US, British and USSR relations in 1945

Question 1

What are the key events for 1945?

Answer 1

• Jan
  
  • most Eastern European states liberated by USSR
• Feb
  
  • Yalta Conference
• April
  
  • Roosevelt dies
  • Hitler commits suicide
• May
  
  • war in Europe ends
• July
  
  • Churchill defeated in general election, replaced with Attlee
  • successful test of US atomic weapon
• July/Aug
  
  • Potsdam Conference
• Aug
  
  • two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan)
• Sep
  
  • Japan agrees to unconditional surrender to US forces

Question 2

What are the conflicting ideologies of the Cold War?

Answer 2

Capitalism and communism

Question 3

What are the characteristics of capitalism?

Answer 3

• USA and Britain
• minimal government intervention
• private ownership
• economic growth
• free market economies
• individual and political freedom

Question 4

What are the characteristics of communism?

Answer 4

• USSR
• Marxism > Leninism > modified by Stalin
• authoritarian
• communal ownership

Question 5

What was the conflict between capitalism and communism?

Answer 5

• each viewed the expansion of the other as a threat
  
  • desire for national security

Question 6

What is the context for the Yalta Conference?

Answer 6

• beginning of 1945 the Grand Alliance was showing cracks
• Western powers had opened a ‘second front’ in 1944
• Western powers conscious that many Eastern European states has been liberated by USSR
• Roosevelt had committed to post-war reconstruction
  
  • based on unity among the victorious
• Stalin’s guarantee of security through network of Eastern European allies conflicted with Roosevelt’s view
  
  • focus of tension at Yalta

Question 7

When did the Yalta Conference take place?

Answer 7

4th - 11th February 1945

Question 8

Who were the leaders at Yalta?

Answer 8

• Stalin (USSR)
• Roosevelt (USA)
• Churchill (Britain)

Question 9

What was the overall objective at Yalta, and what did the conference represent?

Answer 9

• planning for the end of WWII
• represented the high-point of inter-allied cooperation
• outcomes reassure that Grand Alliance was ‘alive and well’
  
  • its members were committed to lasting agreement in international relations post-war

Question 10

What were Stalin’s objectives/beliefs at Yalta?

Answer 10

• Red Army victories would ensure Soviet sphere of influence in Europe and Asia
• USSR should be compensated for its sacrifices and should be kept safe from aggression
• large-scale reparations should be taken from Germany
  
  • should remain weak
• Baltic States should form a buffer zone as protection against future Western attack
• USSR should retain land gained in 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
  
  • included much of Poland
• no support should be given to Polish government in exile in London

Question 11

What were Roosevelt’s objectives/beliefs at Yalta?

Answer 11

• a deal with Stalin was essential
  
  • due to extent of USSR control
  • USSR still had crucial role in war against Japan
• decolonisation should be part of Yalta agreement
  
  • including US colonies such as Philippines
  • get rid of responsibility of colonies as were expensive and a drain
• US demobilisation should be carried out as soon as possible (finish war asap)
• ‘four policemen’
  
  • China, Britain, USSR, USA

Question 12

What were Churchill’s objectives/beliefs at Yalta?

Answer 12

• protect territorial integrity and self-determination of Poland
  
  • for which Britain had gone to war in 1939
• maintain spheres of influence in Europe that were agreed in 1944 Percentages Agreement
• protect British and French colonial interests after the war

Question 13

What are the potential areas for disagreement based on the objectives of each power?

Answer 13

• Poland
  
  • Britain wanted to protect Poland
  • USSR wanted to keep Polish territory, and no support to Polish gov in exile
• British colonial interests vs US decolonisation

Question 14

What were the outcomes of the Yalta Conference?

Answer 14

• Germany would be divided into 4 zones
  
  • USA, Britain, USSR, France
• Berlin would also be divided
• United Nations Organisation would be formally ratified
• USSR would gain land from Poland, and Poland would be expanded north and west
• a Declaration on Liberated Europe should be created

Question 15

Relations between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill: Stalin.

