Early tensions between East and West

Question 1

Capitalism

Answer 1

Capitalists believed everyone should be free to own property and businesses and make money. The USA’s economic ideology was capitalist.

Question 2

Communism

Answer 2

Communists believe that all property, including homes and businesses, should belong to the state, to ensure that every member of society has a fair share. Communism is based on the writings of Karl Marx and was the political ideology of the Soviet Union.

Question 3

The Grand Alliance

Answer 3

In the Second World War, the Grand Alliance was formed between the USA, the Soviet Union and Britain to defeat Germany and Japan. The leaders of The Grand Alliance nations met three times during the war: at Tehran (1943), Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July 1945).

Question 4

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Answer 4

Believed strongly in democracy, but compromised for alliance with Stalin
After Japan bombed USA, Roosevelt thought he needed Soviet support against them
Not always as tough in negotiations with Stalin as Churchill would have liked
Believed that any long-term settlement was possible if the Soviet Union was viewed as a superpower/partner in peace.

Question 5

Winston Churchill

Answer 5

Conservative from an aristocratic family, had very traditional values
Strongly believed in British Empire, did not want to grant any colonies freedom
Suspicious of Stalin
Main job of being in the Grand Alliance was trying to stop Soviet expansion

Question 6

Joseph Stalin

Answer 6

Strengthened one-party rule in the Soviet Union, cut back on people’s individual rights
Convinced that the West wanted to destroy communism
So had to stand firm in negotiations with Western superpowers

Question 7

Aims of the Tehran conference

Answer 7

Stalin wanted Britain and the USA to open a ‘second front’ to fight Germany in Europe.
The USA wanted the Soviet Union to help it to fight Japan.

Question 8

Agreements made at the Tehran conference

Answer 8

The Soviet Union could keep some land in Poland.
They would keep Germany weak.
Britain and the USA agreed to start a ‘SECOND FRONT’ in Europe.
Stalin agreed to go to war against Japan once Germany was defeated.
To set up an international organisation after the war to prevent future wars.

Question 9

Relations after the Tehran conference

Answer 9

Stalin was pleased that Britain and the USA had agreed to open a ‘second front’ as this would help the Soviet Union, but there were tensions between Britain and the USA. Churchill had wanted to open the ‘second front’ in the Balkans, but Roosevelt had agreed with Stalin that it would be in the West.

Question 10

Aims of the Yalta conference

Answer 10

Stalin wanted to make sure that he kept control of parts of Eastern Europe at the end of the war.
Britain and the USA wanted to make sure that there was peace in Europe.

Question 11

Agreements made at the Yalta conference

Answer 11

Germany would be SPLIT into four zones, each run by one of the allies (Britain, France, the USA and the Soviet Union).
Germany would pay $20 billion in reparations for war damage.
The UNITED NATIONS would be set up. It would start in 1945.
Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan once Germany was defeated.
Countries in Eastern Europe would have FREE ELECTIONS.
Stalin could keep parts of POLAND, but Poland would be a free country with free elections.

Question 12

Relations after the Yalta conference

Answer 12

Roosevelt and Stalin were very pleased to have got an agreement over free elections and the United Nations. But Poland was a difficult topic and neither side was really happy. Stalin thought that Poland should become communist, but Britain and the USA wanted a free democratic government in Poland. It would be a problem in the future.

Question 13

Aims of the Potsdam conference

Answer 13

Stalin wanted to make sure that the Soviet Union remained powerful in Eastern Europe.
Truman wanted to have peace in Europe but also prevent communism spreading.
Attlee wanted to finish the conferences quickly and return to Britain.

Question 14

Agreements made at the Potsdam conference

Answer 14

Germany would be divided into four zones, as agreed at Yalta.
Berlin would also be divided into four zones.
Each country could organise reparations from their own zone of Germany.
The Soviet Union could take a quarter of the industrial equipment from the other zones to make up for them having the poorest zone.

Question 15

Relations after the Potsdam conference

Answer 15

There were different leaders. Stalin was more experienced than Truman and Attlee, so it was harder for them to get their way.
The USA had built an atomic bomb, which it tested at the start of the conference. This meant that the Soviet Union didn’t trust the USA and in fact was jealous of it.
The United Nations had been created. The Big Three – the USA, the Soviet Union and Britain – were all important members.
Truman wanted the Soviet Red Army to leave the Eastern European countries that they had freed from Nazi Germany. Stalin wanted to keep the soldiers there.
Truman was unhappy that the Soviet Union was going to keep some land in Poland. This had been agreed at the earlier Yalta Conference.

Question 16

US-Soviet relations, 1945-46

Answer 16

Stalin wanted control of Eastern Europe to protect the Soviet Union. But Truman believed that Stalin was trying to SPREAD communism. In the years 1945–46, this disagreement and lack of TRUST turned the wartime alliance into peacetime hostility.

Because of the atomic bomb, Stalin was determined to make the Soviet Union secure. His immediate aim was to create a BUFFER zone of countries that supported communism between Germany and the Soviet Union’s western borders.

The bomb made Cold War tensions between the USA and the Soviet Union much worse. A war that used atomic weapons could kill millions of people. But, equally, the dangers of using an atomic bomb made both the USA and the Soviet Union try to avoid war. Instead they began an arms RACE, in which each side tried to make sure their nuclear weapons were more powerful than those of their rival.

Question 17

Kennan Long telegram

Answer 17

George Kennan - Stalin wants to see capitalism
destroyed. He thinks the West wants to destroy him. But he is not suicidal: if you act aggressively, Stalin will back down.

US - We must act aggressively. We must follow a policy of containment to stop communism spreading.

Question 18

Novikov telegram

Answer 18

Nikolai Novikov - The USA wants to use its massive military power to destroy the Soviet Union. Now Roosevelt is dead, the USA does not want to work with us. The American people are happy to go to war against the Soviet Union.

Soviet Union - We must protect ourselves. The best way to do this is to build satellite states in Eastern Europe.

Question 19

Satellite states

Answer 19

Countries that came under the control of the Soviet Union after the Second World War.

Question 20

Creation of Soviet satellite states

Answer 20

In 1944 and 1945, the Soviet Red Army freed many countries in Eastern Europe from the Nazis. When the war was over, Stalin did not want to give up control of these countries as they were a useful buffer zone between the Soviet Union and Germany. He turned them into satellite states with communist governments. Truman saw this as evidence that the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism worldwide. The relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union became worse.