Potsdam July/August 1945 Flashcards
How did the Grand alliance breakdown?
Roosevelt died in April 1945 and was replaced by Truman
Churhill lost the eletion and was replaced by Atlee in July
Who was Truman?
Little knowledge of int affairs
Rejected cooperation with USSR
Convinced communism was a threat
Wanted the USA to be a global super power
Who was Atlee?
Mistrusted Stalin
Wnated alliane with USA to protect the WEst from communism
What happened the day before Potsdam?
Detonation of the US atomic bomb
What was Trumans hope for the atomic bomb?
That it would force Stalin to keep his deal made at Yalta
How did Stalin vi ew the news of the US atomic bomb?
It reinforced his anxiety for Soviet security
Stalin and his foreign minister Molotov refused to be intimidated by the USA nuclear monopoly
What was agreed at Potsdam?
Germany would be disarmed and demillitarised
DeNazification would take place , war criminals put on trial, Nazi members removed from public office, and the education system reformed to be free of Nazi influence
Freedom of speech and religious tolerance restored
Germany was to be a single economic unit with common policies, industry and finance
USSR received reparations from its zone and 25 % from Western zones
In what ways did Potsdam fail?
It didn’t reinforce international cooperation
It didn’t reconstruct a long term future for post war Europe
IT didn’t improve relations between commnunist East and cap west
It did not address suspicions between USSR and US
What were Truman’s aims?
Post war world based on self determination
Open trading based on international cooperation
Avoid a return to the Great Depression
Limit territorial expansion of the USSR
Truman started to view confrontation as the basis for relations with Stalin
He hoped their ownership of nuclear tech would ensure Stalin’s cooperation.
He feared the removal of anti communist ambassadors and the rise of pro communist govts
The US ambassador to Moscow warned Truman of a planned barbarians invasion of Europe
Truman believed that force was the only method Stalin would understand
What was the position of Stalin by Potsdam?
Convinced the US wanted dominance in Europe
Obsessed with Soviet security
Insisted the Red Army stay present in E Europe
Intensified his programme of installing pro communist regimes
He thought the US were anti Soviet
What was Atlee’s view of Stalin at Potsdam?
Confirmed that Stalin was expansionist
AGreed that the US were defenders in the WEstern zones of Germany against Soviet threat.
Developed an anti communist policy
Supported the terms of Potsdam but worried that they weakened Germany
Concerned that Potsdam had no long term plan for the future of Germany especially because Stalin had yet to implement his agreements on Poland and the Declaration of Liberated Europe made at Yalta
