Relations between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill

Question 1

Vyacheslav Molotov (1890-1986)

Answer 1

loyal supporter of Stalin. He served as the Soviet Foreign Minister from 1939 to 1949 and again from 1953 to 1957. He was the leading Soviet representative at Yalta and Potsdam, and many regarded his attitudes as making a major contribution to the collapse of East-West relations.

Question 2

why was WW2 such a devastation to the Soviet Union?

Answer 2

suggestion of 25 million Soviet dead, along with the mass destruction of towns and cities, agriculture and industry

Question 3

what was the supreme objective for Stalin?

Answer 3

lasting security

Question 4

what did Stalin and Molotov view the Grand Alliance as?

Answer 4

fundamentally anti-USSR

Question 5

what did Stalin want to do, in relation to the Western powers, post-WW2?

Answer 5

keep open an avenue of cooperation with the West

Question 6

what was a crucial issue in terms of East-West relations?

Answer 6

Poland

Question 7

what were the focus of Stalin’s priorities in Europe?

Answer 7

ensuring that Eastern Europe lay within a Soviet sphere of influence, and on the intention to turn the whole of Germany into a communist state at some point in the future

Question 8

what were Stalin’s views on Germany?

Answer 8

the dismemberment of Germany wouldn’t be in the interests of the Soviet Union, but Germany had to be kept economically weak until it could be secured as a communist state

Question 9

what did Roosevelt have a commitment to as the basis for a lasting post-war settlement?

Answer 9

founded on the certainty that the post-war world should strongly reflect the American concept of democracy

Question 10

why was Roosevelt’s commitment so important to the him?

Answer 10

it was in the interests of all states, and the security that the USSR valued so highly could only be achieved through what emerged at Yalta

Question 11

what does Roosevelt’s aims highlight?

Answer 11

a fundamental misconception which explains why Roosevelt was willing to cooperate with Stalin

Question 12

what was Roosevelt convinced of?

Answer 12

that Stalin shared the same understanding and values inherent in the configuration of the post-war world

Question 13

what was Roosevelt certain that he could secure?

Answer 13

a democratic, non-communist, future for the states of Eastern Europe and that international affairs could be managed through an international peacekeeping organisation

Question 14

what has Roosevelt been criticised of?

Answer 14

a degree of naivety and for underestimating the security needs of the Soviet Union in terms of Eastern Europe

Question 15

what was Churchill convinced of?

Answer 15

that Stalin’s intention to expand Soviet power in post-war Europe

Question 16

what did Churchill write to Anthony Eden, the foreign secretary, in April 1944?

Answer 16

‘I have tried in every way to put myself in sympathy with these communist leaders. I cannot feel the slightest trust or confidence in them. Force and facts are their only realities.’

Question 17

what did Churchill believe of the Soviet Union?

Answer 17

that the Soviet Union could threaten Britain’s imperial interests

Question 18

what was essential for Britain?

Answer 18

they establish a close alliance with the USA to counter the potential threat of the USSR

Question 19

what happened in October 1944?

Answer 19

Churchill arrived at the ‘percentages agreement’ with Stalin - underlined Churchill’s determination to control Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe through spheres of influence as a means of protecting British interests beyond any commitment to democracy in that region

Question 20

Anthony Eden (1897-1977)

Answer 20

British Foreign Secretary from 1940-45. Central to allied planning and diplomatic negotiations throughout the war, and he supported Churchill at Yalta

Question 21

Lublin Government

Answer 21

during the war, a Polish government in exile existed in London. The USSR supported a pro-communist government which had been set up on Poland’s liberation. This was based in the Polish city of Lublin. Stalin had ensured that non-communist leaders who had resisted the Nazis were eliminated so they couldn’t transplant the Polish government in exile back into post-war Poland

Question 22

Percentages agreement, 1944

Answer 22

Churchill and Stalin met in Moscow, 1944. The basis of the agreement was to established the percentage of predominance Britain and the USSR would each have in Eastern European states. E.g. in Romania, the USSR was to have 90% while in Greece, Britain had 90%. In Hungary, it was 50% each

Question 23

deteriorating relationships after Yalta

Answer 23

disagreement quickly emerged over how the Declaration on Liberated Europe was interpreted and how it was to be applied specifically to Poland. Stalin decided to reach the view that the communist government would stay in place, while Roosevelt viewed it in an entirely opposite way