Answer 15

• Stalin and Molotov (Foreign Minister) viewed the Grand Alliance as fundamentally anti-USSR
• However, Stalin wanted to keep cooperation open with the West
• Poland was a crucial issue for East-West tensions
• Stalin’s priorities were to ensure Eastern Europe lay within Soviet sphere of influence
  
  • intention to turn Germany into a communist state
  • Germany had to be kept weak to ensure communism could be secured

Question 16

Relations between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill: Roosevelt.

Answer 16

• commitment to cooperation
  
  • but founded on basis that post-war world should focus on democracy
• Roosevelt saw this as being in the interests of both USA and USSR, and could only be achieved through outcomes of Yalta
  
  • fundamental misconception
  • explains why Roosevelt willing to cooperate with Stalin
• Roosevelt convinced that he could secure democratic future for Eastern European
• underestimated Soviet Union security needs in Eastern Europe

Question 17

Relations between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill: Churchill.

Answer 17

• convinced it was Stalin’s intention to expand Soviet power in Europe
• believed USSR could threaten British imperial interests
  
  • Britain needs close alliance with US to ensure protection from potential threat
• ‘percentages agreement’ 1944 with Stalin
  
  • Churchill’s determination to control Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe through spheres of influence

Question 18

When was the Potsdam Conference?

Answer 18

17 July - 1 August 1945

Question 19

Who were the leaders at Potsdam?

Answer 19

• Stalin (USSR)
• Roosevelt > Truman (USA)
• Churchill > Attlee (Britain)

Question 20

What is the context for the Potsdam Conference?

Answer 20

• war in Europe ended May 1945
• war in Japan continued
• Stalin committed to help Western powers defeat Japan
• the day before, the first successful detonation of the USA’s atomic bomb had taken place
  
  • Truman hoped this would provide leverage to ensure Stalin stayed loyal to Yalta agreements

Question 21

What was Potsdam characterised as?

Answer 21

• Truman’s ‘abrasive diplomacy’
• Stalin and Molotov’s (foreign minister) determination to not be intimidated by US nuclear monopoly

Question 22

What did Potsdam result in?

Answer 22

• some agreement
• no medium or long term plan for future of Germany or international relations post-war

Question 23

What was agreed at the Potsdam Conference?

Answer 23

• Germany to be completely demilitarised
• de-Nazification to be carried out
• decentralisation of political system to be undertaken, with development of local responsibility
• freedom of speech and free press restored
• Germany to become single economic unit
• USSR to receive reparations from its own zone and 25% from the Western zones

Question 24

What did the Potsdam Conference not do?

Answer 24

• did nothing to lay foundations of viable, non-confrontational relations between East and West
• failed to address growing suspicions and uncertainty between USA and USSR

Question 25

Relations between Truman, Stalin and Attlee: Truman

Answer 25

- wanted post-war world based on national self-determination - wanted open world trading system based on international economic cooperation - wanted to limit Soviet expansion - fearful of growing Soviet power in Eastern Europe - feared removal of anti-communist leaders and the rise of pro-communist provisional governments - believed USSR was not receptive to diplomacy and cooperation - force may be needed

Question 26

Relations between Truman, Stalin and Attlee: Stalin

Answer 26

- convinced that USA and its allies were potential rivals for dominance in Europe - reinforced his obsession with Soviet security - Red Army's continued presence in Eastern Europe - intensification of installing pro-communist regimes in liberated states - needed to ensure long-term Soviet security in Eastern Europe - believed USA had anti-Soviet agenda

Question 27

Relations between Truman, Stalin and Attlee: Attlee

Answer 27

- for Britain, Germany was important geostrategically - vital that USA was main defender of Western zones in Germany against Soviet threat - British foreign policy became focused on anti-communist Soviet stance - Attlee supported Potsdam agreements, but aware that it weakened Germany - concerned that Potsdam offered no long-term arrangement for Germany - wanted to maintain close relations with USA - feared Soviet expansion and suspicious of Stalin

Question 28

What were the overall reasons for the breakdown of the Grand Alliance?

Answer 28

- ideological divisions - US commitment to post-war liberal democracy - US atomic monopoly - no long-term plan for Germany - problems over Poland