Exam (elaborations)
AQA A LEVEL HISTORY 2R GRAND ALLIANCE ESSAY
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Exam of 3 pages for the course Cold War at AQA (Level 5 essay)
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To what extent was the United States responsible for the collapse of theGrand Alliance at the end of the Second World War?
The breakdown of the Grand Alliance took place between the Potsdam Conference, 17th
July-2nd August 1945 and the outline of the Marshall Plan by Secretary of State George
Marshall, 5th June 1947. The causes of initial hostility between the USA and USSR can be
narrowed down to three main components: debate over the most effective way to impose
control over Germany; US foreign policy/Truman’s paranoia; and Stalin’s actions across
Eastern Europe. In this essay we shall be trying to assess the balance of fault between the
USA and the USSR with regards to the deterioration of the Grand Alliance.
Actions taken by the USSR in Eastern Europe provoked the fall of the Grand Alliance. Stalin
failed to uphold promises he made when he signed the Declaration on Liberated Europe
February 10th 1945, notably his agreement to ensure free elections in Eastern Europe.
Evidence of this failure includes the success of self-described “fellow traveller” Petru Groza
in the election for Prime Minister of Romania in November 1946 in which he obtained 84%
of the votes undemocratically. This was an example of Stalin imposing “revolutions without
permission” across Eastern Europe, using “salami tactics” in order to create a buffer zone.
One could argue that the USSR’s desire to enforce control over Eastern European countries
was well founded. The USSR had been invaded thrice through Poland in the preceding
century and seizing control of Poland might help prevent future invasions. Also, both
Bulgaria and Hungary had supported Hitler during the Great Patriotic War therefore
imposing control may help prevent future pro-Nazi uprisings by the anti-semitic middle
class. Preventing future uprisings and invasions was crucial to the USSR’s national security
given its World War II losses of 25-27 million dead, 25 million homeless, 65,000 km of
railway tracks destroyed, 70,000 villages and 2000 towns destroyed. While one could argue
that Stalin was choosing to prioritise national security, he also lied to Truman about his
losses in World War II (in his response to the ‘Iron Curtain’ speech Stalin claimed that only 7
million soviets had died) leading Truman to believe that the creation of the buffer zone was
solely an example of aggressive soviet expansionism. However this belief was not well
founded.
Had Stalin intended to impose ‘socialism in one country’ he would have encouraged Palmiro
Togliatti, leader of the Italian PCI, and Maurice Thorez, leader of the French PCF, to start an
uprising in their countries. The popularity of the PCF and PCI had increased meaning that an
uprising might have been popular with the country’s citizens. For example, the PCI went
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