OCR GCSE History help!

ewarner2000

Hi so I'm doing the OCR gcse world history B (I think that's what it's called, anyway). We have our aspects of international relations next week and we've done the American depth study (cuba, cold war, origins of the cold war, vietnam war, boom/bust, great depression, tva's, the new deal and the 1932 election etc.) also, our british depth study exam the week after next (suffragettes, living through the war, liberal reforms etc).

I was wondering how people are revising these things and also how they are able to remember anything- any tips welcome! How do you manage to not get mixed up between potsdam and yalta conferences, the tva's, the 1932 election, the viet cong/minh/sva etc ?! I especially hate/ get mixed up with the vietnam war- what happened when, the tactics i.e operation rolling thunder and agent orange and the parties involved (the differences between viet cong, viet minh, the north vietnamese army, the south vietnamese army, the americans and where the ussr etc were involved.

Much help appreciated!

Reply 1

priyanka_84

The USA fought a hi-tech war where they used tactics such as Operation Rolling Thunder and chemical weapons like Agent Orange and Napalm. This differs from the Vietcong warfare which was guerrilla warfare, this was where the VC fighter wore no uniform, making it hard for the US soldiers to differentiate VC fighters from ordinary civilians. This often resulted in crises like the My Lai massacre. They also had surprise attacks which wore down the morale of the US soldiers.

The Vietcong were a group of communist rebels who aimed to overthrow the Republic of South Vietnam, specifically run by Diem, an anti-communist whose government were corrupt. The Americans supported this government. The Vietminh were a nationalist Vietnamese resistance movement founded by Ho Chi Minh. The Vietcong accepted help from Ho Chi Minh's North Vietnam to fight the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN). The North Vietnamese Army were known as NVA.

The USSR were involved as they supported North Vietnam by providing military equipment, ammunition and arms. This was because they wanted North Vietnam to gain control of South Vietnam to make it communist, therefore fulfilling the intention to spread communism across the world.

Hope this helps :smile:

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 2

Fighter365

Wait... I swear the Viet Cong and USA were trying to fight Diem who was communist??

Reply 3

priyanka_84

Original post by matthewparker34

Wait... I swear the Viet Cong and USA were trying to fight Diem who was communist??

The USA supported Diem who was a capitalist dictator. The USA disliked communism as they had a capitalist ideology. The Vietcong were communist and they wanted a communist government in South Vietnam. Because of this, the USA increased military support in South Vietnam so the South Vietnamese Army could fight the Vietcong.

Reply 4

ewarner2000

Original post by priyanka_84

Thank you sooooo much :-) x

Reply 5

priyanka_84

Original post by ewarner2000

Thank you sooooo much :-) x

You are very welcome. Good luck for your History exam :smile:

Reply 6

Fighter365

Original post by priyanka_84

Yep thanks for reminding me, my knowledge has got a bit rusty i haven't revised it properly yet

Reply 7

username3320132

The Yalta Conference (February 1945)
 The Grand Alliance agreed to divide Germany into four zones, each one would be occupied by one of the four allies.
 Stalin agreed to accept France as one of the powers. Berlin would also be divided into four sectors.
 Poland would be given land in the west, which would be taken from Germany and would lose land tot he USSR.
 The USSR would declare war on Japan three months after the end of the war with Germany.
 The ‘Declaration of a Liberated Europe’ was agreed to work for democracy in Europe. Stalin promised to allow free elections in the countries of Eastern Europe which had been occupied by the Soviet army.
 The United Nations was set up, an organisation committed to peace.
The Big 3 restated their agreement that the USSR should have a ‘sphere of influence’ in the East.Roosevelt believed that Stalin would keep his promises. He also believed that the Soviet army would be needed in the final attack on Japan, so he was prepared to leave the Soviet Union in control of Eastern Europe.Churchill did not think that this was a good idea. By the time of the Potsdam conference in July, it was clear that Churchill had been right.The new president, Harry Truman, who took over when Roosevelt died on 12 April, took a much tougher line with Stalin. He announced that he was going to “get tough with the Russians.

The Potsdam Conference (July 1945)
The Potsdam conference was the last of the conferences between the leaders of the allies during the Second World War. It was held in Potsdam, outside Berlin, in July 1945, after the defeat of Germany.
 Germany was divided into four zones. Each zone would be occupied by one of the four Allies, Great Britain, France, the USA and the USSR.
 Berlin was divided into four sectors.
 The Nazi Party would be dissolved. War criminals would be tried and punished (Nuremberg Trials).
 There would be free elections in Germany, freedom of speech and a free press. Germany would pay reparations for the damage caused by the war. Most of this would go to the USSR.
 All the Allies agreed to take part in the United Nations.But there were also disagreements at Potsdam.

Disagreements at Potsdam
 The new US president, Harry Truman tried to force the USSR to allow free elections in the countries of Eastern Europe which had been occupied after the end of the war. He said that he wanted to ‘get tough with Russia’.
 Stalin was angry that the USA had not told him about the atomic bomb which he knew that the USA had developed. News of the bomb in Japan made Stalin more determined to protect the interests of the USSR by creating a ‘buffer zone’.
 The allies could not agree on the reparations. The USSR wanted to impose heavy reparations,where-as America wanted to rebuild Germany.
 By the time of the Potsdam Conference, Stalin had broken his promise to allow free elections in Poland.