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This diagram shows the development of the Cold War, 1945-1949. Click on the links to find out about the events.
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During
the Second World War, Britain and America were allies of Russia, fighting together against Germany.
After the war, they became enemies.
After Hiroshima, and particularly after 1949 when
then Russian scientist Kurchatov
developed the atomic
bomb, politicians
realised that the bomb would change international
politics. Another ‘hot war’ would kill all
humankind.
So America and Russia stopped short of war.
They didn’t declare war.
But they did everything to oppose each other short
of war.
It
was called the ‘cold war’.
It lasted until 1989.
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This British cartoon of 1945 shows the Atomic Bomb overshadowing the peace-makers at the Potsdam Conference.
'A just and workable peace - OR ELSE!', it is telling them.
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New
Words
Allies:
countries
working together. Communists:
believe that industry should be state-owned. Soviet
Union: the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – the USSR – i.e.
communist Russia. Dictator:
a ruler who has total power. Stalin Capitalists:
believe that property and industry should be privately owned. Democracy:
where the people can elect their own government. Did You Know
The original Japanese
science fiction film Godzilla, made in 1954, was an allegory of the
destruction caused by the dropping of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, nine
years earlier |
