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CW section 1: ORIGINS - Coggle Diagram
CW section 1: ORIGINS
Chapter #1 US, British and USSR relations in 1945
Tehran Conference 1943, Moscow Conference 1943, Percentages agreement 1944
MOSCOW CONFERENCE:
- agreed to establish the European advisory commission to finalise plans for the post war allied-occupation of Germany. - They also issued the’ declaration of General Security’ proposing the creation of an organisation to maintain global peace, the UN which would be joined by all peaceful states.
TEHRAN CONFERENCE:
- Churchill,Roosevelt and Stalin met to discuss post war Europe,the future organisation for the UN and Germany’s fate.
- was no opposition from Churchill or Roosevelt to Stalin’s determined claim to all the territories which the USSR had annexed in Poland and the Baltic in 1939-40 and that Poland would be compensated for the war with German territory.
- -It was decided that British, Commonwealth and US troops would land in France (Operation Overlord) rather than the Balkans meaning that the USSR would liberate both eastern and south-eastern Europe by itself and therefore be in the position to turn the whole region into a Soviet sphere of influence.
- Therefore, the west had little or no choice but to recognise USSR’s claims to eastern Poland and the Baltic states.
PERCENTAGES AGREEMENT:
- Churchill proposed a division of South Eastern Europe into distinct spheres of interest.
- This formed the basis of the so-called “percentages agreement” that gave the USSR 90 and 75% predominance in Romania and Bulgaria respectively.
- Britain got 90% in Greece.
- While Yugoslavia and Hungary were to be divided equally into British and Soviet zones of interest.
HOWEVER:
- Churchill dropped the agreement after he realised that it would be rejected by Roosevelt once it was brought to his attention. Churchill feared this would lead to tension in the Anglo-US alliance.
- Regardless, Stalin did recognise Britain’s interests in Greece and even denied the local Greek Communists any Soviet support.
Tensions at Yalta
- Disagreements over Polish border.
-USSR and Stalin wanted the Polish border further West and a Polish Communist government.
-West did not want this as they saw it as communism spreading and Moscow controlling Poland
- Disagreements over Germany
--USSR wanted harsher reparations + more alliances.
-US and Britain disliked this as USSR would gain more power.
- By early 1945, The Grand Alliance began to show cracks.
- The Western powers were conscious of the fact that many E.European states had been liberated from Nazi occupation by the USSR.
- Stalin, Roosevelt + Churchill.
- Conference represented higher point of inter-allied cooperation.
- Its outcomes appeared to reaffirm the belief the alliance was fine HOWEVER, the objectives of the key individuals were not in line.
What was agreed at Yalta?:
- Germany divided into 4 zones each administered by an allied power. (USA, USSR, UK, FRANCE).
- Berlin would be similarly divided.
- The UN would be formally ratified.
- USSR would gain land from Poland, and Poland would be expanded to North + West.
- Declaration on liberated Europe should be created.
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Relations between Stalin, Roosebelt and Churchill
- Churchill and Roosevelt didn't want Stalin to gain more power.
- Tensions between Churchill + Roosevelt after percentages agreement Oct 1944, as Roosevelt felt betrayed.
STALIN:
- WW2 devastated the soviet union. Lasting security became a supreme objective for Stalin.
- Stalin and foreign minister Molotov viewe the other grand alliance allies as anti-ussr.
- Despite this, Stalin wanted to cooperate with the West. Poland was crucial in term of East-West relations.
- Wanted Eastern Europe to lay within a soviet sphere of influence.
- Wanted to keep Germany economically weak until it could eventually be secured as a communist state.
ROOSEVELT:
- Roosevelt was willing to cooperate with Stalin as he believed Stalin shared the same understanding and values in dealing with the post-war world.
- HOWEVER, Roosevelt had been criticised for a degree of naivety and for underestimating the security needs of the USSR in E.Europe.
