1 Early Tension Between East And West Flashcards
What was the Grand Alliance, what were the main ideological differences between the countries and what were the different attitudes of the leaders?
The alliance between the Soviet Union, USA and Britain during the Second World War was known as the Grand Alliance. Stalin was forced into the arrangement after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.
The Soviet Union had a communist government whereas Britain and the US were capitalist:
- Communism has one political party, no choice and people were unable to change their government. Capitalism allows several parties and voters can choose and change the government
- Communism only allows businesses that are state owned, for the benefit of the people. Capitalism allows most industry and businesses to be privately owned.
- Communists believe that everyone is equal, believe in spreading beliefs to other countries through world revolution and censor the media. Capitalists believe some will be wealthier than other, they spread influence to other countries to encourage trade and investment and only censor the media in small amounts
The leaders also had different attitudes:
- Stalin was frustrated with how long it took for Britain and the US to set up a second front and was convinced it was done on purpose to increase damage to the Soviet Union from Germany (second front would attack Germany from two sides reducing attacks on the Soviets)
- Churchill opposed the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and was an opponent to the Reds in the Civil war. He was suspicious of Stalin’s motives in Eastern Europe, especially regarding Poland when a mass grave of 10,000 polish officers was found by Germans in April 1943, all murdered by Soviets.
What was the outcome of the Tehran Conference, November 1943?
The Tehran Conference took place in November 1943 in Iran and mainly benefited Stalin, due to Roosevelt being ill during the conference and tending to side with Stalin rather than Churchill.
The main agreements were:
- Britain and USA agreed to open up a second front by invading France in May 1944
- The Soviet Union would wage war against Japan once Germany was defeated
- A United Nations organisation would be set up after the war
- An area of Eastern Poland was added to the Soviet Union and at the will of Stalin, the borders of post-war Poland would be along the Oder and Neisse rivers
What was the outcome of the Yalta Conference, February 1945?
The three Allied leaders met in early 1945, to consider what to do with Germany once they were defeated in the war. The conference took place in Yalta, in the Soviet Union.
The main agreements were that:
- The Soviet Union would enter war against Japan once Germany had surrendered
- Germany and Berlin would be split into four zones: US, British, French, and Soviet
- Nazi war criminals would be hunted down and tried in an international court of justice
- Countries that had been liberated from German rule would be allowed to have to have free elections
- The allies would join the United Nations Organisation to maintain world peace
- Eastern Europe would be a Soviet ‘sphere of influence’
What disagreements were there at the Yalta Conference in February 1945?
Stalin and Roosevelt had a close relationship, therefore Churchill felt isolated in much of the decision making. The main disagreements between all leaders in the conference were:
- How much Germany would have to pay in reparations. Stalin wanted a much higher value than Churchill and Roosevelt. The decision was delayed to the next conference
- Stalin wanted the Polish/German border to be much further to the West than the US and UK wanted.
- Churchill and Roosevelt also feared that the government in Poland would be Soviet-controlled and persuaded Stalin to let it have free elections
What were the main causes of tension between members of the Grand Alliance in the months leading up to the Potsdam Conference?
- Soviet troops had liberated countries in Eastern Europe but did not remove military presence
- Stalin set up a communist government in Poland, insisting it was to prevent future invasions of the Soviet Union, which was against agreements from the Yalta Conference
- The Red Army continued to expand its armed forces while there was demilitarisation in the West
- On 16th July 1945, the Americans successfully tested an atomic bomb, and when Stalin found out at Potsdam, he was furious that he had not been consulted beforehand.
What was the outcome of the Potsdam Conference in July 1945?
The Potsdam Conference took place two months after the war just outside Berlin. Harry Truman was the new US leader and he distrusted Stalin and the Soviets. Churchill was replaced with Clement Attlee after losing an election during the conference. The main agreements were that:
- Germany and Berlin would be divided as previously agreed
- Germany was demilitarised and had to pay reparations to the Allies in equipment and materials, mainly to the Soviets who had suffered the worst
- Democracy would be established in Germany, including free elections, free press and freedom of speech
- The Nazi party was banned, members were removed from important positions, and leading members were put on trial in Nuremberg in 1946
- Full cooperation in the United Nations
- Poland’s frontier would be moved westwards to the rivers Oder and Neisse
What were the main disagreements at the Potsdam Conference?
- Stalin wanted massive compensation to cripple Germany to protect the Soviet Union from future threats, but Truman saw a revived Germany as a barrier to Soviet expansion.
- Truman wanted free elections in the countries of Eastern Europe occupied by Soviet troops, but Stalin refused.
What were the Long and Novikov Telegrams and how did they worsen US and Soviet relations?
After WW2, the Soviet Union began to expand into countries it had liberated from German rule. Stalin stated that the purpose was to increase security against potential invasion but the allies believed it was to spread communism.
- The US in particular feared the spread of communism, and George Kennan, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the US embassy in Moscow wrote a telegram in February 1946 (called the Long telegram) to the US demanding immediate action after describing Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe. This influenced Truman’s policy of containment in the Cold War.
- The Soviet Union retaliated with the Novikov Telegram, which was sent to Stalin in September 1946, criticising the USA of continuing to expand its military.
Both telegrams worsened relations between the two superpowers as they validated the fact that both countries were trying their best to be the most powerful superpower. This intensified rivalry.
How did the Soviet Union set up satellite states?
Satellite states had their own government but were influenced or controlled by a superpower (they were controlled from Moscow)
The same pattern occurred in each country:
- Coalition governments were set up, communists shared power with other political parties
- The communists would then take over civil service, media, security and defence, backed by Stalin
- Opposition leaders were arrested or forced to flee and fixed elections were held in order to ensure support for communists
- ‘People’s democracies’ were set up
This worsened relations as Truman’s believed democratically elected governments could have been set up, and that Stalin was just trying to spread communism
Churchill’s iron curtain speech to describe the divide between the communist Soviet Union and the West also worsened relations
What were the events of Soviet expansion from 1945-47?
- Poland: Coalition government was set up in June 1945 but in January 1947 elections were rigged and a communist government took control.
- Romania: A coalition government was set up in early 1945 but after demonstrations to interrupt the government, the Soviet army intervened in March 1945. The king was forced to appoint a government dominated by communists, the Romanian army was disarmed and in November 1946 communists gained 80 percent of the votes. The monarchy was removed the next year
- Hungary: The smallholders party had control in 1945 but after an economic crisis communists sized control of the police, the leader of the party was forced to resign as well as the prime minister Imre Nagy and in August 1947, communists won the election
- Czechoslovakia: By 1947 the communists were the largest in the coalition government and controlled the police and armed forces, with support from the Soviet Union in 1948, they seized control of the country after rigged elections
