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Cold War and Superpower relations
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- GCSE
Cold War and Superpower relations presentation and full notes for GCSE History Edexcel
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Cold war+ Superpower Relations
,Differences between the East
and West
The Grand Alliance
● Formed between the USA, Britain and USSR.
Soviet Union USA + Britain
Tehran, Nov 1943
Politics Single-party Free election and
Stalin would declare war on Japan to help the USA
rule choice of parties
Informally agreed that Germany should be forcibly
weakened after the War.
Social Classless Some people have Agreed to set up what would be the future UN
structure society, more power than Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin USA and Britain to launch attack on Germany to ease
everyone is others (family pressure on the Eastern front.
equal background,
wealth, education, Early tensions between Impact of conference:
achievements) East and West
Roosevelt and Stalin pleased with agreements,
Economy All property Private ownership Churchill less pleased.
owned by the and a competitive Yalta, Feb 1945 Some tension between the US and Britain
state, not workplace
individuals After the war, Germany to be split into 4 zones controlled by a different power each
and would pay 20 billion in reparations of which half would go to the USSR.
Rights Rights of all Individual freedoms UN to be set up.
workers more valued but limited Borders of Poland to return to their original positions, Soviets and Brits disagree on
important than by majority opinion how Poland should be governed.
individual
rights Impact of conference:
● Britain and USA were capitalist, USSR was communist Stalin resented getting the smallest part of Germany leading to worse relations
● USA and Britain critical of Stalin’s methods but still between East and West as Germany became an area of tension
worked with him because he was a strong opponent of Increase in suspicion between Stalin and USA/Britain as a result of failure to agree
German fascim on Poland, he saw their actions as trying to undermine the security of the USSR.
, Potsdam, July-August 1945 Impact of the atomic bomb on
US-Soviet Relations
Crucial events beforehand:
6 August 1945, the USA exploded an atom bomb over the Japanese city Hiroshima, and then a
Change of personnel: new leaders Truman second on the 9th over Nagasaki.
(USA), Attlee (Britain) The countries of Western Europe felt more secure about placing themselves under American
World events: Germany surrendered May protection but it had the opposite effect on Soviet relations.
1945. Stalin even more determined to make USSR secure by creating a buffer zone of countries
The USA developed an atomic bomb between Germany and the USSR’s western borders,
UN set up in June 1945 Increased Cold War tensions, made USA and USSR enter an arms race.
Therefore relations were very different. Early tensions between East and The Kennan Long Telegram and the
Truman and Attlee were new to diplomatic Novikov Telegram - 1946
West
discussions.
Stalin and Truman wanted to know what their rivals were thinking: they feared the break up
Agreements made: of the Grand Alliance might lead to future conflict
Berlin also divided into 4 zones George Kennan America’s ambassador in Moscow sent a telegram discussing US-Soviet
No agreement made over Eastern Europe government relations. It worried the American government: it said that Stalin wanted to see the
Truman objected to Soviet control over countries and destruction of capitalism but the USSR would back down if faced with strong resistance.
arrangements for Poland, he wanted to see a new After they heard this, America believed that there should be a determined policy of
government with less communist influence. ‘containment’ to stop communism spreading.
Impact of conference: Nikolai Novikov was a Soviet diplomat working in Washington. His telegram proved that both
sides were distrusting of one another, it said: the USA wanted to dominate the world with
More tension because of significant disagreements their military power and that Americans no longer wanted to cooperate with the USSR and
turning wartime alliance into peacetime hostility. would support their government if this lead to war.
The USSR’s reaction was that they thought that if this was how the USA were thinking, it
was vital to develop as much protection as possible in Eastern Europe.
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