The Conferences at Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam Flashcards

Vocabulary and key conceptual flashcards covering the wartime conferences at Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam, including their impact on US-Soviet relations.

United Nations

A global organisation set up in $1945$ to maintain world peace through discussion and negotiation.

Colonialism

Economic, political, and cultural control of a country by a more powerful nation.

Reparations

Payments in money or goods after a war from the losing country to the victors as compensation for loss of life and damage.

Buffer zone

A neutral area between two hostile forces or nations.

The London Poles

A Polish government-in-exile set up in France that moved to London in $1940$ after the Germans captured France.

Monopoly

Having exclusive control of something.

Tehran Conference ($1943$)

The first meeting of the Grand Alliance where Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed to open a second front in Western Europe.

The "Big Two"

A term revealing that during the Tehran Conference, the USA and USSR were sidelining Britain as the primary superpowers.

Harry S. Truman

The US President who replaced Roosevelt in $\text{April } 1945$; he was more suspicious of Stalin and took a ‘get tough’ approach.

Germany’s surrender

Occurred in $\text{May } 1945$, removing the common enemy and reducing the need for US-Soviet cooperation.

Impact of the Atomic Bomb at Potsdam

Increased suspicion and hostility; rather than intimidating Stalin, it made him more determined to secure a buffer zone in Eastern Europe.

Nuclear Arms Race

The competition for nuclear supremacy triggered by the atomic bomb, leading to the USSR testing its own bomb in $1949$.

Yalta Conference ($\text{February } 1945$)

A meeting involving Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin where they agreed to divide Germany into $4$ zones and hold free elections in Eastern Europe.

Yalta Reparations Agreement

The decision that Germany would pay $20 \text{ billion}$ in reparations, with half of that amount going to the USSR.

Poland at Yalta

Agreed that borders would shift west and free elections would be held, though Stalin wanted a pro-communist government.

Potsdam Conference ($\text{July}–\text{August } 1945$)

A meeting between Truman, Attlee, and Stalin where Germany and Berlin were divided into $4$ zones and industrial equipment transfers were agreed.

Potsdam Industrial Reparations

Agreement that the USSR could take $\frac{1}{4}$ of industrial equipment from the other occupation zones.

Fear of Communism

A major cause of the Cold War where the USA feared expansion would destroy capitalism, eventually leading to the Truman Doctrine and containment policy.