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- Nagasaki
- The OTHER atomic bomb, dropped on the Japanese port of
Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, three days after the bomb 'Little Boy' had
been dropped on Hiroshima.
- MAD
- Mutually Assured Destruction: the thing that led to the particular nature of the Cold
War as a war without direct fighting - both sides had so many nuclear
weapons that each together ('mutually') were sure ('assured') to be
destroyed in a nuclear war.
- USSR
- The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - Soviet (=
elected assemblies), Socialist (= communist), republics (= a state
without a king). The proper name for 'the Russians'; in
fact, Russia was just one republic within the USSR.
- Capitalism
- A system of economics - including personal ownership of
the means of production, the right to make personal profits from
business, free trade and the employment of labour as a factor of
production (ie, those whom the Communists called 'wage slaves').
The western world was 'capitalist'.
- Communism
- Initially, a system of economics - including state
ownership of the means of production ('nationalisation), the duty to
contribute to the economy as you can, but to take only what you need,
and the 'controlled economy' (by the state, eg in '5-Year Plans').
Communism was also a way of looking at history (seeing it as a class war
between the rich and the poor) and, increasingly, a system of politics (eg
elections were 'free', but only communists were allowed to stand for
election/ close control of what people thought by means of propaganda
and secret police). The USSR and eastern Europe was
'communist'.
- Buffer
- A ring of countries (East Germany,
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria) around Russia's
borders to protect Russia from direct invasion from Germany.
- Ideology
- A belief system – the competing ideologies in the Cold War were Capitalism and Communism
- Soviets
- Elected councils
at various levels of government in the USSR.
- Dissidents
- The name given to people in the Communist bloc who opposed the state politically
- Praesidium
- The committee of Communist Party leaders which ruled the country when the Supreme Soviet (the elected ‘parliament’ of the USSR) was not sitting – the Praesidium was the ruling committee of the COUNTRY.
- Politburo
- The highest committee of Communist Party leaders of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union – the Politburi was the ruling committee of the PARTY.
- Percentages agreement
- The division of eastern Europe into ‘spheres of influence’, as suggested to Stalin by Churchill at the Moscow Conference in 1944
- Protocol of Proceedings
- The official name for the document which
recorded the agreements made between the Big Three - America (Roosevelt
and Truman), Russia (Stalin) and Britain (Churchill and Attlee) - at
Yalta (Feb 1945) and Potsdam (July 1945).
- Zones
- At Yalta, confirmed by Potsdam, Germany
was divided into four 'zones of occupation', administered by France,
America, Britain and Russia. Berlin, also, was divided into
four zones - this caused superpower confrontations in 1948-9 (the Berlin
Blockade) and in 1961 (Berlin Wall).
- Government of National Unity
- During the Second World War, Poland
developed TWO governments - the non-communist government (led by
Stanislaw Mikolajczyk of the Polish Peasant Party),which had been set up in London and helped the allies, and a
communist one (led by Wladyslaw Gomulka) created by Stalin and which sat
in Moscow. At Yalta, there was tension between Russia and
the western powers about which government should take over control of
Poland after the war. In the event, it was agreed that there
should be a 'Government of National Unity' containing both communists
and non-communists. During the interval before Potsdam,
Stalin engineered the triumph of Communism in Poland by accusing the
non-Communists of treason and arresting them, so that the Communists
took over - this led to direct confrontation between the Big Three at
Potsdam.
- Declaration of Liberated Europe
- A joint declaration made by the Big Three at Yalta,
promising to help the freed peoples
of Europe to set up democratic and self-governing countries by helping
them to (a) maintain law and order; (b) carry out emergency relief
measures; (c) set up governments; and (d) hold elections
- Operation Keelhaul
- Roosevelt’s promise to Stalin at the Yalta Conference to return all refugees from Soviet communism to the Soviet Union. This was in contravention of the Geneva Convention. Many, including those who had fought heroically against the Nazis, were returned to their death.
- Babying
- By Potsdam, Roosevelt had died and was replaced by Truman
who adopted a much more aggressive stance towards Stalin, declaring:
'The Russians only understand one language - ‘how many armies have you
got?’ I'm tired of babying the Soviets.'
