the last years of stalin and the emergence of a superpower

the emergence of a superpower

after world war two the USSR emerged as one of the two leading superpowers. stalin enjoyed status he did not have before 1939

soviet bloc

formed in 1949 with 11m strong red army soldiers, not retreating since the battle of Berlin in 1945 communist regimes were then installed in these Nazi liberated countries with the backing of the USSR, these were referred to as satellites and served the purpose of creating a communist zone of influence in Eastern Europe and created a buffer zone against the future of western aggression

whatwhat happened to US soviet relations after USSR made its first atomic bomb

• The US could no longer rely on nuclear superiority to deter Soviet expansion.

• Relations became more tense and suspicious, as both sides now had the potential for nuclear destruction.

warsaw uprising

august-october 1944

• When the uprising began, the Red Army was already close to Warsaw.

• However, Soviet forces stopped advancing and did not assist the rebels.

• The Germans brutally crushed the uprising after about 63 days, killing around 200,000 civilians.

Western leaders suspected the USSR deliberately allowed the resistance to be destroyed.

Leaders such as Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt believed the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin wanted the uprising to fail.

• The Polish Home Army was anti-communist.

• By allowing Germany to destroy it, Stalin removed opposition to a future communist government in Poland.

the iron curtain speech

5 March 1946

Churchill said that an “iron curtain” had descended across Europe, meaning the continent was being divided between Western democracies and Soviet-controlled states.

By saying this publicly, Churchill openly criticised Soviet expansion, making tensions between the USSR and the West more visible.

the USA and the atomic bomb

the USA initally emerged as the only superpower that had nuclear power

the long telegram

The Long Telegram (February 1946) significantly worsened relations between the USA and the USSR by shaping the American view that the Soviet Union was aggressive and expansionist.

It was written by the American diplomat George F. Kennan while he was working at the US embassy in Moscow and sent to officials in Washington, D.C..

policy of containment