what was east europe during the cold war is now called course hero

Which country dominated central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War?

The Soviet Union dominated Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War. After World War II, it formed the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance of European communist states meant to counter NATO.

What led to the start of the Cold War in Europe?

This need led to the dependency of Europe on two non-European powers: America for Western Europe and the Soviet Union for Eastern Europe. The Yalta Conference of Febuary 1945 is often considered the start of the Cold War.

What was the Cold War in Europe in the 1960s?

Cold War in Europe in the '60s and '70s. There was instead conflict on the global stage, with the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam. For much of the '60s and '70s, a program of détente was followed: a long series of talks that made some success in stabilizing the war and equalizing arms numbers.

What ended the Cold War in Europe in 1982?

End of the Cold War in Europe. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died in 1982, and his successor, realizing change was needed in a crumbling Russia and its strained satellites, which they felt were losing a renewed arms race, promoted several reformers.

What was Eastern Europe during the Cold War?

The Soviet Union dominated Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War. After World War II, it formed the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance of European communist states meant to counter NATO.

What happened to Eastern Europe as a result of the Cold War?

Eastern Europe fell under the influence of the Soviet Union, and the region was separated from the West. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, all the Soviet Republics bordering Eastern Europe declared independence from Russia and united with the rest of Europe.

What was the separation of Eastern and Western Europe called during the Cold War?

Iron CurtainIron Curtain, the political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas.

Why was the Cold War called Apex?

It was called the "Cold War" because actual war between the two countries never broke out. It lasted from the end of World War II until the government of the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991.

What is Eastern Europe known for?

Eastern Europe is the hidden Europe. Unknown to travellers for many years, they're now discovering its many villages, mountains, beaches and cultural gems. Just like its western counterpart, eastern Europe is jam-packed with quaint mountain villages, stunning castles and palaces, and cosmopolitan cities.

Why is Eastern Europe considered a shatter belt?

Explanation. Eastern Europe is known as a shatter belt region because it has persistently, or constantly, experienced political and territorial splintering and fracturing along cultural and ethnic lines.

What divides Europe into the eastern and the western halves?

The Iron Curtain was an ideological boundary that divided Europe into two blocs—Western countries influenced by the United States, and Eastern countries influenced by the Soviet Union.

Which countries were with the East during the Cold War?

In Western Europe, the term Eastern Bloc generally referred to the USSR and its satellite states in the Comecon (East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania).

Why is it called Iron Curtain?

Churchill meant that the Soviet Union had separated the eastern European countries from the west so that no one knew what was going on behind the “curtain.” He used the word “iron” to signify that it was impenetrable.

Why was the Cold War called quizlet?

It is called a "cold" war because the United States and the soviet union never directly fought each other. Key events and the characteristic/features of the Cold war.

What does Cold War refer to?

The Cold War was an ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II. This hostility between the two superpowers was first given its name by George Orwell in an article published in 1945.

What ended the Cold War?

March 12, 1947 – December 26, 1991Cold War / Period

What was the Cold War?

Updated October 21, 2019. The Cold War was a twentieth-century conflict between the United States of America (U.S.), the Soviet Union (USSR), and their respective allies over political, economic, and military issues, often described as a struggle between capitalism and communism—but the issues were actually far ...

Where did the Cold War originate?

Origins of the Cold War in Europe. The aftermath of World War II left the United States and Russia as the dominant military powers in the world, but they had very different forms of government and economy—the former a capitalist democracy, the latter a communist dictatorship.

What did Gorbachev do to end the Cold War?

to reduce nuclear weapons, in 1988 Gorbachev addressed the U.N., explaining the end of the Cold War by renouncing the Brezhnev Doctrine, allowing political choice in the previously dictated-to satellite states of Eastern Europe, and pulling Russia out of the arms race.

What was the first time the former allies acted as certain enemies?

The first time the former allies acted as certain enemies was the Berlin Blockade. Postwar Germany was divided into four parts and occupied by the former Allies; Berlin, situated in the Soviet zone, was also divided. In June 1948, Stalin enforced a blockade of Berlin aimed at bluffing the Allies into renegotiating the division of Germany in his favor rather than invading. Supplies could not get through to a city, which relied on them, and the winter was a serious problem. The Allies responded with neither of the options Stalin thought he was giving them, but started the Berlin Airlift: for 11 months, supplies were flown into Berlin via Allied aircraft, bluffing that Stalin wouldn’t shoot them down and cause a "hot" war. He didn’t. The blockade was ended in May 1949 when Stalin gave up.

What was the importance of the D-Day landings?

The D-Day landings, while often overstated in their importance to the downhill of Nazi Germany, were in many ways the key battle of the Cold War in Europe, enabling Allied forces to liberate much of Western Europe before Soviet forces got there instead.

What was the name of the alliance between the West and the East?

Military alliances were formed as the West grouped together as NATO, and the East banded together as the Warsaw Pact. By 1951, Europe was divided into two power blocs, American-led and Soviet-led, each with atomic weapons. A cold war followed, spreading globally and leading to a nuclear standoff.

Why was the Korean War cold?

The war was "cold" because there was never a direct military engagement between the two leaders, the U.S. and the USSR, although shots were exchanged in the air during the Korean War. There were plenty of proxy wars around the world as states supported by either side fought, but in terms of the two leaders, and in terms of Europe, ...

Who was the leader of the Soviet Union during the Cold War?

Joseph Stalin —The strongman dictator of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. Stalin led the USSR to victory over Nazi Germany and oversaw the establishment of hardline communist regimes in postwar Central and Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Pact and Eastern Europe During the Cold War. The Soviet Union dominated Central and ...

Which country was established by the Western powers as a neutral state but disagreed over the fate of Germany?

The victorious powers established Austria as an inde- pendent and neutral county but disagreed over the fate of Germany. The three Western powers established the market-based Federal Republic of Germany in the west, while the USSR established the hardline socialist state of the German Democratic Republic in the east.

What was the Warsaw Pact used for?

Although it was ostensibly a military alli- ance, the Warsaw Pact was used as an instrument to keep com- munist regimes in power in those countries.

What was the Brezhnev doctrine?

Brezhnev Doctrine—Named after Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev, the doctrine held that the Soviet Union could resort to military force to preserve communist regimes in the Warsaw Pact. Hungarian Revolution—An uprising in 1956 that toppled the Soviet-supported communist government in Hungary.

What countries did the USSR help?

Central and Eastern European states it occupied, the USSR helped establish hardline communist governments modeled after the Soviet system. The USSR, along with the United States, Britain, and France, jointly occupied Germany and Austria.

What were the policies of the Warsaw Pact?

The governments of the Warsaw Pact carried out repressive policies throughout their existence, including severely limiting freedom of speech, preventing opposition parties from gaining power, and establishing exten- sive networks of spies to monitor citizens and arrest those suspected of opposing the regimes.

What was the Polish trade union known as?

A Polish trade union, known as Solidarity, began gaining influence in the country after a wave of labor strikes in 1980. Although it was heavily repressed by the state, Solidarity members remained active throughout the decade and the events of 1980 energized anti-communist sentiment.