Cold War- WW2

Question 1

What informal agreement was made between Stalin and Churchill on a napkin and when?

Answer 1

‘The percentages agreement’
Churchill referred to it as his “naughty document”
→ decided how much influence the two countries would have on governments in Europe e.g.
* Greece- 90% Britain 10% USSR
* Romania- 10% Britain 90% USSR

MOST IMPORTANTLY the percentages document acknowledges that Eastern Europe would have communist influence.

Question 2

When was the Tehran conference?

Answer 2

November 1943

Question 3

What was unanimously agreed upon at the Tehran conference?

Answer 3

Setting up the UN after the war

Question 4

What disagreements were there at the Tehran conference?

Answer 4

Where to launch the invasion of Europe from

Question 5

Why was Poland so important to Stalin?

Answer 5

• Poland was an integral part of Stalin’s buffer zone
• Personal vendetta against Poland → after Polish-Soviet war of 1920 and the humiliating defeat
  → Polanism for example the NKVD’s targeting of Polish minority groups within Russia- NKVD Order number 00485 resulted in the deaths of over 100,000 people of Polish ethnic origin (e.g. Ruthenians) [1937-39]
• Wanted the Lublin Poles to govern (communist puppet party)

Question 6

What did Stalin do in Eastern Poland?

Answer 6

• Transferred the Vilna region to Lithuania [October 1939] before occupying Lithuania itself [July-August 1940]
• Personal vendetta against Poland → after Polish-Soviet war of 1920 and the humiliating defeat
  → Polanism for example the NKVD’s targeting of Polish minority groups within Russia- NKVD Order number 00485 resulted in the deaths of over 100,000 people of Polish ethnic origin (e.g. Ruthenians) [1937-39]
• Katyn Massacre- killing of over 20,000 officers (attempts to eliminate polish middle class and educated people who could run the country)
• deportation of 1.5 million Poles to gulags
• stopped attacking and didn’t want to help the Polish liberation of Warsaw [August 1st 1944]
• Refused to recognise the London Poles

Question 7

What was the crisis over the ‘Home Army’?

Answer 7

[August 1944]
* Stalin halts his attack on the Germans when he gets close to Warsaw in order to ensure greater Soviet influence over Poland
* The ‘Home Army’ tried to liberate Warsaw
* Stalin disarmed Polish troops and wouldn’t allow the allies to land in Soviet territory in order to try and help the ‘Home Army’
* Sent supplies in by airlift which resulted in many supplies being lost due to flying over German territories
* Churchill felt that he had let down the Poles and effectively sacrificed them in order to maintain the Grand Alliance