Chapter Two and Chapter Three
The Warsaw Uprising
- British and US supported the London Poles
- Soviets supported the Lublin Committee
- Poland had seen and realised Stalin's intensions for Poland during the Katyn Forest Massacre
- The Soviets failed to assist the Polish underground in the Warsaw Uprising
- These actions destroyed the Poles and was led by the London Boles
Tensions at Yalta
- Struggled to set new borders for Poland
- Formation of the Lublin Committee - New post-war government for Poland
- USSR was promised Japanese territory in joining the pacific war
Clear Divisions at Potsdam
- President Truman wasn't happy with the agreements over Poland and wanted the Polish government to be 're-organised'
- US wasn't happy with the Percentages Agreement that was formed between Churchill and Stalin in October 1944
- Truman thought that they were basically just giving Stalin Romania and Bulgaria - Hard to make Stalin change his mind
- Truman didn't want Eastern Europe as a 'sphere of influence'
- Truman was informed during the conference that the test for the atomic bomb had been successful - Americans were no longer encouraging the USSR to join the war against Japan as they had a new 'super weapon'
The Red Army in Eastern Europe
- Eastern Europe was a Soviet 'Sphere of Influence'
- Soviets used 'salami tactics' to gain political control
- Soviets would supervise the governments in Eastern Europe and established a board alliance of 'anti-fascists'
- Each party was sliced off one after the other
- The Communist 'core' was then left and local Communists were replaced with Moscow-trained people
Salami Tactics
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Germany
The Tehran Conference (1943)
Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)
Potsdam Conference (July 1945)
The Tehran Conference (1943)
- Allies needed to figure out what would happen to Germany after they were defeated
- Soviets had a very different idea of punishment in comparison to the US and UK
- The Treaty of Versailles and its failure changed the allies mindset
- They main agreement was that Germany would get 'unconditional surrender'
Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)
- Allies decided that Germany would be disarmed, demilitarised, de-nazified and divided
- Post-war Germany would be split into four zones split between the USA, USSR, UK and France - Division was temporary and Germany was to be run as one country
- An Allied Control Council (ACC) was to be set up in Germany
- Germany would pay $20 billion in reparations and 50% would go to the USSR
Potsdam Conference (July 1945)
- May 1945 the Germans surrendered unconditionally
- Each of the allies would de-Nazify and demilitarise Germany in their own way
- The Germany economy would be run as a whole - Economy was limited to domestic industry and agriculture
- Soviets would receive 25% of the reparations from the Western zone and the agricultural Eastern zone would give them food in exchange
Iran
- Soviets were trying to gain political control of Iran
- At the Tehran Conference it was settled that after the war both the UK and USSR would remove their troops from Iran
- The UK did and Stalin left 30,000 troops in the North claiming they needed to put down an internal rebellion
- Soviets tried to encourage a Communist uprising
- The Iranian's complained and the UK and US immediately told Stalin to remove his troops
- 1st January 1946 Stalin refused to remove his troops stating he had a right to Iranian oil
- President Truman then wrote to the Secretary of State (James Byrnes) stating that the thought the Soviet was planning an invasion of Turkey and the Black Sea Straits
- Truman '...unless Russia is faced with an iron fist and strong language, war is in the making.'
- Iran protested to the United Nations concerning the continued presence of the USSR - Moscow removed his troops under the pressure of the UN
Kennan's Long Telegram
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Churchill's Fulton Speech
- 1946 The 'Iron Curtain Speech' spoke out about how Communist governments had been set-up in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria and that they were all also Soviet-dominated areas
- The Soviets' reacted quickly and angrily towards the speech
- Stalin compared Churchill to Hitler and saw the speech as 'racist' and a cause to 'call a war with the Soviet Union'
- The USSR withdrew from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- Increased and intensified anti-Western propaganda
- Initiated a five-year plan for economic self-strengthening
Instability in Greece and Turkey
- After World War Two there were many anti-imperialist, nationalist and 'pro-Communist' rebellions in Greece and Turkey
- The USA believed these rebellions were showing support for the USSR, the British agreed with this but not as strongly
- Stalin wanted international control of the Straits of Constantinople instead of Turkish control, this frustrated Churchill because of the Percentages Agreement they had formed
Communist Party Success in Italy and France
- Italy and France both had 'Western democracies' however, Communism grew stronger in these countries after the war caused by economic deprivations and hardships experienced
- The US and UK were concerned that these new and popular Communist parties were receiving support from Moscow
The Truman Doctrine
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The Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan Aims:
- January 1947 US Secretary of State - James Byrnes resigned and was replaced by General George Marshall
- Marshall thought that the economies in Western Europe desperately needed help from the USA
- The Marshall Plan evolved on nicely from the Truman Doctrine
- The plan was designed to give immediate economic help to Europe
- The main problem of the plan was whether to allow the Soviets to join the plan or even mention it to them - The solution was to form a specific criteria to whether or not a country could qualify for American economic aid
- The US would then investigate the financial records of the country
- The USA in the end invited the Soviets' to join in on the plan and claimed that the aid wasn't directed at any country or doctrine
- 'The initiative must come from Europe'
Marshall Plan Aims:
- Revive European economies so that it can be politically and socially stable
- Safeguard the future of the US economy
COMECON
- In response to the Marshall Plan, the USSR formed the Molotov Plan - Series of bilateral trade agreements to bridge Russia's economy and economies in Eastern Europe together
- January 1949 Creation of COMECON
- COMECON - Council for Mutual Economic Assistance - Centralised agency that linked Eastern bloc countries to Europe
- Designed to control their economic development and support agriculture and development of heavy industry
COMINFORM
- The Communist Information Bureau
- September 1947
- Formed a way for Stalin to increase his power and control over the Communist parties in other countries
- Initially formed for the USSR, Yugoslavia, France, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Romania
- The West were worried that the bureau would spread Communism
Mr 'X' Article
- 1947 Written by George Kennan for Time Magazine
- The article argued that the United States policy towards the USSR had been 'long term' to contain the Soviet expansionism
- The USA should consider the USSR a 'rival' no a partner
- Kennan was a strong influence on President Truman - A policy to contain the spread of Communism seemed very essential
Czechoslovakian Coup
- February 1948
- The USSR continued to try to consolidate their control of Eastern Europe
- Czechoslovakia was moving towards the West - Interested in receiving help from the Marshall Plan
- Stalin organised to put pressure on the Czechoslovak coalition government - Twelve non-Communists were forced to resign
- The Communist Party Leader demanded a Communist-led government
- Czech President - Edvard Beneš agreed to this after pressure from Moscow and threats from armed troops - Czechoslovakia was isolated