Alliances
- During the Second World War, the Soviet Union and the United States of America were allied. The only reason for this was that they shared a common enemy, Germany. However, both countries had different reasons for fighting the Second World War. The Soviet Union was attacked by Germany in 1941, despite previously being allied – see Nazi-Soviet Pact. Germany also declared war on the USA in December 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
- One could argue that the Soviet Union was already fighting the Second World War in 1939 as it attacked Poland and later Finland.
To learn about the following conferences, watch this documentary:
Tehran Conference (December 1943)
- Tehran in Iran was chosen for its location because it was relatively safe for all three Allied leaders (Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill).
- Among the key points to discuss at Tehran was how to win the war against both Germany and Japan, and what should happen to the former after the war had ended.
- Watch the documentary CNN Cold War – Comrades and answer the following questions.
23:30 – 24:07 Is the alliance between the US and Soviet Union strong?
24:10 – 24:40 What was the Katyn Massacre? How did Germany try to use this massacre?
27:02 – 27:38 What does George Kennan say about Stalin and Roosevelt?
27:38 – 27:55 What did the allies agree to at Tehran?
1943 to 1945
- Watch the documentary CNN Cold War – Comrades and answer the following questions.
28:56 – 30:15 What happened to Poland and who was to blame?
30:27 – 31:04 What did Churchill and Stalin agree to?
Yalta Conference (February 1945)
- The Yalta Conference aimed to discuss how to defeat and later administer Germany, what Europe would look like after the war and how the Soviet Union would later join the war against Japan.
- Watch the documentary CNN Cold War – Comrades and answer the following questions.
32:50 – 33:31 What terrible mistake did Roosevelt make and what were the two key topics which were being discussed?
34:25 – 34:50 What was decided at Yalta?
35:20 – 36:24 What happened in April 1945 and how do you think this affected the alliance of the Big Three?
- An interesting view of the Yalta Conference from US president Nixon in 1983 (he had stepped down from power in 1974). Why was Yalta a failure?
Potsdam Conference (July 1945)
- The Second World War was won in Europe, Germany surrendered on 9th May 1945. The Potsdam Conference aimed to further discuss the issue of a defeated Germany and, perhaps more importantly, how to solve the sovereignty issues in eastern Europe (particularly Poland) and how to defeat Japan.
- Watch the documentary CNN Cold War – Comrades and answer the following questions.
42:20 – 43:00 Where is Potsdam and how had the US view of the Soviets changed since Yalta?
43:30 – 45:05 Which two events may have fractured the relationships between the Big Three? But what was agreed at the conference?
- One of the key issues that worsened the relationship between the Big Three was how the Soviet Union had taken the initiative to extract reparations from Germany. These included buildings, materials and even people. They had raised it at Yalta but there was no agreement…but the Soviets did it anyway.
- There are two ways of looking at this. One, they must act only in agreement with both the US and UK. Any aggressive move such as this will only ruin any trust that had developed during the war against Germany. Second, the Soviet Union had suffered more than any country in the Second World War, their economy was ruined in western Russia and tens of millions had died. So taking reparations from Germany was the quickest way of solving some of their problems.
Summary
Taken from Perplexity.ai
