Worksheet by RJ Tarr at www.activehistory.co.

uk /

The Cold War: Episode 1 (1917-1945)

Watch the first 30 minutes of the Episode 1 of the CNN Cold

War series (available on DVD) to complete this workseet prior
to a factual test.
Consider such questions as Who was responsible? and
When did the Cold War become inevitable?
The shaded cells do not need to be completed as at these
points there is no evidence on this side of the argument.

Evidence a Cold War was Evidence a Cold War was not

Pre-1930s (5-18m)
Describe how the USSR was isolated
by the West after the 1917 Revolution
Describe how the USA broke this
stalemate in the 1930s
Describe how the USSR under Stalin
was clearly still a dictatorship
Describe how the USSR nevertheless
remained popular
inevitable inevitable
The US government did not
recognize it for 16 years.
Franklin. D. Roosevelt was
the first president to establish
diplomatic links to the USSR.
The League of Nations did
not include the Bolshevik
State, which had led to
tensions increasing by failure
for complete representation.
Churchhill, "Embrace any
allies in order to destroy
communism."
Franklin D. Roosevelt sets up a
diplomatic embassay and
ambassador to the USSR.
Tensions against Nazi Germany
and it's aggressive behaviour,
invasion of the Sudetenland and
Poland. The Great Depression,
1929-1939, sympathetic to the
Soviets. Soviet's industrial drive
was seen as a corporate
opportunity. USA would supply
skilled engineers and managers,
while the USSR supplies all the
workers.
Stalin had a secret police, the
KGB, in order to silence any
opposing political idealogies.
In regards to courts, they
were set up but were rigged
and bogus. Innocent
politicans and victims were
forced to confess to crimes
they never comitted. This
was an opportunity for Stalin
to use such confessions to
catalyse the industrial drive
and rise Soviet ideology in
the citizens of Russia, by
scaring them of the capitalist
nightmare, and an overthrow.
Stalin used his power and his
secret police to silence any

1930s (14m-18m)
How did appeasement convince
Stalin that the West was evil?
How did the Nazi-Soviet Pact
convince the West that Stalin was
evil?
1941-45 (18m-24m)
How did the invasion change
attitudes towards the USSR?
How did the Nazis attempt to split this
new alliance?
Worksheet by RJ Tarr at www.activehistory.co.uk /
unpopular opinion against him. The
rise of Facism allowed Socialists to
ally with Socialist communists.
Corporate Americans saw the
Soviet industrial drive as a great
opportunity for trade. Any
successful efforts were registered
under his name. Any faults were
buried deep in the ground, along
with the corpses of whom
committed them.
Chamberlain gave the
Sudetenland, a buffer zone
between France and
Germany, and an
independent country, to Nazi
Germany. It was faced with
no options, and its allies
could not help, since they did
not have the support of the
Western great powers. This
showed Stalin that the west
could not be trusted.
Stalin was not to be trusted.
The west was so dedicated
to fighting against Facism,
that alliance with Facism was
seen as something strictly
forbidden. Also, after the
invasion of Poland and the
Baltic countries, Stalin used
mass graves to kill any who
oppose him. Evident by the
mass grave found in western
Russia of the Polish graves.
The USSR was seen as an
opportunistic, and a manipulative
state. Seizing Latvia, and a portion
of Poland, along with other Baltic
countries. These countries were
deemed peaceful, and the invasion
only worsened the western
attitudes
By 1941, Hitler invaded much
of the Baltic states, along
with Poland, Greece, Austria
and now had his eyes on his
main enemy, Russia. He felt
like he was powerful enough
to invade Russia. Operation
Barbarossa was initiated, in
which over 500,000 troops
stormed Russia overnight, in
efforts to seize Moscow.
The Nazis attempted to split
the alliance by uncovering
the bodies of over 4,000

Why did Britain and the US decide to
"ignore this evidence of Stalin's
methods"?
1943-44 (24m-30m)
What was agreed at the Teheran
Conference?
Why were the D-Day landings so
important?
Why did Stalin's actions in Warsaw
(Poland) convince George Kennan
that the USA should start treating him
with more suspicion?
What was agreed at the Moscow
Conference?
Worksheet by RJ Tarr at www.activehistory.co.uk /
Polish guards, but Stalin
admitted to the act.
The alliance wasn't only due to war
efforts, but also for propaganda
reasons. The British, and American
were so devastated and tired of the
war, along with arguing with Stalin
over the emincipation of each
territory recovered that declaring
war or having a discord with Stalin
wasn't a viable option. Thus they
chose to ignore any evidence
proving the death of the prison
guards in Poland.
They agreed that post-war eastern europe would become an Soviet
sphere of influence. Stalin would also annex eastern Poland, and
as compensation, Poland would take a slice of eastern Germany.
Poland had no choice but to accept.
It was the biggest sea-borne invasion to ever be made. This was
the 2nd Front Stalin had requested for, ever since 1941.
Stalin's actions gave no
remorse or mercy. He
purposely paused the
progress of his army so that
he wouldn't face Polish
freedom ressistance, and
that the Germans would take
care of the Polish. This
convinced Kennan that Stalin
had no interest in even the
slightest chance of an
independent Poland, and that
he'd rather crush any
freedom fighters, or
manipulate his enemies into
crushing them, in order for
him to annex it afterwards.
This was against what was
agreed on initially in the
Tehran confrence, of a free
Poland, with free elections.
The foreign representatives agreed to form and establish an
organization called "The United Nations", in which all countries can
be represented diplomatically, with no exceptions or excursions.