SubjectsAI Test GeneratorPricing
Back to History

Cold War

8 subtopics

Subtopics

Unlock all subtopics

Upgrade

Revision Method

Origins of the Cold War

Revision Notes

Key Points

  • USA capitalism vs USSR communism
  • Soviet expansion Eastern Europe
  • Truman Doctrine: containment
  • Marshall Plan: economic aid
  • Berlin Blockade and Airlift
  • NATO vs Warsaw Pact
  • Nuclear arms race

Cold War (1945-91): USA vs USSR tension without direct fighting. Ideological conflict: capitalism (democracy, free market) vs communism (one-party, planned economy). Wartime alliance broke after WWII - common enemy gone. Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe: Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany. Churchill Iron Curtain speech 1946 declared Europe divided. Truman Doctrine 1947: contain communism, support free peoples. Marshall Plan 1947: $13bn US aid rebuild Europe, rejected by Stalin. Berlin Blockade 1948-49: Stalin blocked West Berlin, West responded with Airlift for 11 months, Stalin lifted blockade. NATO 1949 (Western alliance) vs Warsaw Pact 1955 (Soviet alliance). Nuclear arms race: USA 1945, USSR 1949, made direct war unthinkable.