The Cold War begins: 1945 -1948

Key issues:

Why did the wartime alliance fall apart?

What were the major differences?

The importance of Yalta and Potsdam conferences.

The roles of Stalin and Truman.

Events from the war.

Major point: The USSR lost around 20 million people in

WW2.

Stalin was determined to make the USSR secure in the

future.

By contrast GB lost around 370,000 and the USA lost

297,000 people.

The rise of the superpowers

Before WW2 there were a number of countries which could

have claimed to be superpowers – USA, USSR,GB, France,

Japan, Germany.

The damage caused by the war to these countries left only

two countries with the military strength, size and resources

to be called superpowers….USA and USSR.

What they believed in:

Don‟t forget USA was capitalist and USSR was communist.

They had allied against Fascism ….. Now the common

enemy had been defeated the reason for co-operation was

gone.

Differences were bound to emerge.

The Past. The Soviet Union could not forget that in 1918 Britain

and the USA had tried to destroy the Russian

Revolution.

The memory of the Red Scare in the 1920s was not gone

either.

Stalin also thought that they had not given him enough

help in the Second World War.

Britain and the USA could not forget that Stalin had

signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact with Germany in 1939.

Aims.

Stalin wanted huge reparations from Germany, and a

„buffer‟ of friendly states to protect the USSR from being

invaded again. He was “suspicious”, think about the

causes of Appeasement!

Britain and the USA wanted to protect democracy, and

help Germany to recover. They were worried that large

areas of eastern Europe could fall under Soviet control.

Europe at the end of WW2

After the war, who would lead the countries and form new

governments?

The USSR favoured the communist groups, the USA

favoured the non-communists

Examples would be Greece and Yugoslavia.

This was one cause of tension between the superpowers.

TASK Two conferences were held in 1945 at Yalta and Potsdam

The aim was to discuss the future.

What to do with Germany‟s leaders after the war.

What would happen to the occupied countries after liberation, especially those of Eastern Europe.

How to end the war with Japan

How to build a lasting peace.

So, who was to blame? Russian historians blamed Churchill (the British Prime Minister)

and Truman (the American president, 1945–1953). They said Truman and Churchill wanted to destroy the USSR, which was just defending itself.

At first, western writers blamed the Soviet Union. They said Stalin was trying to build up a Soviet empire. Later, however, some western historians blamed the USA. They said Truman had not understood how much Russia had suffered in the Second World War.

Nowadays, historians think BOTH sides were to blame – that there were hatreds on both sides and probably an inevitable conflict once again.