The Cold War
Fall of the Grand Alliance 1945
Key Words:
Grand Alliance - USA, USSR, & GB aligned to defeat Nazi Germany
Bufferzone - zone of countries surrounding the bigger country (eg. Russia) for
protection
Sphere of Influence - area where one country has a strong say in what happened
USA - United States of America
USSR - Soviet Russia
GB - Great Britain
Good to know:
➔ By 1945, it was clear that the military strength of the USSR and the USA
made them world superpowers.
➔ USA had developed the atomic bomb, USSR was quickly starting it’s own
research & replicated the bomb by 1949
What most concerned the USA by 1945?
➔ Communist theory: communists wanted communism to spread globally
➔ USA feared communism infiltrating their capitalist society
➔ Wanted to start their own economy
➔ Felt too close to Europe due to the war, wanted separation to grow as a
country
What most concerned the USSR by 1945?
➔ Reparations from the war
◆ Stalin had lost many people and money in war, he wanted
reparations from Germany
➔ More land/protection via bufferzone
Potsdam Conference - July 1945
➔ Leaders: Stalin (USSR), Truman (USA) & Churchill (GB)
➔ Now that the war was over, the alliance started to fall apart.
◆ President Truman was strongly against communism and (unlike
Roosevelt before him), he did not get along with Stalin
◆ Truman delighted in telling Stalin about the USA’s newly developed
atomic bomb
◆ Stalin seemed calm, it actually worried him
◆ Truman wanted the USSR to feel threatened as the USA was worried
about the 2mil. Soviet troops still in Eastern Europe
◆ The Soviets had the biggest army in the world & after the war, Stalin
continued to expand the size of the army.
Fall of the Grand Alliance 1945
Key Words:
Grand Alliance - USA, USSR, & GB aligned to defeat Nazi Germany
Bufferzone - zone of countries surrounding the bigger country (eg. Russia) for
protection
Sphere of Influence - area where one country has a strong say in what happened
USA - United States of America
USSR - Soviet Russia
GB - Great Britain
Good to know:
➔ By 1945, it was clear that the military strength of the USSR and the USA
made them world superpowers.
➔ USA had developed the atomic bomb, USSR was quickly starting it’s own
research & replicated the bomb by 1949
What most concerned the USA by 1945?
➔ Communist theory: communists wanted communism to spread globally
➔ USA feared communism infiltrating their capitalist society
➔ Wanted to start their own economy
➔ Felt too close to Europe due to the war, wanted separation to grow as a
country
What most concerned the USSR by 1945?
➔ Reparations from the war
◆ Stalin had lost many people and money in war, he wanted
reparations from Germany
➔ More land/protection via bufferzone
Potsdam Conference - July 1945
➔ Leaders: Stalin (USSR), Truman (USA) & Churchill (GB)
➔ Now that the war was over, the alliance started to fall apart.
◆ President Truman was strongly against communism and (unlike
Roosevelt before him), he did not get along with Stalin
◆ Truman delighted in telling Stalin about the USA’s newly developed
atomic bomb
◆ Stalin seemed calm, it actually worried him
◆ Truman wanted the USSR to feel threatened as the USA was worried
about the 2mil. Soviet troops still in Eastern Europe
◆ The Soviets had the biggest army in the world & after the war, Stalin
continued to expand the size of the army.
