Chapter 1

• Communism vs Capitalism

  - Both sides hated the ideology of the other

  - Both Superpowers thought their ideology offered 'freedom' to people

  - Both sides believed the other superpower was trying to export/ expand their ideologies to other countries and create sphere of influences - GLOBAL expansion

  - Both Superpowers viewed their rival's expansion as threat

  
  

  - Command economy vs. Free Market economy
• Tensions before 1939

  - Britain, France and USA send help to Bolsheviks' enemies (the Whites) in Civil War 1917-1921 but the Bolsheviks (communists) survive

  
  

  - Stalin signs Nazi-Soviet Pact with Hitler in Aug 1939 - biggest enemy of the Allies = The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

  - Hitler used the pact to make sure Germany was able to invade Poland unopposed.
• Why did the US and the USSR join the Grand Alliance? - How did they both get dragged into WWII

  June 1941

  Nazi Germany invades USSR (Germany broke pact)

  
  

  December 1941

  Japanese attack on US naval base at Pearl Harbour
• When was the Grand Alliance formed?

  1941
• What was the Grand Alliance?

  - Military Alliance set up in 1941

  - USSR, USA and GB

  - Created to defeat Nazi Germany and Fascism

  Unlikely alliance - big ideological differences
• Tensions in the Grand Alliance after 1939

  Stalin requested a second front in WWII but didn't receive this from Roosevelt and Churchill (1942) - causing criticism by the USSR

  Stalin wanted it known Poland belonged to the Soviets after the war and refused to let the Poles liberate themselves from Nazi control during Warsaw Uprising 1944 - causing criticism by the West.
• Stalin's distrust of west up to the end of 1944

  -west failed to open a second front to support USSR against Germany in 1942

  -Stalin bugged where Roosevelt was staying during Tehran conference 1943
• how did the Soviets react to Germany after the war?


  let German survivors live, Stalin ordered troops to help Germans but instead they destroyed home and raped women, the Allies decided reparations needed to be paid
• West's distrust and suspicion of Stalin and USSR intentions towards Poland

  - USSR military had murdered approximately 22,000 Polish army officers in Katyn massacre 1940

  - USSR failed to help Poland against German counter-attack

  - appalled at Ribbentrop pact 1939 (division of Poland)
• what happened in post war USA?

  more food available, the economy was on the rise
• Impact of war for USA

  300,000 dead

  loss less than 2% inflicted upon USSR

  prosperous Golden era. making 50% of world's services & goods

  millions employed
• Impact of war for USSR

  27 million dead

  9/12 soviet republics occupied by Germans

  economy and infrastructure destroyed

  attacked by west 3 times in 20th century
• When was the Yalta Conference?

  4th - 11th February 1945
• Who was involved in the Yalta Conference?

  Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin
• What did the US and UK want during the Yalta Conference?

  Long term cooperation with the USSR

  Reconstruction of Germany

  Security

  No spheres of influence
• What did Churchill want after WW2?

  Knew Soviets would expand so wanted alliance with US so they could go against this threat
• What did the USSR want during the Yalta Conference?

  Germany to be weak

  Security in their sphere of influence

  Money from Germany
• What was agreed at the Yalta Conference?

  MILITARY:

  - Russia agreed to enter war against Japan following German surrender.

  - In return Russia would receive territory in Manchuria & Sakhalin Island

  
  

  GERMANY:

  - Germany temporarily divided into four zones, which each of the occupying powers controlling one zone (USA, USSR, UK, France)

  - The capital Berlin was divided into four zones.

  
  

  EASTERN EUROPE:

  - 'Declaration of Liberated Europe' (to set up democracies in East Europe).

  - Set up Polish Government of National Unity

  
  

  INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS:

  - Setting up of UN (to replace League of Nations)
• Tensions at the Yalta Conference?

  REPARATIONS

  - Stalin wanted Germany to pay USSR reparations

  - Stalin wanted payments in coal, US wanted coal to rebuild Europe, Russian demands ignored.

  POLAND:

  - USSR wanted to extend Polish border too far West for western allies

  - Stalin disregarded calls for free elections and arrested non-communists

  GERMANY:

  - USSR forced Germans to sell food & raw materials to Soviet Union

  - Some German factories dismantled & moved to USSR
• What was the Percentage Agreement?

  1944

  Churchill and Stalin met in Moscow

  Agreeing who would take which country in Eastern Europe

  
  

  - Churchill's determination to control Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe through spheres of influence as a means of protecting British interests beyond any commitment to democracy in that region
• When was the Potsdam Conference? (post-war)

  17th July - 1st August 1945
• Who was involved in the Potsdam Conference?

  Truman, Stalin, Atlee
• What was agreed at the Potsdam Conference?

