevent the communist take over of Greece and stem Russia's growing power). They also set up The Marshall Plan which aimed to get the economy of Europe going again and give money to poorer countries to prevent them from turning communist. The USA also set up NATO in 1948 as a military alliance against USSR, furthermore the creation of West Germany continued to test Stalin's patience. |
| Reasons why the USSR were to blame | The USSR was to blame for starting the cold war. One reason was that they forced countries to reject Marshall aid and any other aid that was given to them from non communist sources. Stalin also emphasized this point by setting up the Berlin blockade which effectively starved Russia's section of Berlin from food and other resources. They did this by blocking all the railways and roads in and blocking the landing strips. Stalin wanted more and more countries to turn communist, they had completely ignored the agreements made at both Yalta and Potsdam conferences. Stalin also divided Europe with an Iron Curtain and created cominform which led to the ambition of spreading communist takeover. |
| Reasons why both were to blame | Stalin's communist take over of Eastern Europe instilled great fear in USA and Britain. As both Britain and USA were capitalist they were worried that Stalin would continue to forcefully push his communist ideologies. This led to USA creating the Truman doctrine and The Marshall Plan which greatly angered Stalin. The tension between the two countries continued to grow as a result of the Berlin blockade and the USA's secret development and testing of the atomic bomb. The main problem was that both countries believed in completely contradictory ideologies and were reluctant to compromise, their ways were the only way in their eyes. |
| It was inevitable/neither to blame | The events of Yalta and Potsdam caused a lot of tension between the two countries. Stalin gave suport to Eastern European countries after the war but USA saw this as a threat. The two countries also had major military casualties in WWII with USSR topping the list at 13.6 million civilian casualties. Attlee and Truman felt that communism was a threat to capitalism and the rest of the world. Some countries in Europe were split in two, for example Czechoslovakia which was split between monarchists and communist, these differing ideas which were reflected in several other countries were inevitable and resulted in the cold war. |
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