Why did the Cold War begin? The breakdown of the Grand Alliance

The Grand Alliance (1941)
1. Before the Cold War, America and the USSR worked together in 1941 to defeat the Nazis
  1. Joined together out of convenience (capitalists-US and communists-USSR) to try defeat Hitler
    1. Hitler had been defeated in 1945 and the relationship between Roosevelt and Stalin brought tension and unease between both powerful people
2. Between 1943-45 the leaders of the grand alliance (Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin) met at 3 international conferences: TEHRAN, YALTA and POTSDAM
The TEHRAN conference (1943)
1. Aim- to make plans for the reconstruction of Europe following the second world war
2. At the conference the powers agreed that the USSR should have a 'sphere of influence' in eastern Europe (communism poor area) in which communism would be respected and dominant
  1. And western Europe would be a place where there would be a 'sphere of influence' for Britain and the US where capitalism would be dominant
3. However, the big 3 did not agree on Germany's future:
  1. Stalin believed: Germany should be punished by starting ww2 and pay reparations as a fine for starting it, which ensures Germany will not be a threat in the future
  2. Roosevelt and Churchill believed: Germany should be rebuilt because after the first world war due to the treaty of Versailles Germany had economic problems which they were frustrated about and lead to the rise of Hitler in the first place. They thought that a 'prosperous Germany' lead to a peaceful Europe
The YALTA conference (1945)
1. There was many decisions made at this conference, this was:
  1. 1. Stalins troops (Russian) would help America defeat Japan after Hitler
  2. 2. Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to let a communist government run in Poland
  3. 3. Establishment (set up) of the 'United Nations' an organisation which is committed to maintain world peace
  4. 4.They also repeat about the USSR having a 'sphere of influence' in eastern Europe
The POTSDAM conference (1945)
1. The final conference of the Grand alliance
2. The allies agreed to ban the Nazi party and prosecute surviving Nazis as war criminals
3. The decided to reduce the side f Germany to one quarted
4. They also decided to divide Germany temporarily into 4 zones allocated to Britain, France, America and the USSR
Signs of tension
1. They all fought for democracy, however they all had different opinions what democracy actually meant
  1. Stalin believed a democratic government was: a communist government because communists only truly represented the working class people
  2. Roosevelt believed democracy was a number of political parties who would compete to win the peoples support (in free elections)
  3. The success of the TEHREN and YALTA conferences were based largely on Stalin's relationship with Roosevelt
    1. However 2 months after the YALTA conference, FDR died and Harry S Truman came to power less willing to co-operate with Stalin
      1. This rose tensions to the final conference between Stalin and Truman (POTSDAM)

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Why did the Cold War begin? The breakdown of the Grand Alliance

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	Created by milliewernyj17 almost 11 years ago