levo

Clash of Ideologies in Europe 1900–2000

The breakdown of the Grand Alliance and Soviet control in Eastern Europe

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Unit 1

Overview

Salami tactics, long Telegram and warsaw Pact and what prompted its creation.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Give three motives for Stalin's determination to control eastern Europe.

Numbers

What happened in Czechoslovakia in 1948?

Numbers

What was Cominform?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Give three motives for Stalin's determination to control eastern Europe.

    Model answer

    Stalin wanted a buffer against a future German attack, resources and reparations to rebuild the Soviet economy, and governments that could never join a hostile coalition.

  2. 2

    What were salami tactics?

    Model answer

    Salami tactics were the method by which communists in eastern Europe took power slice by slice, entering coalitions, seizing the police and then destroying their partners one party at a time.

  3. 3

    Which ministries did communists take first, and why?

    Model answer

    Communists took the ministries of the interior and of defence first, because control of the police and the army allowed them to intimidate, arrest and discredit their rivals.

  4. 4

    What happened in Czechoslovakia in 1948?

    Model answer

    Communists seized complete power in Prague in February 1948 after the non-communist ministers resigned, and the foreign minister Jan Masaryk died in a fall from a window days later.

  5. 5

    Why did the Czechoslovak coup shock the West?

    Model answer

    Czechoslovakia was the last functioning democracy in eastern Europe and had already been abandoned once at Munich, so its fall convinced western opinion that Soviet expansion had to be resisted.

  6. 6

    What was Cominform?

    Model answer

    Cominform was the organisation created in 1947 to coordinate and discipline the communist parties of Europe under Soviet direction.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

See a huge jump in your memorisation

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

England 1509–58
England 1603–49
Britain in the Age of Reform 1830–80
Italy and Germany 1815–71

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Henry cited .
LeviticusGenesisExodus

Blank Blitz consolidates the facts

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AImpeachment failed for want of proof.
BThe Commons passed an Act of Attainder.
CCharles signed his execution warrant in May 1641.

Build It trains answer structure

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Rent reduction made the tenancy bearable.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Clash of Ideologies in Europe 1900–2000, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.