  EASTERN EUROPE

  - New boundaries agreed (borders between Germany & Poland)

  
  

  GERMANY

  - Germany & Berlin divided into separate sectors and zones as agreed at Yalta

  - Demilitarisation

  - Democracy re-established

  - free press & freedom of speech

  - USSR receive reparations from zone and 25% from others

  
  

  INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

  - Nazi Party was to be banned in Germany

  - Legal trials at Nuremberg of 21 Nazi leaders for war crimes

  - Allies agreed to participate fully in UN
• Tensions at Potsdam

  MILITARY

  - USSR wasn't consulted about US development of atomic bomb but Stalin knew about it due to spies involved on US Manhattan Project

  
  

  REPARATIONS

  - Stalin demanded more in reparations than US or UK

  - US didn't want to cripple Germany (as in WWI)

  - Stalin suspicious about why West wanted to protect Germany & help it recover

  
  

  POLAND

  - Stalin set up Communist gov in Poland

  - UK preferred non-Communist Polish gov which had lived in London

  - US suspicious of Stalin's intentions in setting up Communist gov in Lublin
• What did Potsdam not do?

  - Did nothing to reinforce the notion of international cooperation aimed at reconstructing a long-term future for post-war Europe

  - Did nothing to lay the foundations of a non-confrontational relationship between East and West

  - Failed to address the growing suspicion and uncertainty that had developed between the USA and the USSR

  
  

  - no medium / long term blueprint for future of Germany
• Attitude of Leaders: Truman at Potsdam

  - US 1st atomic bomb the day before

  - Truman hoped for diplomatic leverage to ensure Stalin's loyalty to agreements at Yalta

  - Potsdam characterised by Truman's abrasive diplomacy and determination of Soviet foreign minister, Molotov, not to be intimidated by US nuclear monopoly

  
  

  - More aggressive

  - Confrontation rather than cooperation
• how different were the attitudes between the leaders at Potsdam?

  - Truman wanted post-war world built on economic reconstruction

  - Stalin wanted Soviet security

  - Attlee and Truman thought Soviet expansion was a threat to Europe

  - British foreign policy focused on anti-Soviet glance
• What did Stalin want after the Potsdam Conference?

  Saw West as threat so wanted to secure sphere of influence

  Started implementing pro communist regimes in Eastern Europe
• What caused the collapse of the Grand Alliance?

  Ideological divisions

  US atomic monopoly

  No long term plan for Germany

  US wanted post war liberal diplomacy

  USSR wanted secure sphere of influence
• Polish situation in early 1945:

  Who were the London Poles in Poland 1945?

  Polish government in exile based in London from 1939 - 1945

  Capitalist Poles
• Polish situation in early 1945:

  Who were the Lublin Poles?

  Polish government in exile based in Lublin in 1944 after the Polish Liberation

  Communist Poles
• What happened with the Declaration on Liberated Europe and Poland?

  - It promised free elections in Poland in Feb

  
  

  - In April 1945 it was not applied as Stalin decided the communist Lublin government should stay in place so no free elections
• how successful was Stalin's policy towards Poland?

  a pro Soviet government installed and potential trouble makers removed so greater security for USSR

  - border changes
• The USSR's security fears between the East and the West was the most significant reason for collapse of the Grand Alliance in 1945.'

  - The USSR's security fears was only a fairly important reason for the breakdown of the Grand Alliance. This is because this was a genuine fear due to multiple invasions across the Polish corridor in the last two major wars.

  - However, this is not the most important factor as USSR's security fears were not genuine and had more imperialistic motives which was evident by the end of 1945 with their actions in Poland.

  - It can be argued that actually ideological differences proved to be a stronger cause in the collapse as the US and USSR's ideological world outlooks were incompatible after the loss of their common enemy.
• Soviet Attitudes in 1945

  - Rebuild & safeguard his country, which had lost 20 million citizens as a result of the war

  - The leader wanted to strengthen the country and prevent the threat of future invasions.

  - The occupation of as many Eastern European countries as possible to create a buffer zone around its borders

  - The country had been invaded 3 times by the West, during WWI, the Civil War and WWII

  - To spread Communism around the world, although this may not have been a primary aim immediately after WWII

  - Gains after the war should be in proportion to the losses it had endured
• US attitudes in 1945

  The leader wanted to confront his opponents head on, especially over human rights and democratic values

  
  

  - His aims was influenced by the fact he was poorly informed on foreign policy matters and aware of the strength of anti-communist feeling in his own country

  - His foreign policy was strongly influenced by George Kennan's deeply suspicious 'Long Telegram' (1946) and the policy of containment it inspired

  - The leader adopted an 'Iron Fist' approach towards foreign policy, in contrast towards Chamberlain's Appeasement policy of the 1930s

  - The government was keen to protect free trade in Europe to provide a market for US goods

  - Arms industry were keen to keep tensions high, to avoid a downturn in demand after WWII

  - Some within the country favoured a return to isolationism
• British Attitudes in 1945

  - Their leader saw the need for an agreement with Stalin

  - Domestic policy and the setting up of the welfare state was the main consideration

  - They wanted to their allies to stand firm over the threat of Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe