The Break Down of the Grand Alliance

• Superpower relations and the Cold War were discussed from 1941 to 1991.
• The gcse edexcel 9 to 1 course includes a revision video on superpower relations and the Cold War.
• The conferences between the Grand Alliance were strained from the beginning.
• On the second day of the Potsdam Conference, the USA dropped the first atomic bomb on Nagasaki in Japan.
• Three days later, the USA dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima.
• The atomic bomb had the power of 12,000 tons of TNT and killed over 120,000 Japanese civilians.
• The use of the atomic bomb changed everything for the USA and the USSR.
• Truman felt more confident in the Potsdam negotiations and hoped it would intimidate Stalin and ensure Stalin's cooperation with the USA.
• Stalin responded in the exact opposite way to which Truman had hoped.
• Stalin was afraid the USA would use the bomb to control communism and was even more determined to create a buffer zone to protect the USSR.
• Stalin had already ordered scientists in the USSR to begin developing their own atomic bomb when they tested their first successful bomb on August 29, 1949.
• The atomic bombs had achieved were to escalate the mistrust and tensions between the two nations.
• Nikolai Novikov, the Soviet ambassador in Washington, sent a telegram in September 1946, informing Stalin that the USA wanted to use military power to dominate the world and were no longer willing to cooperate with the USSR.
• The consequences of the atomic bomb were many and far-reaching.
• The Soviet Union responded in a similar way, partly in retaliation for the telegram and mostly because Stalin wished to know the same information about the USA.
• Novikov believed that if the USA were to start a war with the USSR, the American people would support it.
• The Novikov telegram convinced Stalin that he was right not to trust the West.
• The USA's bombs sped up the USSR's atomic program, allowing them to get their first bomb to work by the end of 1949.
• The bombs on Japan, particularly Hiroshima, accelerated the development of the atomic bomb in the Soviet Union and caused the USSR to build up their military to defend against the USA.
• Kenner reported that the Soviet Union saw capitalism as a direct threat which needed to be destroyed.
• Kenner believed that the Soviet Union would back down as they were faced with strong opposition.
• The content of the telegram greatly influenced Truman's policies towards the Soviet Union.
• Kenneth R. Kenner's view of the Soviet Union was that peace between the two nations was not possible due to the Soviet Union's aggressive and suspicious nature.
• In the longer term, the use of the atomic bomb made both sides reluctant to enter into a hot war and instead entered into an arms race.
• Britain, meanwhile, was quietly bowing out as a major player in the world, as the war had economically bankrupted them and the empire was collapsing.
• The use of the atomic bomb made leaders like Lee, who were concerned about the internal problems of Britain, more confident in placing themselves under the protection of the USA.
• The situation continued to deteriorate into 1946 and the lack of trust from both nations became clear with the sending of two telegrams.
• The first telegram, sent in February 1946, became known as the Long Telegram and was sent by George Kennan, who was working at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
• In the telegram, George Kennan expressed his concerns about the USSR and the lack of trust between the two nations.