cold war

• the grand alliance was the alliance between the USSR the US and the UK
• in 1943 the first conference was held
• the first conference was Tehran during december 1943
• in tehran Roosevelt wanted stalins help in defeating Japan
• during the tehran conference the uk and usa agreed to help distract germany which was invading russia
• stalin agreed during the tehran confrence to help the usa against japan once the nazis were defeated
• during the Tehran conference in 1943 it was agreed the ussr could gain land from Poland
• the second conference was Yalta 1945 during February were the superpowers discussed the future of Germany
• during yalta 1945 feb it was agreed the germany and berlin would be split into four zones which france, the usa, the uk, and the ussr would control
• during the Yalta conference 1945 stalins support for the USA against Japan was confirmed
• the Potsdam conference was held after ww2 in may 1945
• during the Potsdam conference Stalin backed out of his agreement to allow soviet controlled countries a free election
• during the Potsdam conference tensions against the Ussr and USA were palpable as the new president: Truman greatly disliked Stalin
• Stalin felt threatened by the USAs atomic bomb
• in august 1945 the US dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima killing over 80,000 people instantly
• the Potsdam conference may 1945 agreed to denazify Germany
• denazification meant that all nazi officials would be removed from their positions and tried for crimes committed during world war two
• the atomic bomb on Japan was dropped on the second day of the Potsdam conference
• the atomic bomb was used as leverage against the Ussr
• as a result of the USAs atomic bomb the USSRs own nuclear program was sped up and as a result by the end of 1949 the USSR has their own nuclear bomb
• as a result of the USA and the USSR having nuclear weapons war was less likely ( MAD )
• MAD = mutually assured destruction
• in 1946 the long telegram was sent to Truman to try and gauge information on the USSR
• the long telegram was sent by a USA ambassador ( George Kennan) and it stated that George believed peace between the USA and the USSR was not possible
• the long telegram also stated that the soviet union was aggressive and suspicious however that they would back down if threatened with nuclear war
• the effects of the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima discouraged Stalin and Truman from threatening nuclear war
• the long telegram influenced the Truman doctrine
• as a response to the long telegram in 1946 ( September) the Novikov telegram was sent to Stalin
• the Novikov telegram stated that the USA wanted to take over the word with its military power and that the USA was no longer willing to cooperate with the USSR
• the Novikov telegram also encouraged Stalin to accelerate the nuclear program
• the bombing of Hiroshima only encouraged Stalin to set up a buffer zone for the USSR
• the purpose of the telegrams were to get information on the other side
• stalin wanted poland as a buffer zone
• stalins invasion of eastern Europe led to the creation of the Truman doctrine and Winston Churchills iron curtain speech
• PREACH stands for Poland Romania East Germany Albania Czechozsvakia and Hungary
• Stalin used rigged elections to gain control over all the countries he turned into satellite states
• march 1946 was Winston Churchills iron curtain speech
• the Truman doctrine was created in 1946 feb
• the Truman doctrine was influenced by the Novikov telegram, stalins invasion of eastern Europe and stalins failure to follow through on his promise made at the Yalta conference 1945 Feb
• the creation of the satellite states and poverty in Europe made European leaders fear the communism domino effect