From World War to Cold War:

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From World War to Cold War

• The Yalta Conference

• The Potsdam Conference

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• As 1944 was drawing to a close, it became clear
  that the Grand Alliance would defeat the Axis
  Powers in Europe.

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But victory in Europe raised new problems for the
Allies.
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• The leaders of the Grand Alliance nicknamed
  The Big Three were the United States, Great
  Britain, and the Soviet Union.

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They met at Yalta, UkraineFrom February 4 to 11,
1945
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(No Transcript)
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The three leaders were
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain
Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United States
Josef Stalin, Premier of the USSR
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Each leader had their own political goals

• Wanted the USSR to declare
• War on Japan
• Wanted the USSR to support the United Nations

• Wanted free elections in Europe
• esp. In Soviet-occupied countries e.g. Poland

• Wanted eastern Europe as a buffer zone against
  future war
• Communist sphere of influence

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Agreements about Germany

• Unconditional surrender of Germany
• Division of Germany Austria into 4 occupied
  zones controlled by
• France
• Great Britain
• USSR
• USA
• Berlin Vienna (capitals) would also be jointly
  occupied
• Demilitarization and denazification of Germany

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Agreements about Germany

• Nazi war criminals were to be hunted down and
  brought to justice

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The Reparations Question

• Stalin wanted 20 billion in war reparations
• But the decision was postponed
• A group would be set up to determine German
  reparations after the war

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The Polish Question

• Stalin wanted to keep the Polish territory he
  received from the Non-Aggression Pact in 1939
• But the decision was postponed instead the
  following was proposed
• A new national unity government in Poland,
  including non-Communists
• Changes made to Polands borders
• Free Elections promised in Poland and other
  formerly occupied countries in Eastern Europe

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Stalins promises

• The USSR would join the new United Nations
  Organization

The USSR would declare war on Japan within
ninety days of Germanys surrender
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Spheres of Influence are established

• USSR was to get control over Romania and Bulgaria
• British and Americans were to get control over
  Greece

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Consequences of Yalta

• Germany divided
• Communism spread to Eastern Europe
• United Nations formed
• Grand Alliance began to fall apart

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• Churchill wrote to Roosevelt after Yalta

THE SOVIET UNION HAS BECOME A DANGER TO THE FREE
WORLD.
Left Soviet Flag over Berlin, May 1945
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How quickly the situation changed!

• On March 1, 1945, FDR reported the Yalta results
  to the American congress

On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt, whod been ill, died
On April 30, 1945, Hitler allegedly committed
suicide
On May 2, 1945, Germany surrendered (VE day)
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Second Conference Potsdam, Germany -- July 17
to August 2, 1945
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Americas New Leader

• Harry Truman replaced Roosevelt as President of
  the United States
• As a US senator he had headed the Special
  Committee Investigating National Defence
• He had sharp insight into US military build-up
• Success of atomic bomb testing lead Truman to
  believe USSR not needed against Japan
• No experience in foreign affairs

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Britains New Leader

• Churchill lost the election in 1945
• Clement Attlee became the new prime minister of
  Great Britain
• Was not at Yalta Conference
• Weak Replacement Churchill Britain begins to
  decline as a superpower

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Same Soviet Leader

• Josef Stalin was the only Big Three Leader who
  had been at Yalta
• Most experienced leader present
• Since Yalta, Stalin had arrested the
  non-communist leaders of Poland which angered
  Britain and USA
• Determined to get maximum reparations from
  Germany

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Refined agreements on Germany

• Nazi Germany destroyed The Nazi party was
  banned and careful control over education
  occurred to eliminate Nazi ideas
• Germany and Berlin divided into four military
  zones with clear boundaries
• Truman and Attlee agreed to let the Soviets
  collect 10 billion dollars in war reparations
• Soviet reparations to be taken from the zone they
  controlled and from 10 of German industrial
  equipment in the remaining three zones

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Consequences of Potsdam

• United Nations firmly established
• USA used atomic bomb to end war against Japan
  without Soviet help
• Stalin informed the other two that any freely
  elected government in Eastern Europe would be
  anti-Soviet and that we could not allow
• During 1946-47, Stalin ensured pro-Communist
  governments were set up in Poland, Albania,
  Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria

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Consequences of Potsdam

• In 1948-49,

Stalin established a communist regime in
Czechoslovakia
and turned the Soviet zone into a communist
country, renamed the German Democratic Republic
(East Germany)
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The Cold War had begun

• On MARCH 5, 1946, Winston Churchill said
• a shadow had fallen on Easter Europe, which was
  now cut off from the free world by an iron
  curtain. Behind that line, he said, the people
  of Easter Europe were subject to Soviet
  influencetotalitarian control and police
  governments.