IB History Standard Level

Cold War: Study Guide

From the new IB Syllabus (first exams 2017)

The Origins and Development of the Cold War, 1945-64

1. Why am I studying this topic?

"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe…all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow…"

Extract from Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech, March 1946

▪ The first half of the 20th century was dominated by the "European Civil War" of 1914-45, which left the continent broken and exhausted.

▪ The second half of the century was characterised by the "Cold War" between the two superpowers who emerged from the wreckage: the USSR and the USA.

▪ Neither side directly declared war on the other at any point during this period, but there were violent "hot spots" in places like Berlin, Korea, Cuba and Vietnam which meant that World War Three was seen by many as an inevitability.

▪ Paradoxically, the "Cold War" was perhaps even more "total" a conflict than the World Wars which preceded it; earlier conflicts were intense, but clearly defined chronologically and geographically. The Cold War, though, had no clear parameters: it was a clash of ideologies as much as nations, with no clear beginning or end, with a whole generation growing up with the grim expectation that their world would end in a nuclear holocaust.

2. What will I learn about?

  • 1. Ideological factors
  • Did the death of Fascism leave communism and democracy in an inevitable state of conflict?
  • 2. Historical events
  • Was the Cold War merely interrupted by World War Two?
  • 3. Wartime Conferences - Yalta and Potsdam
  • The height of the Grand Alliance or the beginning of the Cold War?
  • 4. The Atomic Bomb
  • Did it increase or decrease the chance of a Cold War turning "hot"?
  • 5. Churchill – the Iron Curtain Speech
  • Did it create, or merely acknowledge, the start of the Cold War?
  • 6. Stalin - Salami Tactics
  • Were Soviet actions in Poland and Hungary justifiable?
  • 7. Truman – Truman Doctrine / Marshall Aid
  • Truman Doctrine: Cause – Greece / Turkey; Result - COMINFORM
  • Marshall Aid: Cause – Czechoslovakia; Result - COMECON
  • 8. Berlin Blockade
  • Why were the Western Allies so determined to hold onto Berlin?
  • 9. Formation of NATO / Warsaw Pact
  • Were Nato and the Warsaw Pact defensive or offensive in nature?

Essay Titles

▪ Examine the impact of the US policy of containment on superpower relations 1947-64.

▪ Analyse the significance of Germany to the development of the Cold War 1945-61.

▪ For what reasons, and to what extent, did the Yalta Conference of February 1945 contribute to the origins of the Cold War?

▪ Compare and contrast the roles of Truman and Stalin in the breakdown of East–West relations.

▪ To what extent were the policies of the United States responsible for the outbreak and development of the Cold War between 1945 and 1949?

▪ Evaluate the role of the policies of the United States in the origins of the Cold War between 1945 and 1949.

▪ Why did the end of the Second World War lead to the development of two superpowers and how did this development help to cause the Cold War?