Why did the wartime alliance begin to break down in 1945?
- The conflicting beliefs of the super powers
- Long-term distrust
- Misunderstandings between the leaders
- Personalities of the leaders
- Actions by the USA
- Actions by the USSR
communism politically
more controlling, not much freedom of speech, authoritarian
capitalism politically
democracy, freedom, choices
capitalism economically
private land ownership, less controlling, market (supply and demand), great inequality
communism economically
more controlling, businesses owned by the state (nationalizd), equality
capitalism socially
hierarchy
communism socially
very equal (egalitarian), utiliterian architecture
Reasons for distrust
- Stalin did not always treat his people well, e.g. prison camps and purges (killings) of opposition in the 1930s
- USSR left World War One in 1918 and made peace terms with Germany. The Versailles Treaty did not reward the Russians.
- The Russians had not been allowed to join the League of Nations after WW1
- Britain and France had given Hitler what he wanted in order to avoid a war.
- Britain, France and America had delayed opening a ´Second Front´, ie they were not quick enough to attack Hitler from the West to take pressure off the USSR in the East.
- Britain, France and America had sent soldiers to try to defeat the Communists in the Russian Civil War.
- The USSR signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact with Hitler, his old enemy.
- The USSR had not been allowed to attend the Munich Conference in 1938.
why did the west distrust ussr
they pulled out of WWI in 1918 after the Revolution. Lenin, the first Soviet leader, wanted to spread the Revolution all over the world. Later, the USSR signed a pact with Hitler
why did ussr distrust the west
Britain, France and the USA had intervened in the Russian Civil War to try and defeat the communists. The USSR was not invited to be part of the League of Nations in 1919 neither were they invited to take part in the Munich Agreement of 1938
who attended yalta
roosevelt, churchill, stalin
when was yalta
feb 1945
agreements at yalta
- stalin agreed to enter war against japan once germany surrendered
- countries were allowed to hold free elections
- punish war criminals (responsible for genocide)
- division of germany into 4 zones and berlin into sctors
- join UN
- eastern europe to become a soviet sphere of influence
disagreements at yalta
poland: stalin ended up taking poland but in return, could not take greece (where britain was trying to stop a communist take over)
when was potsdam
july 1945
who was at potsdam
stalin, atlee, truman
disagreements at potsdam
- germany: stalin wanted to cripple it but the USA was suspicious of their intentions and did not want a repeat of tofv
- ussr wanted to get reparations from germany
what was the iron curtain
metaphor used by churchil in his speech delivered in fulton, missouri 1946 to describ the increasing sclusion of of eastern europe from th rest of th world. division of american and soviet ideologies (communism vs capitalism)
when was the truman doctrine
march 12 1947
what was the truman doctrine
policy introduced by american government announcing thir foreign policy to contain th soviets communist influence. eg - usa provided support to the govrnments of turkey and greece to help them out of the ussr’s sphere of influnce
why did stalin want to take over eastern europe
- spread of communism
- take control
- buffer
- safety and security
- empire
- greed
- realism
- economy
- spheres of influence
when did the marschall plan start
june 1947
who started the marschall plan
state secretary george marschall
what was the marschall plan
american plan offered to all european countries with the aim of helping war torn governments from falling into USSR’s sphere of influence. the plan, however, came with strings attatched such as banning trad barriers and encouraging economic freedom, all incompatible with russian ideologies
