Chapter 2: From Wartime Allies to Post-War Enemies, 1945–47

In what ways did friction between the members of the Grand Alliance increase during $1945-46$ ?
Why did the four occupying powers fail to work out a joint programme for Germany's future?
To what extent were the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan designed to contain Soviet power?
How far had an 'Iron Curtain' descended across Europe by the end of $1947$ ?
Did the US or the USSR start the Cold War, $1945-47$ ?

Harry Truman became President on 12 April 1945; he was more aggressive and decisive than Roosevelt regarding Soviet policies in Poland.
The US curtailed lend-lease shipments (a program begun in March 1941 that gave over $50\,\text{billion}$ in supplies) to extract political concessions from Stalin.
The United Nations structure was established at Dumbarton Oaks (1944), granting veto rights to permanent members (Britain, US, USSR, China, and later France).
Disagreement arose over the veto; the USSR eventually secured seats for Belarus (Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic) and the Ukraine.

Success at Alamogordo (16 July 1945) led to the bombing of Hiroshima (6 August) and Nagasaki (9 August).
US initially sought a nuclear monopoly; Truman later agreed in principle to the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (November 1945).
Plans for international control failed by December 1946 when the USSR vetoed the US plan due to disagreements over inspection systems and the Security Council veto.

Held July–August 1945 with Stalin, Truman, and Churchill (replaced by Clement Attlee).
The Allied Control Council (ACC) was established, but Soviet insistence on individual zone responsibility rendered it powerless.
Reparations Dispute: The USSR wanted maximum extraction; Britain and the US prioritzed German economic self-sufficiency.
Compromise: Each power took reparations from their own zone; the West gave $10\%$ of their share plus $15\%$ in exchange for food/raw materials to the USSR.
Poland: The Western Allies reluctantly accepted the Oder-Neisse Line as the new border.

General Clay (US) halted reparation deliveries to the Soviet zone in May 1946 to force a joint economic plan.
Bizonia was formed in January 1947 by merging the British and US zones economically.
The Moscow Conference (March–April 1947) failed as the USSR rejected plans to return reparations to the western zones to pay for imports.

Britain informed the US on 21 February 1947 that it could no longer provide aid to Greece and Turkey due to a domestic economic crisis.
Truman Doctrine (12 March 1947): Promised support for free peoples resisting subjugation; defined the conflict as democracy versus terror/oppression.
Marshall Plan (June 1947): US Secretary of State George Marshall offered an economic aid package contingent on European integration.
The USSR rejected Marshall Aid as an imperialist tool to undermine Soviet influence and established Cominform in September 1947 to co-ordinate Eastern Bloc policies.
The Organization for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) was established in 1948 to distribute aid, which totalled approximately $5\,\text{billion}$ in its first instalment.

Poland: The 19 January 1947 elections involved heavy intimidation; the pro-Soviet Democratic Bloc officially won $80.1\%$ of the vote.
Romania: Petru Groza led a communist-dominated government; King Michael was forced to abdicate in December 1947.
Bulgaria: Agrarian leader Nikola Petkov was executed in April 1947; all opposition was subsequently outlawed.
Czechoslovakia: Initially accepted Marshall Plan talks but withdrew under Soviet pressure; the Communist Party seized total power in February 1948 (Prague Coup).
Yugoslavia: Led by Tito, the country was communist but independent of the Red Army; it clashed with the West over many issues including the port of Trieste.
Finland: Remained a neutral exception, ceding the Petsamo naval base and paying $300\,\text{million}$ in reparations but avoiding integration into the Soviet bloc.

Traditionalists (e.g., Herbert Feis, Arthur Schlesinger): Blame Stalin’s paranoia, Leninist ideology, and the violation of Yalta agreements.
Revisionists (e.g., William Appleman Williams, Gabriel Kolko): Blame US "Open Door" economic expansion and the use of the atomic bomb as a diplomatic tool.
Post-Revisionists (e.g., John Lewis Gaddis): Use Soviet archives to suggest the Cold War was an unavoidable outcome of Stalin’s unique personality and local communist pressures.

What caused tension in the Grand Alliance (1945-46)?: After WWII, disagreements among the Allies, especially between the US and USSR, made working together hard.
Why couldn't the four powers agree on Germany's future?: They had different goals for Germany – the US wanted a stable, self-sufficient Germany, while the USSR wanted heavy reparations.
What were the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan?: These were US efforts to stop the spread of communism by providing aid to countries threatened by it.
What is the Iron Curtain?: By the end of 1947, Europe was divided into Western countries (more democratic) and Eastern countries (more communist), with an invisible barrier called the Iron Curtain separating them.
Who started the Cold War?: Historians argue about this. Some blame the USSR for being aggressive; others blame the US for wanting to contain communism.