(Unfinished) Edexcel GCSE History: Superpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-91

This set contains the notes from Seneca about the Cold War (Paper 2 Booklet P), turned into questions. This is currently unfinished. Key Topic 1 - The origins of the Cold War, 1941-58: Key Topic 2 - Cold War crises, 1958-70: Key Topic 3 - The end of the Cold War, 1970-91:

What was the Grand Alliance? Which countries were in it?

What was the Grand Alliance? Which countries were in it?

The Grand Alliance was created in 1941 with the sole purpose of defeating Nazi Germany, and the other Axis powers including Japan.

It was a marriage of convenience (practical partnership) between three very different countries:

Britain (a democracy, at war since 1939)

The USA (a democracy, at war since December 1941)

The Soviet Union (the USSR, a one-party communist state, at war since 1941)

These countries shared one core aim: to defeat Nazi Germany and its allies.

What happened at the Tehran Conference?

The Tehran Conference was the first meeting between the British, American and Soviet Leaders. The Tehran Conference happened in November-December 1943.

USA and Britain agreed to invade Nazi-occupied France (using Britain as a base for the invasion).

The Soviet Union agreed to invade Germany from the East (from the place that is now Russia).

This was known as opening up a 'second front' against the Nazis. It is notoriously harder to fight 2 wars at the same time.

The Soviet Union also agreed with the Americans that it would declare war against Japan. Japan had bombed the American navy at Pearl Harbour on the 7th December 1941.

The USA and Britain agreed that the Polish border would be moved westward, to fall along the Oder and Neisse rivers. This would give the Soviet Union more of Poland's land at the end of the war.

An international organisation, a bit like a successor to the League of Nations would try to peacefully solve problems between countries. This meeting lay the foundations for the United Nations.

For Stalin, the Tehran Conference was a success. He would gain Polish territory after the war.

Churchill was less pleased.

What happened at the Yalta Conference?

The Yalta Conference was the second conference between the USA, Britain and the Soviet Union. The Yalta Conference happened in February 1945.

At Yalta, the superpowers agreed on the Declaration of Liberated Europe. This was designed to aid the people who the Grand Alliance had liberated from Nazi control.

Germany would be forced to pay reparations (payments to the victors after a war). Stalin thought that Germany should pay $20bn in reparations. However, it was agreed that no monetary reparations would be paid - instead, the Alliance would each run parts of Germany.

Germany would have its army banned - something called demilitarisation.

Nazi war criminals would be tried in courts of law.

Britain and America pushed very hard for there to be free and democratic elections in Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union was less keen on this. As a compromise, the Grand Alliance agreed that Poland could exist in a 'Soviet sphere of influence'.

This Soviet sphere of influence would cause problems for decades to come in the Cold War.

After the discussions at the Tehran Conference, the United Nations was finally set up at the Yalta Conference of February 1945.

What happened at the Potsdam Conference?

Germany was defeated in May 1945. Then in August, Japan was defeated on 'VJ' Day. The Potsdam Conference happened between July and August 1945. It was the third and final meeting between the USA, Britain and the Soviet Union.

Franklin D. Roosevelt died in April 1945 and was replaced by Harry S. Truman. Truman was more reluctant to compromise with the USSR.

After the UK General Election in July 1945, Clement Attlee replaced Churchill during the conference.

The leaders met at the Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam.

The Nazi Party was banned in Germany.

War criminals would be tried in court (prosecuted) during the Nuremberg trials.

Something called the 'Council of Foreign Ministers' was created. It held its first session in London in September 1945. Its aim was to accelerate the recovery of Europe and to settle peace treaties with the Nazi allies (like Italy, Bulgaria, and Finland).

Berlin and Germany were divided between the Grand Alliance powers. The Soviets would receive 1/4 of all the output produced in the British, American and French zones. This seemed to compensate the Soviet Union for not getting reparations. Truman wanted free, democratic elections to happen in the Eastern European countries 'liberated' by the Soviet Union but Stalin was not keen on this idea.

The UK and USA considered Stalin's installation of an entirely pro-communist government in Poland to be a violation of the Yalta agreement. 2 Polish Communists, Gomułka and Bierut, were very influential and were being supported by the Soviet Union.

What were the ideological differences between the countries in the Grand Alliance?

Truman became president of the USA after Roosevelt's death.

He was less sympathetic towards the communist dictatorship in the Soviet Union.

Roosevelt had held the alliance together and after his death. Truman's approach was more hard-line.

Stalin was distrustful of Truman, who demanded lots of things at Potsdam.

He was angry that, before the conference, Truman had successfully tested the atomic bomb without consulting him.

However, Stalin was already aware of the progress the USA was making.

Churchill believed that a defeated Germany should be rebuilt.

But Stalin wanted to weaken Germany as much as possible through reparations.

Churchill also suspected that Soviet troops would not leave the Eastern European countries that they had liberated.

Britain's economy had been severely impacted by the war, and it could not act against the Soviet Union on its own.

As a result, it allied more closely with the United States.

This process led to the divisions which would become known as the Cold War.

The Soviet Union supported communism, whilst the USA and Britain were capitalist countries.

Communism advocated confiscating all private property, with the government owning all assets and controlling all enterprise. Communism stood against capitalism and liberal democracy.

Capitalism advocated that entrepreneurs and businesses compete via innovation to create the best goods & services for consumers, with a large portion of the benefit of their work going to the business.

What was life like in communist countries in the 20th century?