History Unit 3 - The Cold War's origins

Yalta Conference

• February 1945

• Agreed to:

  • Regard Eastern Europe as a Soviet ‘sphere of influence’

  • De-Nazify + demilitarise Germany

  • Divide Germany in 4 zones - British, French, American, Soviet

  • Divide Berlin in the same way

  • Reparations from Germany to the Allies (Stalin suggested $20 billion, with 50% going to the USSR)

  • Stalin to join war in the Pacific (helping US) against Japan after victory in Europe

  • Nazi war criminals to be brought to justice

  • Free and democratic elections would be held in all countries previously held under German rule

  • Foundation of the UN to replace the failed League of Nations

    • Stalin agreed for USSR to join if they are given veto vote within the Security Council (with USA, UK, France, China)

    • UN came into existence 24 October 1945

  • New frontiers of Poland + agreement that Poland should have a democratic government - Polish people not involved in decision making

Between Yalta and Potsdam

• New UK Prime Minister, Clement Attlee

• Franklin Roosevelt died + replaced by Harry Truman (hates Communists) who took a more hardline policy approach towards the USSR

• May 1945 - Germany surrendered unconditionally

• Situation = tense - USSR occupied most of Eastern Europe by this stage

• USA successfully tested first atomic bomb at the start of the Potsdam Conference

Potsdam Conference

• July-August 1945

• Allies could'n’t agree on how to disarm, demilitarise, de-Nazify, and divide Germany - in the end, decided that this process = undertaken by each country within own zones of occupation

• Disagreements arose over reparations:

  • Truman didn’t want to repeat mistakes of ToV

  • Stalin wanted to cripple Germany for the devastation of WWII for USSR

  • A monetary figure = never agreed on

    • Instead, countries extracted reparations from within their individual zones of Germany

• Atomic bomb heightened suspicion during conference

• One day before, US successfully tested atomic bomb developed under Manhattan Project

• 24 July 1945 - Truman told Stalin that the US had ‘a weapon of unusual destructive force’

Kennan’s Long Telegram

• February 1946 - US diplomat in Moscow, George F Kennan, sent telegram to US State Department on the nature of Soviet conduct and foreign policy

• Key idea = Soviet system was motivated by the ‘threat of a hostile world outside its borders’ + USSR was ‘fanatically and implacably’ hostile to West

• Key points:

  • USSR’d view of world = traditional one of insecurity

  • Soviet regime = cruel + repressive + justified it by perceiving nothing by evil in the outside world

  • Although hostile to West, not ‘suicidal’ + highly sensitive to use of force = if they encountered strong resistance, they would withdraw

  • Kennan’s argument about force helped harden attitudes in USA + play key role in the development of US policy of containment (stopping communism spreading)