The beginning of the Cold War

• Before the Cold War Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union worked together as members of the Grand Alliance, which was created in 1941 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 Grand Alliance therefore was a ‘marriage of convenience’, in which three countries shared the aim of defeating their common enemy – Nazi Germany.
• The Tehran Conferenceagreements

  • The USA and Britain agreed to open up a second front by invading Nazi-occupied Europe.
  • The Soviet Union would declare war on Japan once Germany was defeated.
  • The soviet union would get some of Polands territory, and Poland gets some German territory
  • World peace
• The Yalta Conference agreements

  • When defeated, Germany would be divided into four parts controlled by different powers
  • Germany would pay 20 billion for reparations, half would go to the soviet union
  • Poland would regain land lost by the soviet union
• The Yalta Conference disagreements

  • The Soviet Union wanted Poland to have a pro-communist government, but Britain thought Poland should have governmental elections
• In the Potsdam conference, Roosevelt had died and been replaced by Truman. Churchill had been voted out and replaced by Attlee. By this time Germany had surrendered and Germany and Birlin were split up
• The Potsdam conference agreements

  • The Nazi Party was banned and war criminals were to be prosecuted.
  • Germany was to be reduced in size and divided into four zones of occupation run by Britain, France, the USA and the Soviet Union.
  • Berlin was also to be divided up into zones of occupation
• The Potsdam conference disagreements

  • The Soviet Union wanted harsher punishments for Germany, whereas the USA was afraid this would anger Germany
• The meeting of the Big Three at Tehran meant that the Grand Alliance now shared a common aim to force Germany into surrendering and ensuring it remained weak after the war
• At the Tehran conference, the USA and UK agreeing to open a second front in Europe to help the USSR improved relations between Stalin and Roosevelt
• As in the Potsdam conference Stalin did not want free elections in Eastern Europe, the USA felt that Stalin had gone back on his word from Yalta and actually wanted to spread communism in Europe