potsdam conference

when was the conference?

july 1945

who attended?

• Britain - Atlee

• USSR - Stalin

• USA – Truman

what were the issues with personalities?

• Truman; anti -Communist.

• Wanted free elections in Eastern Europe.

• With the Atomic Bomb after the Manhattan project, the USA no longer needed Russian help in the war with Japan

what were the issues with nuclear weapons?

• The USA tested the first Atomic Bomb in July 1945.

• Stalin was not been consulted

• America refused to share this new technology

• Stalin believed the USA could use the weapon to dominate world

what were the issues with Poland?

• Communist government was established in Poland

• This action broke the agreement reached at Yalta regarding free elections

• Stalin ignored American and British protests

what were the issues with WW2 ending?

no longer a common enemy maintaining the wartime alliance

what were the issues with the Soviet military?

• The USSR held the largest army in the world and refused to demilitarise following the end of hostilities in 1945.

• Soviet troops remained in many Eastern European countries following their liberation from the Nazis

what were the agreements?

1. P - Poland’s border fixed westwards to the Oder and Neisse rivers.

2. E - Elections in Germany to be free.

3. N - Nazi Party banned, with a de-nazification program begun.

4. G - German military demilitarized and reduced in size.

5. I - Implement Nuremberg trials for Nazi war criminals.

6. N - New single economic unit for Germany

what were the disagreements?

• 1. Eastern Europe – Stalin refused to hold free elections in Eastern Europe

• 2. Truman started a “Get Tough” policy to counter this action.

• 3. Allies didn’t agree over future government at Poland but Lublin Poles wanted to continue to run it

• 4. Stalin wanted to dismember Germany and prevent it from developing its own industry, while gaining access to the Ruhr