The Cold War - Episode 1
● Berlin 1945, soviet troops attacked. Stalin, Truman and Churchill were the victors.
● The Big Three met to settle the post war order.
● Soviet Union was devastated but Stalin remained respected.
● The origins of the cold war began in 1919 with the crash between communists and
capitalists in Russia, a revolution occurred during this time, where the communists
● Britain and USA sent troops to fight Russian revolution, in order to stop Russia from
becoming a communist country.
● There was starvation in Russia.
● In 1929 the Wall Street crashed and the great depression started.
● Roosevelt promised the americans that he would manage capitalism for the public
● Stalin's industrial drive attracted Americans.
● Stalin was a master of the economic plan, he tolerated no failure nor criticism.
● The cost of collectivization was the murder of millions of peasants, this was kept
● Stalin felt that he needed to convince the people and party members for them to
accept his policies. So he stated that Russia was confronted by a conspiracy from the
part of the capitalists powers.
● In the 1930 moscow called for a popular front of the left against Hitler and fascism.
● Socialists and communists became alike as they both fought fascism.
● Francisco Franco (spain) was armed by Mussolini and Hitler.
● Roosevelt did not want to be part of the war.
● Britain and France declared war on Russia and Germany after they attacked Poland.
● In 1940 Hitler struck west, by 1941 Hitler controlled about six countries, including
France and belgium.
● June 22nd of 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. “The Day that changed History”.
● Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in 1941.
● The allies agreed that post war eastern europe would be a Soviet zone. Stalin got
eastern Poland and the poles got part of eastern Germany.
● On June 6th of 1944 the D-Day occured.
● Roosevelt died nearly the end of the war. Battles with Japan and in Europe were still
● The US and the Soviet Union had a meeting after Hitler was defeated. They agreed
to end in peaceful terms.
● USA said they had a developed a weapon that would end the war once and for all,
but they did not clarify it was a nuclear weapon.
● The USA dropped two nuclear bombs in Japan, one in Hiroshima and another one in
Nagasaki. They destroyed both places, it was a total massacre.
- Did Stalin make any type of Propaganda, for example speeches or signs in the
- With Americans being used to the capitalist model, why where many of them
attracted to Stalin’s new industrial drive?
- Why did Japan attacked Pearl Harbour? And why did not they surrender when
the first nuclear bomb was thrown? As Germany had already been defeated,
they had no chances of really winning the war.
- Why did the Cold War begun if the USA and the USSR ended the war in
3 Things that I learnt:
- I learnt more about the origins of communism and how Stalin gained power among
- Which ideologies became alike, for example socialists and communists.
- The massacres that occurred during Communism in Russia, for example that the cost
of collectivization was the murder of millions of peasants.
2 Things that I found interesting:
- I think the origins and rise of Communism in Russia and Europe are very interesting
to learn, how Stalin gained his power by the economic plan.
- How Stalin managed to convince people that stated that Russia was confronted by a
conspiracy from the part of the capitalists powers.
1 Question I still have:
- Why did Hitler invaded Russia so soon, if he could have used it as a powerful ally at