History: Cold War

• Tehran Conference (1943)


  Britain and the USA agreed to open a second front and take the pressure off the USSR so they could fight Japan after Germany were defeated
• Tehran Conference (1943)


  Agreed to set up the UN after the war
• Tehran Conference (1943)


  Agreed that areas of Eastern Poland would be given to the USSR after the war
• Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)


  USSR agreed to fight Japan after Germany surrendered
• Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)


  Germany to be divided into four zones: US, British, French and Soviet (Berlin capital city) would be divided
• Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)


  Eastern Europe to be a Soviet 'sphere of influence'
• Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)


  Countries freed from the Germans would have free elections
• Not agreed at Yalta: How much Germany would pay in reparations and Polish/German borders and free elections in Poland
• Changes between Yalta and Potsdam

  1. April: Roosevelt died-replaced by Truman who was an extreme anti-communist

  2. July: the US secretly tested its first atomic bomb successfully

  3. USSR freed countries in Eastern Europe from Germany but then kept their army in those countries

  4. Stalin set up a communist government in Poland, ignoring the agreement at Yalta
• Potsdam Conference (July 1945)

  USSR would take reparations from the Soviet zone of Germany
• Potsdam Conference (July 1945)

  Nazi war criminals would face trial
• Potsdam Conference (July 1945)


  Germany would eventually be reunited and would hold democratic elections
• End of WW2: Between 35-45 million people died, USSR established satellite states Inc East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, Czechoslovakia
• Feb 1946: American ambassador sent 'Long Telegram' to USA, which said the Soviets were determined to undermine the American way of life and would do everything they could to oppose American interests
• March 1946: Churchill described an 'iron curtain' between capitalist countries in the West and communist countries in the East
• Sept 1946: Telegram from Soviet ambassador (Novikov) to Stalin stated the USA hated communism, had money for propaganda, and was economically weak
• 1947: Cominform was set up to coordinate policy between the Communist parties of Eastern European countries
• Truman Doctrine (March 1947)


  USA would provide political, military and economic assistance to countries to avoid Communism spreading
• Marshall Plan (1947)


  Provided financial aid to European countries to help them recover from WWII and avoid the spread of communism
• Consequences of the Marshall Plan: USA provided $13 billion in aid, but Eastern European countries did not get much as they were under Soviet control