- Reparations
- A major cause of conflict between the Big Three at
Potsdam. America and Britain wanted to rebuild Germany's
economy and prosperity. Russia wanted to weaken Germany and
rebuild their own industry ruined by the Nazi invasion. In
the end, Russia was allowed to take
reparations from the Soviet Zone, and also 10% of the industrial
equipment of the western zones as reparations. America and Britain
could take reparations from their zones if they wished.
- Salami
- During the war, Stalin had trained eastern European
communists who had fled to Russia in how to take over once the war was
over. At first they joined in democratic, coalition
governments. They tried to gain positions as minister,
especially in key ministries such as the police and the army.
Then they accused non-Communists of treason, and co-operated with
Communists in the country to get the non-Communists dismissed or
arrested. They used the secret police to eliminate
opposition. When they had thus taken over the government,
they organised a 'fixed' election which returned a communist government.
'Salami tactics' was not an official name for this policy: it was the
way the Hungarian Communist Rakosi described how he took power in
Hungary - a bit at a time.
- AVO
- The Allamvedelmi Osztaly (AVO - the 'State
Security Section') was set up in Hungary in 1945 with Gábor Péter (a Jewish tailor and former NKVD agent) as
its Director. It was used by the communists to take power,
systematically arresting, torturing and killing opponents of the
Communists. It became the Allamvedelmi Hatosag (AVH -
the 'State Security Authority') in 1948.
- FKgP
- The Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party which won the elections in Hungary in 1945, but was undermined by Rakosi and the Communists and dissolved in 1949.
- GDR
- The German Democratic Republic, formed in October 1949
out of the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany, in response to the
creation of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG: 'West Germany') by
America, Britain and France out of their zones of occupation (the former
'Trizonia').
- Totalitarian
- Government control of all activities within a country,
overtly political or otherwise, as in fascist or communist
dictatorships. It carries overtones of tyranny and
oppression.
- Long Telegram
- US Ambassador to Russia Geirge Kennan’s 8,000 word report which advised that the USSR wanted to destroy the American way of life.
- Containment
- The
key aim of the 'Truman Doctrine' - the desire, not to push back or
attack Communism, but to stop it advancing any further.
- Cominform
- The
Soviet Union hated Marshall aid. Stalin forbade Communist
countries to ask for money. Instead, in October 1947, he set up
Cominform - the Communist Information Bureau - a meeting of the nine
communist parties (Soviet, Czechoslovak, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian,
Bulgarian, Yugoslav, French, and Italian) with their headquarters in
Belgrade. It allowed Stalin control of the Communists in
Europe, and helped to convince western countries that the Communists had
a Soviet-controlled plan to take over the world.
- Bizonia
- As part of their policy of restoring German prosperity, in
January 1947, Britain and the USA joined their two zones of occupation
in Germany together. They called the new zone Bizonia (‘two zones’).
France joined in 1948 to create 'Trizonia'.
- Operation Vittles
- The airlift into Berlin in 19148-49
('Vitttles' is a slang spelling of 'victuals', and old word meaning
food/provisions
- Templehof
- The main airport of Berlin, into which the Americans and
British flew supplies during 318-day blockade of west Berlin, 24 June
1948 to 12 May 1949.
- B-29
- The American bombers which carried the atomic bomb.
During the Berlin Blockade they were stationed in Britain, within flying
distance of east Germany and Russia - they were threatening nuclear war
if Stalin tried to escalate the crisis.
- FRG
- Federal Republic of Germany - set up from Trizonia by
America, France and Britain in May 1949, prompting Stalin to set up the
German Democratic Republic from the Russian zone as a retaliation.
- NATO
- In 1949, the western Allies set up NATO
(North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) as a defensive alliance against
Russia. NATO countries surrounded Russia. The original
members of NATO were
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United
States. Greece and Turkey joined in 1952,and West Germany in
1955 (prompting Stalin to set up
the Warsaw Pact). In 1960 a permanent multinational Allied
Mobile Force (AMF) was established with headquarters in Heidelberg,
Germany, to move immediately to any NATO country under threat of attack.
- Warsaw Pact
- The alliance of eight communist eastern European
countries (USSR, Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and
Romania). It had plans for nuclear war.
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