Origins of the Cold War: The Breakdown of the Grand Alliance at Potsdam Flashcards
Position of WW2 before Potsdam
War in Europe ended May 1945, Hitler dead
War against Japan continued- Stalin committed to helping western powers against Japan
When was the Potsdam Conference?
- 17 July to 1 August 1945
Who was at the Potsdam Conference?
- Stalin
- Truman (became president when Roosevelt died on 12 April 1945)
- Attlee (replaced Churchill on 26 July after winning the General Election)
Truman post-war aims
Less knowledgeable on international affairs
Less cooperative w/ Soviets- convinced they were a threat
Attlee post-war aims
Similar to Churchill
pro-US relations, distrustful of USSR
What agreements were made at Potsdam relating to Nazis and military?
- Germany was to be completely disarmed and demilitarised
- De-Nazification
- 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
What political agreements were made at Potsdam?
- Decentralisation of the political system, to prevent another dictator, and local responsibility developed
- Restoration of freedom of speech, free press and religious tolerance
- Democratisation
What economic agreements were made at Potsdam?
- Germany was to become a single economic unit with common policies on industry and finance
What council was made to ensure joint occupation of Germany?
- 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
Why were agreements on reparations difficult to achieve?
- USSR had suffered immensely from WWII 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
What was the consensus on reparations?
- 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
What was the issue with Polish borders?
- 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
How was the Polish borders issue settled?
- Soviet troops occupied eastern Germany and Poland, so Britain and USA couldn’t change frontier
- Oder-Neisse Line recognised this as new Polish borders
- They hoped this would persuade Soviets to be more flexible about German reparations and the establishment of a democratic government in Poland
What did the US do before Potsdam?
- 16 July 1945 - USA successfully detonated its first atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan project
How did the atomic bomb affect Potsdam?
- 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
