The Grand Alliance was made up of the Big Three: Britain, The USA and The Soviet Union; it was formed to combat Germany in WW2. They united against a common enemy, their actions of which were decided at 3 conferences.

• Tehran was the first in Nov-Dec 1943 where a number of things were decided: USA and Britain would open up a 2nd front by invading Nazi occupied Europe (D Day). The SU would declare war on Japan when Germany was defeated, Poland's borders would move west, they'd get land from Germany and lose it to the soviet union. It was also agreed that there would be an international body to settle future disputes.
• Yalta was next in February 1945- They agreed that Germany, when defeated, would be reduced in size, divided into 4 zones, demilitarised and would be required to pay $20 million in reparations. The UN would be set up and there would be free elections in European countries. Nazi war criminals would be punished and Stalin would join the war against Japan.
• However they disagreed over a few things: Stalin wanted all 16 soviet states free admittance to the UN but only Belarus, Ukraine and Russia were admitted. Stalin wanted the Lublin Poles in charge in Poland as they were pro-communist but Churchill wanted the London Poles in charge.
• Potsdam in July-August 1945- There were some changes at this conference since Roosevelt had been replaced with Harry S Truman after his death. Truman was less lenient with Stalin and they didn't have a rapport like Stalin and Roosevelt. Both Churchill and Labour's Clement Attlee were there as they were awaiting the results of the General Election which Churchill actually lost. He left halfway through the conference and this greatly affected the conference since Stalin respected Churchill and didn't have nearly the same respect for liberal Attlee.
  This conference was different since Germany had surrendered in May 1945 so there was no longer a common enemy. They decided that Germany would be 4 zones and Berlin would also become 4 zones. Since the SU had the poorest zone they could take a quarter of industrial equipment from other zones.
  There was disagreements about how the future of Eastern Europe should progress as Stalin wanted certainty and security for the Soviet Union concerning Eastern Europe.

Mainly, the difference is that one is capitalist and one is communist. Communism focused on the rights of working class while capitalism focused on the rights of the individual. The west focused on individual freedom while the east focused on freedom. The economy has free trades in America while the economy is government planned trade in the Soviet Union. The east is a dictatorship while the west is completely democratic.

• The Truman Doctrine was in 1947 which was sparked by events in Greece. The British sent in troops in 1945 to supervise free elections and restore order to Greece. In 1946, the USSR protested the UN that the British were a threat to peace, the UN took no action so the communists tried to take power by force. A civil war quickly developed, the British couldn't afford a war so they announced they would withdraw in Feb 1947. Truman stepped in and paid for some to stay, they helped to restore the Monarchists by 1950.
• The Truman Doctrine was known as containment and was the doctrine to contain the spread of communism from Eastern Europe. Truman would provide money and troops to help free governments to combat communist takeovers in order to preserve freedom.
• The Marshall Plan was the economic faction of the Truman Doctrine and was the $13 billion made available by the US to help rebuild Europe. Communist appealed to people who didn't have anything to lose, the Marshall plan made sure that people would have a stake and a debt to the capitalist system. Countries had to trade with the USA to get the money; 16 countries took the money. The USSR called this plan Dollar Imperialism adn as an attack on the Soviet Regime.

Stood for the Communist Information Bureau which Stalin set up in 1947. It organised all the Communist parties in Europe and arranged them under Moscow. Cominform's goal was to get rid of any communist opposition in satellite states. It also encouraged them to block any Marshall Plan assistance.

Stood for Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. Stalin set it up in 1949 and it was the Soviet response/ alternative to the Marshall Plan. It encouraged and forged trade links between COMECON countries and prevented the same countries from asking for Marshall Aid.

NATO was set up in 1949 and was a military alliance between the US and many western countries. It was based off collective security, if one country was attacked, the others would have to assist against it. It was against a possible attack from the Soviet Union.
NATO showed that after the Berlin Blockade and the Soviet's own development of the atomic bomb, neither the US nor Western European governments were prepared to accept future Soviet aggression. This triggered the formation of the Warsaw Pact in 1955 which was to strengthen their own defense against the US. Now there were two military alliances, one on each side of the Iron Curtain each in their own sphere of influence.

1945- USA had an atomic bomb and dropped 2 on 2 Japanese Cities.

1951- US Strategic Air Command (SAC) develops policy of constant readiness. 6000 USSR targets are identified in case of a war.

NOVEMBER 1952- USA detonates the very first H-bomb which is 1000 times more powerful than the atom bomb.

MARCH 1954- USA develops H-bomb small enough to be dropped from a bomber.

JULY 1956- USA develops U-2 spy plane to spy on soviet weapons development

OCTOBER 1957- USSR launches Sputnik satellite into orbit around the earth. USA shocked by Soviet advances in the space race.

1959- USA develops sophisticated ICBMs and Polaris missiles (fired from submarines). US public are worried that the USSR has more nuclear weapons however Eisenhower knows this is not true but doesn't tell them.

OCTOBER 1961- USSR detonates the largest ever H-bomb which is more powerful than all explosives from both sides used in WWW combined.

By the mid 1950s the development of nuclear weapons started to produce larger warheads and missile delivery systems which meant that nay nuclear war would destroy both sides (known as Mutually Assured Destruction or MAD). They had to come up with diplomatic ways of solving issues so there wouldn't be a war that involved nuclear weapons.

The Warsaw pact was a collective defense strategy involving Soviet states and satellite states. It was set up on the 14th May 1955 following the entry of West Germany into NATO on the 9th May 1955 which greatly threatened the Soviet Union.

The formation of the Warsaw Pact meant that there were two opposing military alliances on either side of the Iron Curtain in Europe.

The Warsaw pact gave the Soviet Union direct control over the armed forces of its satellite states, thus strengthening its grip on Eastern Europe.

Many were horrified and it made the West even more determined to contain communism. In many ways, this uprising made the USA look weak but they didn't want to compromise containment.

The USA supported the Hungarians in terms of sending monetary aid and medical aid and they also accepted refugees but they did no action in terms of military aid.

The UN condemned Soviet actions and some countries boycotted the 1956 Olympics but no further actions were taken.

Other satellite states saw that the USA wouldn't come to their aid and so Soviet control re-tightened.