Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Why did the USA-USSR alliance begin to break down in 1945? - Coggle Diagram
Why did the USA-USSR alliance begin to break down in 1945?
what was the cold war?
it's called the cold war because it was not directly fought it was instead a competition to be the most powerfully armed and the most successful in space exploration
US and USSR were the most powerful countries after the war and formed an alliance that lasted a few years before being broken down
the cold war came after the second world war when the two superpowers where the only Great Powers left with the UK, France, Japan and Germany weakened.
from 1941 to 1945 the USA and USSR were parners with Great Britain in the Grand Alliance, they agreed on the broad aspects of peace but disagreed on the details.
the cold war broke because of their conflictive objectives and priorities, they didn't trust each other anymore and the Grand Alliance fell apart
instead of partnership was hostiity, instead of cooperation was mistrust, instead of open dissucison was espionage
the Tehran Conference 1943
Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
Military decisions took precedence over anything else
The USA and Britain agreed to invade France, joining the Russians fighting on land in Europe.
The USSR would fight Japan once Germany had been defeated.
Yalta Conference
Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
aimed to decide what to do with Germany once it had been defeated.
Germany would be divided into four zones of occupation controlled by each allied power
Berlin divided into four zones of occupation controlled by each allied power
All countries freed from Nazi control could hold elections to choose their own governments.
Stalin committed to joining the war against Japan, once Germany had been defeated
All the leaders made a commitment to pursue, and put on trial, suspected Nazi war criminals.
The Allies agreed to the setting up of the United Nations
Stalin to have a ‘sphere of influence’ over Eastern Europe
The USSR would be allowed to take reparations from defeated Germany
Postdam Conference
Attlee, Harry S Truman, Stalin met in Postdam, Berlin
July 1945
Stalin wasn't allowing free elections in Eastern Europe and a communist government was being set up in Poland
Arguments over where the boundaries between the zones would be drawn
Aimed to put into action the post-war settlement agreed on Yalta
Arguments about how much the USSR should be allowed to take in reparations.
Soviet attitude to peace-making
Stalin wanted to stenghten Soviet influence and prevent another invasion from the West, to do this the Red Army held on to as much of Eastern Europe as possible
Stalin wanted a buffer zone between the Soviet Union and Germany
wanted reparations that marched their losses and finantial assistance to repair his country
USA attitude towards peace making
Roosevelt wanted, like Stalin and Churhill, to limit the power of Germany and prevent another war
wanted to break down empires and speheres of influence, wanted self-determination, democracy, free elections and freedom of speech
his approach to USSR was contaiment, keeping the USSR within certain boundaries and borders, prevnenting them from advansing their power and influecnce
didn't want another Great Depression so he allowed free trade
the USA exploded the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan ending the war with Japan, by forcing them to surrounder, without USSR assistance so Soviets couldn't have any demands in Asia
USA threw the bombs to warn the USSR about the strength of the US arsenal, in response USSR scientists started to develop their own nuclear weapon starting an arms race
saw every action of USSR not a defensive but as a expansionism plan and believed all commnism problems were their fault