CHURCHILL:
- Convinced that Stalin wanted to expand soviet power in post war Europe.
- Believed the USSR could threaten Britain's imperial interests and it was therefore essential for Britain to establish a close alliance with the USA in order to counter the potential threat.
- Was even more urgent due to the economic impact the war had on Britain.
- Percentages agreement underlined Churhills determination to control soviet expansion in E.Europe through spheres of influence as a means of protecting British interests.
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Conflicting Ideologies
- USSR: communists/left wing.
- WESTERN:favoured capitalism/right wing.
- Both opposing ideologies= conflict inevitable.
- Each viewed the expansion of the other as a threat. Ideological conviction + a desire for national security through increased global security became driving obsessions for each side.
- The US based liberty on free market economies which enabled competition and the free exchange of goods to take place with minimal government intervention.
- Economic emphasis on need for individual freedom, in order to achieve economic growth and personal happiness.
- Businesses would compete and this competition benefitted everyone.
- Capitalist democracies enshrined political freedom: there were free elections.
- Karl Marx= founding Father of communist ideology.
- Marx believed capitalism led to the exploitation of the proletarian majority by the ruling bourgeoisie.
- Russian Revolution led to creation of first communist state in the world, led by Lenin.
- Leninism was authoritarian in that it demanded rule by a relatively small workers elite or vanguard exercised by the communist party on behalf of the proletariat.
- Stalin modified Leninism to suit himself and allowed him to develop his 'cult of personality'.
Relations between Truman, Stalin and Attlee
TRUMAN
- Truman was wary of Stalin, not falling into the trap of being naive, like Roosevelt.
- Wanted open world trading system based on international economic cooperation + world economic reconstruction.
- This would minimise possibility of US regressing to conditions experienced in the Great Depression AND would fulfil US ideologies.
- Would ensure USA's geostrategc interests by limiting expansion of the territorial influence of other states, particularly by USSR.
- Hope US superiority in nuclear monopoly would be the key to ensuring Stalin's cooperation.
STALIN:
- By Potsdam, Stalin convinced that USA + allies were potential rivals for dominance in Europe. This reinforced his obsession with soviet security.
- Saw USA as having anti-soviet agenda.
ATLEE
- Attlee was very pro-Stalin and relied heavily on his foreign secretary.
- For Britain, Germany's geostrategic significance in Europe was supreme.
- Was vital that the USA acted as primary defender of the Western zones THEREFORE fp from this point onwards was anti-soviet.
-Atlee supported the terms of Potsdam but was also conscious that they weakened Germany and that it also offered no long term plan for the future of Germany.
Chapter #4 Conflict over Germany, 1947-49
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The Berlin Blockade and Berlin Airlift, June 1948 to May 1949
CAUSES:
- The USA and USSR had different aims for what they wanted to do to Germany, the USSR wanted a crippled Germany so that they would never attack Russia again whereas the US wanted an independent prosperous Germany.
- In 1947 the British and American Zones were combined and then later Frances Zone join to become Trizonia on August 1 1948
- 23 June they introduce Deutsche mark into the Western Sectors, the Eastern Population changed all their money to this as they believed it to be worth more
- The Berlin blockade was an attempt in 1948 by the USSR to limit the UK, US and France's power within Berlin
- Many British and american pilots flew long hours and many missions a day to keep west Berlin alive.
- Coal, Food, Clothing and other assorted goods were flown into West Berlin along the approved air spaces over Eastern Berlin
- The Iron Curtain became permanent, first act of open confrontation of the whole Cold War.
- 1949 Allies set up NATO as a military resistance to the USSR
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Organisation (NATO), April 1949
- The purpose of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was to provide political and military alliance that connects North America with Europe; collective defence, crisis management and cooperative security
- Original members: US, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the UK
- Greece and Turkey were added in 1952, and then West Germany in 1955.
- The Addition of West Germany to NATO triggered the USSR to create the Warsaw Pact
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