8-3 Communism in Russia II

1945-1985

Unit Guide

Social Studies 8

Overall Purpose:

Identify the main causes and significant events of the Cold War. Describe the progress and stagnation that the USSR experienced between 1953-1985.

Main Ideas:

A. What was the Yalta Conference? Explain the five major decisions made at Yalta. Explain the major allegation made against President Roosevelt in regard to Yalta.

B. What were the two biggest factors in ending U.S.-Soviet cooperation after World War II?

C. Explain why the Soviet Union wanted to control Eastern Europe after World War II.

D. What did “control” mean to the Soviets? Why? How did the U.S. interpret the Soviet actions?

E. What are the two main parts of the United Nations? Explain their function.

F. Name the five permanent members of the Security Council. What special right do they have? Why was the UN unable to deal with many Cold War issues?

G. Name the eight communist countries of Eastern Europe. Which one was not a satellite of the USSR? Why?

H. What was the Truman Doctrine? Where was it first employed?

I. What was the philosophy of the Containment Policy? What was the historical foundation of this philosophy?

J. What was the Marshall Plan?

K. Why did the Soviet Union impose the Berlin Blockade? Why did they believe that it would succeed? Why did it fail?

L. What factors led to Mao Zedong’s takeover of China?

M. Why was the Hiss Case a major shock to Americans? What were the two main effects of the case?

N. List four main reasons why many Americans believed we were losing the Cold War in 1950.

O. What was McCarthyism?

P. Describe the four main phases of the Korean War.

Q. Why did President Truman dismiss General MacArthur?

R. Analyze the two interpretations of the Early Cold War by explaining the conflicting views on the following issues:

1) Overall Goal

2) Soviet Takeover of Eastern Europe

3) Fall of China

4) Korea

5) McCarthyism

6) Success of U.S. Policies 1945-53

S. Describe the following aspects of Soviet foreign policy between 1953-1962:

1) Relations with other communist countries

2) Support for “National Liberation Movements”

3) Cuba

4) Berlin

T. In what ways was the Kennedy Administration a contrast from that of President Eisenhower’s? What themes were articulated in President Kennedy’s inaugural speech?

U. Describe the events that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Explain the options available to the Kennedy Administration. Critique their decisions.

V. Describe the circumstances of the assassination of President Kennedy. Why did many Americans doubt the findings of the Warren Commission?

W. In what ways did life in the Soviet Union change during the Khrushchev Era? Describe his successes and failures.

X. What factors led to the development of détente during the 1970s?

Y. Describe the economic problems that became apparent during the Brezhnev Era. Explain the sources of these problems.

Z. Describe the positive and negative aspects of the Brezhnev Era in comparison with previous Soviet regimes.

Key Terms:

1. Cold War

2. Koffi Annan

3. iron curtain

4. satellite states

5. NATO

6. Warsaw Pact

7. Mao Zedong

8. Taiwan

9. Richard Nixon

10. The Rosenburgs

11. Joseph McCarthy

12. Douglas MacArthur

13. KGB

14. Nikita Khrushchev

15. Twentieth Party Congress (1956)

16. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

17. Hungarian Uprising (1956)

18. Sputnik

19. Third World

20. Berlin Wall

21. Fidel Castro

22. Bay of Pigs

23. Leonid Brezhnev

24. Invasion of Czechoslovakia (1968)

25. Brezhnev Doctrine

26. Solidarity

27. Chernobyl

28. blat

29. Yuri Andropov

30. Konstantin Chernenko