Post-WW2 Politics

Post-WW2 Politics

1. War Conferences

   • Yalta Conference, Feb 1945
     • Plans
       • Germany after WW2
         • Germany and Berlin to be divided amongst the Allied powers
         • Germany to be defeated, disarmed and forced to pay reparations
       • Other
         • USSR and Polish borders to move West
         • USSR to have influence in Eastern Europe
         • USSR to declare war on Japan
     • Tensions
       • Roosevelt & Churchill did not want to change Poland's borders
       • Stalin wanted all of Berlin and its industries
     • Churchill, Roosevelt & Stalin
   • Potsdam Conference, July 1945
     • Plans
       • Plans at Yalta were finalised
     • Tensions
       • USSR wanted to cripple Germany but Truman did not want to repeat Versailles
       • USA had the atomic bomb
       • Truman was anti-Communist and resented USSR's presence in Eastern Europe
     • Atlee, Truman & Stalin

2. American Foreign Policy

   • Truman Doctrine
     • Marshall Plan
       • Pledged $17bn to Europe
         • Congress refused
           • Czechoslovakia was taken over by Communists
       • General Marshall sent to assess economic situation in Europe
     • 1947
     • "resist subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures"
     • To send money, equipment and advice to countries at risk from Communism

3. Berlin Blockade

   • Berlin Airlift
     • Immediate reaction to the bloackade
       • Lasted 318 days
         • Stalin reopened lines in May 1949
       • 1.5 million tonnes of supplies
     • Operation Vittles
   • Reasons
     • New currency introduced in 1948
     • Bizone was formed and Trizone became the Federal Republic of Germany
     • Stalin wanted Germany crippled
   • June 1948, all supply lines were blocked
   • Stalin hoped the Allies would abandon Berlin