THE BREAKDOWN OF THE GRAND ALLIANCE AT POTSDAM

• When did the Potsdam conference happen?

  July-August 1945
• Who has Roosevelt been replaced by?

  Truman
• Who is Churchill replaced with?

  Clement Atlee
• The day before the Potsdam conference the first successful detonation of the Us’s atomic bomb took place.Truman hoped that this would give him the diplomatic leverage needed to make sure Stalin stayed loyal to agreemmade at yalta.This was viewed as nuclear monopoly and intimidation
• There were no long term

  Blueprints laid out for the future of Germany or international relations however what was agreed at Potsdam?

  -Germany to be demilitarized and disarmed

  -denazification- former nazi part members to be removed and punished and nazi ideology removed from schooling

  -freedom of speech and free press to be restored as well as religious tolerance

  -the USSR to receive reparations from its German zone as well as 25% from western zones
• The Potsdam conference failed tontesolve growing suspicions and uncertainty that had developed
• What were Trumans views at Potsdam?

  Truman took on a more aggressive approach to dealing with the USSR especially after the development of the atomic bomb

  • feared the growth of soviet power in eastern europe
• What were Stalins views at Potsdm?

  -US and Allies as potential rivals for dominance in Europe

  -focused on building soviet security
• Reasons for the collapse of the grand alliance

  -no long term plan for Germany

  -US atomic monopoly

  -ideological divisions

  -US commitment too a post war liberal democracy

  -problems over poland