Origins of the Cold War: The Breakdown of the Grand Alliance at Potsdam Flashcards

1
Q

When was the Potsdam Conference?

A

• 17 July to 1 August 1945

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2
Q

Who was at the Potsdam Conference?

A

• Stalin
• Truman (became president when Roosevelt died on 12 April
1945)
• Attlee (replaced Churchill on 26 July after winning the General Election)

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3
Q

What agreements were made at Potsdam relating to Nazis and military?

A

• Germany was to be completely disarmed and demilitarised
• DeNazification
• War crimes would be judged
• All former Nazi Party members were to be removed from public office
• Education system was to be purged of all Nazi influences

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4
Q

What political agreements were made at
Potsdam?

A

• Decentralisation of the political system and local responsibility developed
• Restoration of freedom of speech, free press and religious tolerance
• Democratisation

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5
Q

What economic agreements were made at
Potsdam?

A

• Germany was to become a single economic unit with common policies on industry and finance

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6
Q

What council was made to ensure joint occupation of Germany?

A

• The Allied Control Council (ACC) was made
• There was no central German government
• ACC made of military commanders from each of the four powers
• To avoid being outvoted by the three Western powers, the Soviets insisted that each commander should have complete responsibility for his own zone
• This decision effectively stopped the ACC from exercising any real power in Germany as a whole
• A limited number of central German departments dealing with finance, transport, trade and industry were to be formed in the future

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7
Q

Why were agreements on reparations difficult to achieve?

A

• USSR had suffered immensely from WWIl and wanted reparations from Germany
• Britain and USA wanted to keep German economy strong so
Allies didn’t have to pay for imported food and raw materials

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8
Q

What was the consensus on reparations?

A

• Temporary compromise made - both USSR and Western powers would take reparations from their own zones
• Britain and USA would grant ten per cent of these reparations to the Soviets
• And a further fifteen per cent in exchange for supply of food and raw materials from the Soviet zone

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9
Q

What was the issue with Polish borders?

A

• GA agreed at Yalta that Poland should be awarded territory from
Germany to compensate for land annexed by the USSR
• USSR set new boundary along the Oder and Western Neisse
Rivers
• Britain and USA thought this gave Poland too much land

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10
Q

How was the Polish borders issue settled?

A

• Soviet troops occupied eastern Germany and Poland, so Britain and USA couldn’t change frontier
• Oder-Neisse Line recognised this as new Polish borders
• As a result, Poland’s eastern border shifted westward, and significant portions of its territory were ceded to the Soviet Union, while it gained some territory in the west at the expense of Germany.
• They hoped this would persuade Soviets to be more flexible about German reparations and the establishment of a democratic government in Poland

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11
Q

What did the US do before Potsdam?

A

• 16 July 1945 - USA successfully detonated its first atomic bomb

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12
Q

How did the atomic bomb affect Potsdam?

A

• The day before the Potsdam Conference, the first successful detonation of the USA’s atomic bomb had taken place
• Truman wanted to use atomic bomb to gain democratic leverage (power to influence someone) over Stalin
• Stalin called this atomic diplomacy
• Truman was rash and Molotov tried to not be intimidated by
USA’s nuclear monopoly
• Rose tensions as a whole

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13
Q

What were the failures of the Potsdam
Conference?

A

• No long-term plans made for reconstruction or reunification of
Germany and Europe
• Nothing done to ease tensions between communist East and capitalist West
• Disagreements over four zones in Germany

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