Cold War Europe — origins and divided Germany
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Flip to reveal answersWhat caused the breakdown of the wartime alliance by 1949?
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Question
What caused the breakdown of the wartime alliance by 1949?
Answer
Ideological incompatibility (democracy/capitalism vs communism), broken promises over free elections in Poland, and the economic split caused by the Marshall Plan and Cominform.
Question
Truman Doctrine (March 1947)
Answer
US pledge to support 'free peoples' resisting communist takeover, starting with aid to Greece and Turkey — the start of the policy of containment.
Question
Marshall Plan (June 1947)
Answer
US offer of $13 billion in economic aid to rebuild Europe, open to all states including the USSR; Stalin refused it and forbade Eastern Bloc states from joining.
Question
Cominform (September 1947)
Answer
The Communist Information Bureau, set up by Stalin to tighten Soviet control over Eastern European communist parties in response to the Marshall Plan.
Question
Orthodox vs revisionist vs post-revisionist views on Cold War origins
Answer
Orthodox: Stalin was the aggressor. Revisionist: US economic self-interest provoked confrontation. Post-revisionist: both sides acted from genuine, mutual security fears.
Question
Why did Stalin blockade Berlin in 1948-49?
Answer
To force the Western Allies out of Berlin after they introduced the Deutschmark currency in their zones, which Stalin saw as a move toward a permanent, Western-aligned Germany.
Question
How did the West respond to the Berlin Blockade?
Answer
The Berlin Airlift — flying food and coal into West Berlin around the clock for eleven months — forced Stalin to lift the blockade in May 1949 without a war.
Question
Direct consequence of the Berlin Blockade
Answer
It sped up the creation of NATO (April 1949) and directly led to the formal division of Germany into the FRG (West) and GDR (East) in 1949.
Question
Why was the Berlin Wall built in 1961?
Answer
To stop the 'brain drain' — roughly 2.7 million East Germans had fled to the West through Berlin between 1949 and 1961, threatening the GDR's economy and stability.
Question
West Germany vs East Germany, 1961-1990
Answer
West: multi-party democracy, market economy 'economic miracle', free travel. East: one-party SED rule, Stasi surveillance, planned economy, but job security and free childcare.
Question
What triggered the fall of the Berlin Wall (9 November 1989)?
Answer
Gorbachev's reforms signalled no Soviet military intervention; Hungary opened its border with Austria (May 1989); mass peaceful 'Monday demonstrations' in Leipzig; Honecker was forced out.
Question
How was German reunification achieved (3 October 1990)?
Answer
Chancellor Helmut Kohl negotiated the Two Plus Four Treaty with the US, USSR, Britain and France, securing international agreement for full reunification.
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Topic 13.12 hub
Europe during and after the Cold War (1945–2020)
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