/
Cold War Essentials
Save to my account
Sign up
Cold War Essentials
Cold War Essentials
Study
1
Question
What event confirmed advisers' view that Joseph Stalin and the Communists could not be trusted?
Answer
The Nonaggression Pact of 1939 between Stalin and Hitler.
2
Question
What event led to a U.S.-Soviet alliance of convenience during World War II?
Answer
Hitler's surprise invasion of the Soviet Union and Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
3
Question
What was Stalin's complaint about the British and Americans during World War II?
Answer
They waited until 1944 to open a second front in France, causing the Soviets to bear the brunt of fighting the Nazis.
4
Question
What was the purpose of the General Assembly of the United Nations?
Answer
To provide representation to all member nations.
5
Question
What was the primary responsibility of the UN Security Council?
Answer
Maintaining international security and authorizing peacekeeping missions.
6
Question
Which countries were granted permanent seats and veto power in the UN Security Council?
Answer
The United States, Great Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union.
7
Question
What was the Baruch Plan?
Answer
A U.S. proposal for regulating nuclear energy and eliminating atomic weapons.
8
Question
Why did the Soviets decline to participate in the World Bank?
Answer
They viewed the bank as an instrument of capitalism.
9
Question
What happened in Eastern Europe from 1946 to 1948?
Answer
Communist dictators, loyal to Moscow, came to power in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.
10
Question
What did apologists for the Soviets argue Russia needed as protection against invasion?
Answer
Buffer states or satellite nations under the control of a great power
11
Question
How did the U.S. and British governments regard the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe?
Answer
Violation of self-determination, genuine democracy, and open markets
12
Question
What was the conflict over Germany (occupation zones) in part a conflict over?
Answer
Differing views of national security and economic needs
13
Question
Who declared that an iron curtain had descended across the continent of Europe in March 1946?
Answer
Winston Churchill
14
Question
What did the Iron Curtain metaphor refer to throughout the Cold War?
Answer
Division between the U.S. allies in Western Europe and Soviet allies of Eastern Europe
15
Question
Who formulated the containment policy adopted by Truman in 1947?
Answer
Secretary of State General George Marshall, Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson, and George F. Kennan
16
Question
What was the purpose of the containment policy?
Answer
Prevent Soviet expansion without starting a war
17
Question
What was the containment policy and who criticized it?
Answer
The containment policy aimed to prevent the spread of Communism. Walter Lippmann criticized it as too ambitious, arguing that not all areas were vital to U.S. security and not all governments deserved U.S. support.
18
Question
What lesson did American leaders learn from Munich?
Answer
American leaders learned that appeasing dictators, as they did with Hitler in Munich in 1938, did not work. They believed Communist aggression had to be challenged wherever it occurred.
19
Question
What were the two threats that prompted the Truman Doctrine?
Answer
The two threats were a Communist-led uprising against the government in Greece and Soviet demands for control of a water route in Turkey, the Dardanelles.
20
Question
What did the Truman Doctrine entail?
Answer
The Truman Doctrine involved President Truman asking Congress for $400 million in economic and military aid to assist the free people of Greece and Turkey against totalitarian regimes.
21
Question
What was the Marshall Plan?
Answer
The Marshall Plan was a U.S. program providing extensive economic aid to European nations to help them revive their economies and strengthen democratic governments after World War II.
22
Question
How much aid did the Marshall Plan provide and over what period?
Answer
The Marshall Plan provided $12 billion in aid to the countries of Western Europe over a four-year period, starting in 1948.
23
Question
Why did the Soviet Union refuse Marshall Plan aid?
Answer
The Soviets refused Marshall Plan aid fearing that it would lead to dependence on the United States.
24
Question
What were the effects of the Marshall Plan?
Answer
The Marshall Plan helped Western Europe achieve self-sustaining growth, ended the threat of Communist political successes in the region, and bolstered U.S. prosperity by increasing U.S. exports to Europe. It also deepened the rift between the non-Communist West and the Communist East.
25
Question
What caused the Berlin Airlift?
Answer
The Berlin Airlift was caused by the Soviets cutting off all access by land to West Berlin in June 1948.
26
Question
What action did Truman take in response to the Berlin blockade?
Answer
Truman ordered U.S. planes to fly in supplies to the people of West Berlin, rather than withdrawing or using force to open the roads.
27
Question
What was the Berlin Airlift?
Answer
A massive airlift by the United States and its allies to supply West Berlin after the Soviet Union blockaded the city in 1948.
28
Question
What was the main consequence of the Berlin Crisis?
Answer
The creation of two Germanys: the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany, a U.S. ally) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany, a Soviet satellite).
29
Question
What is NATO?
Answer
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance formed in 1949 to defend its members from outside attack. It initially included the United States, Canada, and ten European nations.
30
Question
What was the Warsaw Pact?
Answer
A military alliance formed in 1955 by the Soviet Union and other Communist states of Eastern Europe in response to NATO.