GCSE History: Cold War
THE GRAND ALLIANCE:
● Created 1941 → to defeat Nazi Germany + the Axis
● Britain (joined war 1939) + USA (joined war 1941) + USSR (joined war 1941)
TEHRAN CONFERENCE:
● First meeting between leaders of Grand Alliance
● November 1943
● USA + GB agreed to invade Nazi-occupied France
● USSR agreed to invade Germany from East
● Opened up a ‘second front’ against Nazis → harder to fight 2 wars at same time
● USSR agreed w/ USA it would declare war w/ Japan after Nazi’s defeated
○ Japan bombed American Navy at Pearl Harbour → 7 DEC 1941
● USA + GB agreed Polish border would be moved to the west → fall along
Oder + Neisse rivers
○ Gave USSR more of Poland's land at end of war
● International organisation → tried to peacefully solve problems between
countries
○ Meeting laid foundations for UN
● Stalin → Tehran conference was a success → would gain Polish land after war
● Churchill → less pleased
YALTA CONFERENCE:
● February 1945
● Superpowers agreed on Declaration of Liberated Europe
○ To aid people who the Allies has liberated from Nazis
● Germany would be forced to pay reparations
○ Stalin thought they should pay $20bn
○ Agreed no monetary reparations would be paid → instead Allies would
run parts of it → reduced in size + split up
● German army banned → demilitarisation
● Nazi War criminals would be tried in Courts of law
● GB + US pushed very hard for free + democratic elections in Eastern Europe → USSR
were less keen
● Compromise → Allies agreed Poland could exist in ‘Soviet sphere of influence’
○ Soviet sphere of influence would cause problems in cold war
● United Nations → set up at Yalta conference (FEB 1945)
POTSDAM CONFERENCE:
● July - August 1945
● Germany defeated → May 1945
● Third + Final meeting between USA + USSR + GB
● Franklin D. Roosevelt died April 1945 → Harry S. Truman replaced him
, GCSE History: Cold War
○ Truman more reluctant to compromise w/ USSR
● UK General Election → July 1945 → Clement Attlee replaced Churcill
● Met at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam
● Nazi Party banned in Germany
● War criminals prosecuted → during Nuremberg trials
● Council of Foreign Ministers made → first session in London (sept 1945)
○ Aim → accelerate recovery of Europe + settle peace treaties w/ Nazi
allies
● Berlin + Germany divided between Allies → soviet would receive ¼ of all
output produced in US, GB + French zones
○ Compensate for USSR not getting reparations
● UK + USA thought Stalin’s installation of an entirely pro-communist gov in Poland was a
violation of Yalta agreement
○ 2 polish communists, Gomułka and Bierut → very influential + supported by
USSR
● USA + UK thought poles in England should run Poland
● Allied Control Council → govern the parts of Germany
● Churchill → believe defeated Germany should be rebuilt
● Stalin → wanted to weaken Germany through reparations
● Churchill suspected Soviet troops wouldn’t leave Eastern European countries which
were liberated
● British economy → severely impacted + couldn’t against USSR alone
○ Result - allied closely w/ USA
○ Process led to divisions → became known as cold war
● The main communist countries in the 20th century → Soviet Union, China,
Cambodia, Vietnam, and Cuba
● 1917-2017 → communist governments presided over deaths of 100m of own
citizens
● Collectivisation of farming → food production + land from individual farmers
(owned crops) transferred to gov-owned farming project
○ Once gov controlled all of country’s food → food withheld from people
to make them do what gov wanted
○ If didn’t comply → starve to death
● Poor organisation + incompetence or lack of info → lead to less deliberate
famines
● E.G. stalin’s russia 1930s → 3.3m people died in Ukraine → in ‘holodomor’ →
extermination by hunger
EARLY US-SOVIET RELATIONS:
THE GRAND ALLIANCE:
● Created 1941 → to defeat Nazi Germany + the Axis
● Britain (joined war 1939) + USA (joined war 1941) + USSR (joined war 1941)
TEHRAN CONFERENCE:
● First meeting between leaders of Grand Alliance
● November 1943
● USA + GB agreed to invade Nazi-occupied France
● USSR agreed to invade Germany from East
● Opened up a ‘second front’ against Nazis → harder to fight 2 wars at same time
● USSR agreed w/ USA it would declare war w/ Japan after Nazi’s defeated
○ Japan bombed American Navy at Pearl Harbour → 7 DEC 1941
● USA + GB agreed Polish border would be moved to the west → fall along
Oder + Neisse rivers
○ Gave USSR more of Poland's land at end of war
● International organisation → tried to peacefully solve problems between
countries
○ Meeting laid foundations for UN
● Stalin → Tehran conference was a success → would gain Polish land after war
● Churchill → less pleased
YALTA CONFERENCE:
● February 1945
● Superpowers agreed on Declaration of Liberated Europe
○ To aid people who the Allies has liberated from Nazis
● Germany would be forced to pay reparations
○ Stalin thought they should pay $20bn
○ Agreed no monetary reparations would be paid → instead Allies would
run parts of it → reduced in size + split up
● German army banned → demilitarisation
● Nazi War criminals would be tried in Courts of law
● GB + US pushed very hard for free + democratic elections in Eastern Europe → USSR
were less keen
● Compromise → Allies agreed Poland could exist in ‘Soviet sphere of influence’
○ Soviet sphere of influence would cause problems in cold war
● United Nations → set up at Yalta conference (FEB 1945)
POTSDAM CONFERENCE:
● July - August 1945
● Germany defeated → May 1945
● Third + Final meeting between USA + USSR + GB
● Franklin D. Roosevelt died April 1945 → Harry S. Truman replaced him
, GCSE History: Cold War
○ Truman more reluctant to compromise w/ USSR
● UK General Election → July 1945 → Clement Attlee replaced Churcill
● Met at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam
● Nazi Party banned in Germany
● War criminals prosecuted → during Nuremberg trials
● Council of Foreign Ministers made → first session in London (sept 1945)
○ Aim → accelerate recovery of Europe + settle peace treaties w/ Nazi
allies
● Berlin + Germany divided between Allies → soviet would receive ¼ of all
output produced in US, GB + French zones
○ Compensate for USSR not getting reparations
● UK + USA thought Stalin’s installation of an entirely pro-communist gov in Poland was a
violation of Yalta agreement
○ 2 polish communists, Gomułka and Bierut → very influential + supported by
USSR
● USA + UK thought poles in England should run Poland
● Allied Control Council → govern the parts of Germany
● Churchill → believe defeated Germany should be rebuilt
● Stalin → wanted to weaken Germany through reparations
● Churchill suspected Soviet troops wouldn’t leave Eastern European countries which
were liberated
● British economy → severely impacted + couldn’t against USSR alone
○ Result - allied closely w/ USA
○ Process led to divisions → became known as cold war
● The main communist countries in the 20th century → Soviet Union, China,
Cambodia, Vietnam, and Cuba
● 1917-2017 → communist governments presided over deaths of 100m of own
citizens
● Collectivisation of farming → food production + land from individual farmers
(owned crops) transferred to gov-owned farming project
○ Once gov controlled all of country’s food → food withheld from people
to make them do what gov wanted
○ If didn’t comply → starve to death
● Poor organisation + incompetence or lack of info → lead to less deliberate
famines
● E.G. stalin’s russia 1930s → 3.3m people died in Ukraine → in ‘holodomor’ →
extermination by hunger
EARLY US-SOVIET RELATIONS:
