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117 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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When did the relationship between the USA and the USSR start to deteriorate? |
May 1945 |
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Give 3 reasons why America got involved in the Cold War. |
fear of communism Truman convinced that Stalin wanted to expand into Europe Truman distrusted Stalin |
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Name the 2 peace conferences that happened after World War 2. |
Yalta Potsdam |
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When did the Yalta Conference happen? |
February 4 - 11 1945 |
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Where did the Yalta conference happen? |
Black Sea Coast of Crimea |
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Which 3 countries were involved in the two conferences? |
Russian America Britain |
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Give 2 things that were agreed at the Yalta Conference. |
Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan Stalin agreed to free elections in Poland "Declaration on Liberated Europe" - all nations previously under German control would have democratic governments France should have a zone of occupation in defeated Germany |
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When did the Potsdam conference take place? |
July 1945 to 2 August 1945 |
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Where did the Potsdam Conference happen? |
Germany |
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Give 2 things that were agreed at the Potsdam Conference. |
divide Germany and Berlin into 4 zones demilitarise Germany re-establish democracy in Germany Germany to pay reparations to Allies ban Nazi party |
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What was the US policy of containment? |
preventing the spread of communism |
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In what important speech was the policy of containment announced? |
The Truman Doctrine |
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What economic plan did Truman use to back up his policy of containment? |
the Marshall Plan |
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What did the Marshall Plan provide? |
financial aid to Europe |
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Why did Truman believe that Marshall Aid would prevent the spread of communism? |
he believe communism generally won support in countries where there were economic problems, unemployment and poverty |
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What was the Marshall Plan officially called? |
the European Recovery Plan |
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What form did the aid in the Marshall Plan take? |
cash, machinery, food, technological assistance |
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What did countries give in return to the US in Marshall Aid? |
the countries would agree to buy US goods and allow US companies to invest capital in their industries |
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How much money had the USA provided in Marshall Aid by 1953? |
$17 billion |
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When was the Marshall Plan announced? |
June 1947 |
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Why was Russia not involved in the Marshall Plan? |
Stalin didn't trust the USA and did not want to show how weak the Soviet Union really was economically |
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What was Domino Theory? |
the belief that if one country fell to communism this would trigger the fall of its neighbouring countries |
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During what years did the Berlin Crisis happen? |
1948 - 1949 |
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How did the Berlin crisis start? |
Stalin blockaded all routes by land and rail into West Berlin in 1948 |
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When did the Allies agree to divide Germany and Berlin into four zones of occupation? |
during the Yalta and Potsdam Peace Conferences |
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What were the differing attitudes to Germany of the USSR, and Britain and the USA? |
Stalin wanted to destroy Germany Britain and USA wanted to rebuild Germany |
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What was bizonia? |
the combination of British and American zones to get the German industry back on its feet |
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What was the new currency introduced called? |
the Deutsche Mark |
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Who introduced the new currency? |
America and France |
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Why did the Deutsche Mark cause tension in Berlin? |
France and America did not tell Stalin about the creation of the new currency |
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What was the Soviet attitude to Marshall Aid coming into Berlin? |
they did not want it |
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When did Russians stop all road, rail and canal traffic into Berlin? |
24 June 1948 |
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What was Stalin's explanation for the blockade? |
he said he was defending the east German economy against the new currency, which was ruining it |
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What did the Western powers think Stalin was doing? |
trying to force the Western powers out of Berlin |
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What was started on the 28 June 1948? |
the largest airlift in history |
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From the 16 to 17 April 1949, how many planes landed how many tonnes of supplies into Berlin? |
1398 planes landed 13000 tonnes of supplies in 24 hours |
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Who called off the blockade and when? |
Stalin called it off in May 1949 |
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What was the significance of the Berlin Blockade? |
it highlighted the rivalry between East and West |
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Which organisation was established as a result of the Berlin Blockade? |
the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) |
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How long did the Berlin airlift last for? |
318 days |
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During the Berlin Blockade how many flights were there in total? |
275,000 |
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During the Berlin Blockade how many tonnes of supplies were dropped a day on average? |
4000 tonnes |
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What was NATO? |
in theory a defensive alliance, but really an attempt to block soviet expansion |
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How many people were defecting to the West from East Berlin a month? |
20,000 |
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What did the USSR do to stop people defecting to the West? |
they built a wall |
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In what year did JFK become president? |
1961 |
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What was Cuba to Americans? |
it was a playground for American businessman |
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Who came to power in 1959? |
Fidel Castro |
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What did the Castro do to US businesses and investment? |
he ejected them all |
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What did the US do in retaliation to the ejection of US businesses and investment from Cuba? |
refused to buy Cuba's largest export - sugar |
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How did the USSR take advantage of the failing relationship between Cuba and America? |
Khruschev bought Cuban sugar and now had an ally within striking distance of the US |
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When did JFK sanction an invasion of Cuba? |
April 1961 |
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Who did JFK agree to support with an invasion supplied with US weapons, advice and supplies? |
Cuban exiles from 1959 |
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What was the invasion of Cuba in 1961 called? |
The Bay of Pigs invasion |
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Why did the Bay of Pigs invasion fail? |
poor planning a lack of support in Cuba jeeps without fuel lack of ammunition no maps |
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What was the result of the Bay of Pigs invasion? |
further strengthened Castro's position in Cuba drew Cuba even closer to the Soviet Union |
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At the end of 1961, what did Fidel Castro announce? |
that he was communist |
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Why did Khruschev want to establish Soviet bases in Cuba? |
he was concerned by US bases in Italy and Turkey and wanted to redress the balance |
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What did Soviet technicians begin to do in September 1962? |
they began to install ballistic missiles on Cuba |
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What did an American spy plane discover on 14 October? |
took photographs of Soviet intermediate-range missile launch sites being constructed
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When was the Cuban Missile Crisis? |
16 October 1962 to 28 October 1962 |
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What did JFK decide to do to prevent Soviet missiles reaching Cuba? |
impose a naval blockade US forces searched any ship suspected of carrying arms or missiles |
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How did Khruschev and Kennedy communicate during the Cuban Missile Crisis? |
by letter |
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What was the final agreement that Kennedy and Khruschev reached? |
the USA would withdraw missiles from Turkey as long as the deal was kept secret |
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Who was perceived as the stronger leader after the Cuban missile crisis? |
Kennedy |
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Why was there a great reduction in tension after the Cuban missile crisis? |
the superpowers had almost gone to war - which would have destroyed much of the world |
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What was established between the Kremlin and the White House in 1963? |
a hotline telephone link |
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What was signed in August 1963 between the USA and the USSR as a result of the Cuban missile crisis? |
Partial Test Ban Treaty |
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What was agreed in Partial Test Ban Treaty? |
both superpowers agreed to stop testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere |
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Give the main reason why the USA became involved in the Vietnam war. |
policy of containment Domino Theory |
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Where was Vietnam temporarily divided? |
along the 17th parallel |
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What did the US prevent in Vietnam in July 1956? |
early elections for a new government |
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Why did the US prevent elections for a government in Vietnam in July 1956? |
to prevent Vietnam falling to communist rule |
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When did the Vietcong terror campaign begin? |
1959 |
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What was 'Strategic Hamlet Policy'? |
moving peasants into fortified villages guarded by troops to reduce communist influence |
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What incident helped Johnson persuade Congress to support greater US involvement in Vietnam? |
The Gulf of Tonkin incident 2 August 1964, US destroyer Maddox fired on by North Vietnamese patrol boats |
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By what year was most of South Vietnam under Vietcong control? |
1963 |
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When did President Johnson declare war on North Vietnam? |
1965 |
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Describe the geography of Vietnam. |
