Early tension

• Before the Cold War, Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union worked together as members of the Grand Alliance to defeat Nazi Germany.
• The leaders of these countries met three times: at Tehran (1943), Yalta (1945) and Potsdam (1945).
• Britain, a democracy led by Churchill, had been at war with Germany since 1939.
• The USA, a democracy led by Roosevelt, had been at war with Germany and Japan since December 1941.
• The Soviet Union, a communist one-party state led by Stalin, had been at war with Germany since 1941.
• The leaders of these countries met three times: at Tehran (1943), Yalta (1945) and Potsdam (1945).
• The Tehran Conference (November–December 1943) saw the USA and Britain agree to open up a second front by invading Nazi-occupied Europe.
• The Soviet Union would declare war on Japan once Germany was defeated at the Tehran Conference.
• The boundaries of Poland would be moved westwards; Poland would gain territory from Germany and lose it to the Soviet Union at the Tehran Conference.
• An international body was set up to settle future disputes between countries at the Tehran Conference, setting the scene for the establishment of the United Nations.
• The Yalta Conference (February 1945) saw Germany, when defeated, reduced in size, divided and demilitarised.
• Europe would be rebuilt along the lines of the Atlantic Charter at the Yalta Conference.
• Countries would have democratic elections at the Yalta Conference.
• The UN (United Nations) would be set up at the Yalta Conference.
• The Soviet Union would declare war on Japan once Germany was defeated at the Yalta Conference.
• Poland would be in the ‘Soviet sphere of influence’ but run on a broader democratic basis at the Yalta Conference.
• The Potsdam Conference (July–August 1945) saw a Council of Foreign Ministers set up to organise the rebuilding of Europe.
• The Nazi Party was banned and war criminals were to be prosecuted at the Potsdam Conference.
• Germany was to be reduced in size and divided into four zones of occupation run by Britain, France, the USA and the Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference.
• Berlin was also to be divided up into zones of occupation at the Potsdam Conference.
• The Soviet Union was to receive 25% of the output from the other three occupied zones at the Potsdam Conference.
• The outcomes of the conferences led to tension between the wartime allies.
• Differences emerged over the future of Germany and Eastern Europe after Germany surrendered in May 1945.
• Roosevelt, the key figure in holding the Alliance together, was prepared to work with Stalin but died in April 1945 and was replaced by Truman.
• Truman, who was more suspicious of the Soviet Union, trusted Stalin less and this led to increased tension between the Allies.
• The state should take control of the economy and run it to benefit everyone, according to communism.
• Communism was based on fairness, stating that capitalism only makes some people rich by exploiting everyone else.
• The USA saw the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe as a betrayal of the Yalta agreement, in which Stalin had made promises about holding democratic elections.
• In Hungary, the communists lost the 1945 election but the communist leader Rakosi took control of the secret police, executed and imprisoned his opponents and turned Hungary into a communist state.
• Thousands of non-communists were arrested in Poland.
• The US response to the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe was unnecessary and unreasonable.
• Individuals are not as strong as everyone working together for the same aim, according to communism.
• In East Germany, the original Soviet zone of occupation in Germany, it became a communist state in October 1949.
• Others saw the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe as evidence of Soviet expansion, stating that Eastern Europe was a stepping-stone to a Soviet takeover of Western Europe.
• In Poland, at Yalta Stalin promised to set up a joint communist/non-communist government, but he then invited 16 non-communist leaders to Moscow and arrested them.
• The USA was determined to contain communism through military and economic assistance: the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid.
• In Czechoslovakia, Edward Benes set up a coalition government, but the communists retained control of the army, the radio and the secret police.
• The Soviet Union and other communist countries claimed that capitalism exploited the workers to make the rich even richer.
• The Long Telegram, a secret report from the US ambassador in Moscow to President Truman, stated that the Soviet Union saw capitalism as a threat to communism that had to be destroyed and was building its military power.
• Capitalism was based on freedom and democracy, allowing everyone to make money for themselves and deciding what to make or sell without state control.