Relations between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill

How did WW2 devastate the Soviet Union?

• 25 million Soviet dead

• along with the mass destruction of towns and cities, agriculture and identity

Lasting security became a supreme objective for Stalin

Who was Starlin’s Foreign Minister?

Vyacheslav Molotov

How did Starlin and Moltov view the Grand Alliance allies?

Fundamentally anti-USSR

• Despite this, Stalin was a pragmatist

• Wanted to keep open an avenue of cooperation with the West

• Poland was a crucial issues in terms of East-West relations

What did Stalin’s priorities in Europe focus on?

Ensuring that Eastern Europe lay within a Soviet sphere of influence

• Intention to turn the whole of Germany into a communist state in the future

• Dismemberment of Germany would not be good

Economically weak until can be secured as communist

What was Roosevelt’s commitment?

Basis for lasting post-war settlement was clear

• However, commitment was founded on the certainty that the post-world war should strongly reflect the American concept of democracy

Interest of all states, and the security that the USSR valued so highly - only could be achieve at Yalta

How was it a fundamental misconception that Roosevelt was willing to cooperate with Stalin?

Roosevelt was convinced that Stalin shared the same understanding and values inherent in the configuration of the post-war world

What was Roosevelt certain that he could secure for the states of Eastern Europe?

Democratic (non-communist)

• International affairs could be managed through an international peacekeeping organisation

What was Churchill convinced that was Stalin’s intention?

Expand soviet power in post-war Europe

• April 1944 wrote to Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden about his lack of trust for communist leaders

What did Churchill believe that the Soviet Union could threaten?

Britain imperial interests

• Essential that Britain establish a close alliance with the USA in order to counter this potential threat

• This strategy assumed even greater urgency given the economic impact of the war upon Britain

How did Churchill protect British interests in Eastern Europe and the Balkans in October 1944?

Arrived at the ‘percentages agreement’ with Stalin

• Showed Churchill’s determination to control Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe through spheres of influence

• Means to commitment to democracy in that region

How did relationships begin to deteriorate after Yalta?

Disagreement quickly emerged over how the Declaration on Liberated Europe was interpreted

• especially Poland!

Stalin reached the view that the communist government would stay in place while Roosevelt viewed it in an entirely opposite way