Potsdam Conference (History Cold War)

• The Potsdam Conference


  July-August 1945
• In May 1945, three months after the Yalta Conference, Allied troops reached Berlin
• Hitler committed suicide. Germany surrendered. The war in Europe was won
• A second conference of the Allied leaders was arranged for July 1945 in the Berlin suburb of Potsdam
• In the five months since Yalta a number of changes had taken place which would greatly affect relationships between the leaders
• Stalin's armies


  • Occupying most of eastern Europe
  • Leaving troops in countries after liberating them
  • Setting up a Communist government in Poland ignoring the wishes of the majority of Poles
• Stalin defended his action in eastern Europe as a defensive measure against possible future attacks
• On 12 April 1945, President Roosevelt died. He was replaced by his Vice-President, Harry Truman
• Truman


  • More anti-Communist than Roosevelt
  • Very suspicious of Stalin
  • Saw Soviet actions in eastern Europe as preparations for a Soviet takeover of the rest of Europe
• The Americans had developed and successfully tested a new weapon of tremendous and terrible power, the atomic bomb
• The Potsdam Conference finally got underway on 17 July 1945
• Churchill was defeated in the July election in Britain, so halfway through the conference he was replaced by a new Prime Minister, Clement Attlee
• The conference was dominated by rivalry and suspicion between Stalin and Truman
• They disagreed over what to do about Germany


  Stalin wanted to cripple Germany completely to protect the USSR against future threats, Truman did not want to repeat the mistake of the Treaty of Versailles
• They disagreed over REPARATIONS


  Stalin demanded $10 billion compensation from Germany, Truman resisted this demand to avoid creating a bitter, unstable Germany
• They disagreed over Soviet policy in eastern Europe

  Stalin wanted to set up pro-Soviet governments to protect the USSR, Truman saw this as evidence that Stalin wanted to build up a Soviet empire in Europe
• As the Potsdam Conference approached, the USA was close to developing an effective ATOMIC BOMB
• The first successful atomic bomb test took place on 16 July, the day before the Conference officially opened
• Truman told Stalin about the atomic bomb, but Stalin already knew about the project through his spies
• Japan refused to consider a surrender to the USA, so on 6 August 1945 the USA dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, followed by a second attack on Nagasaki on 9 August
• Source 11: 'The aftermath of the Hiroshima bomb, August 1945. At least 75,000 were killed instantly. Thousands more died from radiation poisoning in the years that follows'