Relations between Truman, Stalin and Attlee

What did Truman want?

• post-war world based on national self-determination

• open world trading system based on international economic cooperation

• world economic reconstruction through the creation of the IMF and the World bank

Why did Truman believe that these changes were necessary in the post-war world?

• Would minimise the possibility of the USA returning to conditions experienced during the Great Depression

• It geostrategic interests by limiting the expansion of the territorial influence of other states (Especially the USSR)

What did Truman quick come to regard as the basis for relations with Stalin?

Confrontation rather than cooperation

• hoped that the USA’s possession of nuclear technology would be the key to ensuring Stalin’s cooperation over the growth of Soviet power in Eastern Europe

What did Truman fear?

• Growth of Soviet power in Eastern Europe

• The removal of anti-communist leaders

• The rise of pro-communist provisional governments

What did the US ambassador to Moscow warn Truman about?

The effects of Soviet expansionism

• describing it as a ‘barbarian invasion of Europe’ - but thought that there was still a potential for agreement

What did Truman become increasingly convinced about the USSR?

Convinced that the USSR was not receptive to diplomatic solutions and some form of force may be necessary to ensure Soviet compliance with US wishes

• believed that this approach was the only one that Stalin would understand

By Potsdam, what was Stalin convinced about the USA?

The USA and its allies were potential rivalries

• reinforced his obsession with Soviet security, which necessitated the Red Army’s

• Continued presence in Eastern Europe and the intensification of the programme of installing pro-communist regimes in these liberated states

What time did Stalin believed had now passed?

The time for cooperation had now passed

• what was agreed on Germany was acceptable to Stalin but he had a clear and unspoken alternative agender for the rest of Europe

What did Stalin have to ensure?

Eastern Europe states formed the basis of the USSR’s long-term security system

• required theses states having comparable political and economic systems to those of the USSR

• Strength came through unity and a common identity

What did Stalin soon come to see the USA as?

having an anti-Soviet agenda

What did the events since Yalta confirm to Britain?

Stalin was an expansionist in Europe

For Britain was Germany’s geostrategic, in Europe, significant?

Yes - Supreme

• Vital that the USA act as the primary defender of Western zones of Germany against any Soviet threat

What was Britain foreign policy focused on?

Anti-communist (Soviet stance)

Did Attlee support the agreed terms at Potsdam?

• he was conscious that they weakened Germany: at least in the short term

• further concern that Potsdam offered no long-term plan for the future of Germany

Became particularly urgent in the context of Stalin’s absolute failure to implement his agreements on Poland and the Declaration on Liberated Europe made at Yalta