East-West Alliances

Cominform (1947), Comecon (1949) and NATO (1949)

Different alliances helped to further solidify the divide between the USA (and the west) against the USSR (and the east).

Cominform (1947): “Communist Information Bureau”

Cominform was a Soviet organisation that tried to encourage communist uprising in nations across Europe.
Cominform would try to encourage communist parties, like the Revolutionary Communist Party in Great Britain, whilst also trying to destroy communist opposition in the USSR's satellite states in Eastern Europe.

Comecon (1949): “Council for Mutual Economic Assistance”

Comecon was Stalin's answer to the Marshall Plan.
Comecon gave countries financial aid and encouraged them to trade with the USSR.
Any nation that joined the Comecon was banned from accepting any money from the Americans under the Marshall Plan.
The Soviet Union's satellite states - Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and East Germany all joined Comecon.

NATO (1949): North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

NATO is a military alliance that is still in place today. It was founded in 1949 and united the USA, France and Great Britain under a new military alliance with the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and Canada.
NATO is based on the idea of 'collective security'. Collective security means that if 1 nation is attacked, all the others will fight on its behalf.
In 1955, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) became a member of NATO.

Perspectives on NATO

As Comecon was a response to the Marshall Plan, the Warsaw Pact was the Soviet Union's response to NATO.
This created a split camp of nations in NATO and accepting Marshall Aid vs nations in the Warsaw Pact accepting Comecon money.

Perspectives on Cominform

The historian Mark Pittaway says that the USSR didn't try to look like they were working democratically. USSR-supported communists used military influence and in Yugoslavia and Albania the Communists governed through a democratic front until they got 93% of the vote in rigged elections of 1945.

1Key Topics

1.1Conflict & Cooperation 1918-1939

1.1.1The Treaty of Versailles

1.1.2The Terms of Versailles 1

1.1.3The Terms of Versailles 2

1.1.4Versailles & the League of Nations

1.1.5LoN Successes & Failures

1.1.6LoN Failure - Upper Silesia

1.1.7LoN Failure - Corfu & Washington

1.1.8End of Topic Test - Treaties and Agreements

1.1.9The Great Depression

1.1.10Tension in Europe in the 1930s

1.1.11WWII & Failure of the League of Nations

1.1.12End of Topic Test - Tension in the 1930s

1.1.13Grade 9 - Conflict & Cooperation

1.2The Cold War 1945-c.1989

1.2.1Emerging US-Soviet Rivalry

1.2.2Communism in the 20th Century

1.2.3The Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan

1.2.4East-West Alliances

1.2.5Berlin Crises

1.2.6The End of the Berlin Wall

1.2.7End of Topic Test - East & West

1.2.8Build-up to the Cuban Missile Crisis

1.2.9The Cuban Missile Crisis

1.2.10Cold War Conflict - Vietnam

1.2.11Cold War Conflict - Afghanistan

1.2.12End of Topic Test - The Cold War 1945-1989

1.2.13Grade 9 - The Cold War

1.3From the End of the Cold War to 9/11

1.3.1Reagan & Gorbachev

1.3.2Consequences of the Soviet War in Afghanistan

1.3.3End of Topic Test - End of the Cold War to 9/11

1.3.4Grade 9 - The End of the Cold War

2Changing Interpretations

2.1Changing Interpretations

2.1.1Appeasement

2.1.2The Responsibility for Cold War Tensions

2.1.3End of Topic Test - Appeasement

2.1.4Grade 9 - Changing Interpretations

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