COLD WAR ; the conferences: 1943 - 1945 Flashcards
What was the first conference ?
Tehran conference
When was the Tehran conference?
November 1943
Who was present at the Tehran conference?
Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill
What did stalin say he would do at the Tehran conference?
1) Stalin would declare war on Japan to help America, only once Germany was defeated.
What did they discuss at the Tehran conference would happen to Germany
2) Bring Germany to unconditional surrender- remain weak after war.
Poland receive land from Germany. USSR could keep the land they seized from Poland in 1939. (Stalin wanted to expand, but they didn’t know that)
What did they say should be set up at the Tehran conference?
an international body to prevent another world war happening. to settle disputes through negotiation and discussions. this laid the foundation for the united nations to be set up.
What was the condition of their relationship after the Tehran conference?
Encouraging - Stalin agreed to help America no tension mutual aims talk of peace organisations after war ussr got to keep their polish land
what was the second conference ?
Yalta
Who was present at the Yalta conference ?
Stalin (USSR)
Roosevelt (USA)
Churchill (Britain)
when was the Yalta conference?
February 1945
What did they decide would happen to Germany in the Yalta conference ?
split into 4 zones - one for each member of the grand alliance and one for France
pay 20 billion dollars in reparations, half to soviet union
What did the leaders decide would be set up at the Yalta conference?
A united nations. with its first meeting on the 25TH April 1945.
What did Stalin confirm he would do at the Yalta conference?
Join in the war against Japan, three months after the defeat of Germany.
What did stalin agree would happen in eastern Europe at the Yalta conference?
Free elections in the future governments
What did they disagree on at the Yalta Conference?
Poland: their borders would be returned to their position in 1921 - this gave Stalin significant gains
Stalin thought the free elections would be for pro-communist governments, however USA and UK supported the non-communist London Poles.
What was the condition of their relationship after the Yalta conference?
Increasing tensions as Stalin’s future plans were slowly being destroyed.
Also it getting harder to push aside their political and ideological differences.
What was the third conference?
Potsdam
When was the third conference?
July - August 1945
Who was present at the Potsdam conference?
Attlee (UK)
Truman (USA)
Stalin (USSR)
What happened to President Roosevelt?
He died
What happened to Churchill?
He was voted out, the conservative party didn’t win. the labour party did in the 1945 general election
What happened with Germany in 1945?
They surrendered in May
What did USA discover?
US scientists had developed an atomic bomb, which they tested the day after the conference began.
What had been formally created?
the united nations in the treaty of san Francisco in June 1945.
What was the impact of the change in leaders in the Potsdam conference?
Truman and Attlee were new to diplomatic discussions so it was harder to negotiate with Stalin.
Truman took a tough approach with Stalin, and deliberately delayed the date of the conference until after the atomic bomb was ready.
What did they finalise would happen to Germany at the Potsdam conference?
That it would be divided into four zones, however the Germany economy would be run as a whole.
What did they decide would happen to Berlin at the Yalta conference?
That it would be split into four zones, even though it was based deep inside the soviet union controlled Germany.
What did Stalin want Germany to do, and what did Truman think? Yalta conference
He wanted them to pay huge reparations, but Truman thought this would further weaken the German economy
What was the condition of their relationship after the Potsdam conference?
Critical - Attlee and Truman were harder to negotiate with
Truman hid an atomic bomb from Stalin
seen as a threat
Stalin wanted more communist power in Poland whereas Truman didn’t
Stalin wanted to maximise the weakness of Germany by making them pay outrageous reparations
Truman wanted Germany to recover.