tropical conditions swamps and paddy fields hilly jungles watery terrain jungle trees and vines mountain ranges |
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Who were the Vietcong? |
recruited from men and women who lived in, or had fled from South Vietnam |
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What method did the Vietcong use to fight? |
guerrilla war, lots of it at night |
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Were the Vietcong capitalist or communist? |
communist |
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Where were the Vietcong mainly concentrated? |
concentrated their forces in the countryside |
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Why did the Vietcong infiltrate the countryside? |
merge with people to gain their support and trust spread the idea of revolution sign up new recruits used terrorism if kindness didn't work |
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Why did the Vietcong avoid large scale face to face confrontation? |
they knew they couldn't win |
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How did the Vietcong counter the American command of the air which exposed the Vietcong? |
dug tunnels to hide from or ambush the enemy |
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How long did the tunnel system end up being? |
250 km |
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How were the tunnels viewed by the Americans? |
the tunnels were viewed as an American success as the Vietcong were forced to hide underground |
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True or false, the Vietcong tunnels extended under the American base camp? |
true |
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Give 2 examples of Vietcong booby traps. |
concealed hole under a path punji trap Bouncing Betty Tin can trap Fuel tank trap |
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What was the Ho Chi Minh trail? |
supply lines used by the North Vietnamese to send guerillas, weapons, equipment and food to the Vietcong in the South |
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How long was the Ho Chi Minh trail? |
1000 km |
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How large was the workforce on the Ho Chi Minh trail? |
40,000 people |
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What was 'Operation Rolling Thunder'? |
US bombing campaign of North Vietnam that lasted three and a half years |
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From what year to what year did 'Operation Rolling Thunder' last? |
1965 - 1968 |
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What was the USA's main war aim in the Vietnam war? |
to rid South Vietnam of the Vietcong |
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How much did the Vietnam war cost the USA? |
$133 billion |
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What did the high cost of the Vietnam war mean for the USA? |
they were under pressure to win quickly |
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How did the USA use helicopters in Vietnam? |
overcome transport problems move heavy goods vehicles dominant role in search and destroy missions |
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By the end of the war, how many helicopters were lost in battle? |
2200 |
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What was 'search and destroy'? |
sending army units into the field to search for and kill and Vietcong that US army could find |
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Why were soldiers so brutal in search and destroy missions in Vietnam? |
frightened soldiers who watched friends blown up thought that any method was a legitimate way of waging war against the Vietcong |
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Give 2 example of chemical weapons used by the US in the Vietnam war. |
Napalm Agent Orange |
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Why did the US use chemical weapons in Vietnam? |
rainforests provided too much cover for Vietcong US wanted to clear the trees and strip away foliage |
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Give 4 methods the US used to clear the trees and strip away the foliage in Vietnam. |
used napalm to burn off leaves and vegetation spraying chemical agents to strip away leaves dropping huge bombs which could splinter large trees using giant mechanical ploughs to tear down trees |
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What did napalm do to victims? |
stuck to victims and caused horrific burns disfigured victims |
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What did Agent Orange contain that caused birth defects and skin complaints? |
highly toxic chemical called dioxin |
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When did the US stop using defoliants in Vietnam? |
December 1970 long after scientists protested their use |
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What were the strengths of the Vietnamese communists? |
fighting for a cause effective guerrilla tactics support from the Soviet Union and China support from the South Vietnamese the tunnels |
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What were the weaknesses of the USA? |
the US troops opposition at home failure of US tactics the Tet Offensive |
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When did President Nixon unveil his plan to end US involvement in Vietnam? |
May 1969 |
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When did Nixon visit China? |
1972 |
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When was the ceasefire signed in Paris? |
3 January 1973 |
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By what year were Laos and Cambodia ruled by communist governments? |
1975 |
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When was the fall of Saigon? |
April 1975 |
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What effect did the Vietnam war have on Nixon? |
he considered different diplomatic strategies that affected the Cold War Nixon Doctrine: allies should take care of their own military defense |
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When did the US army leave Vietnam? |
1973 |
