Breakdown of the Grand Alliance
STEP 1: Wartime conferences
Tehran conference (1943)
Leaders: Stalin (USSR), Roosevelt (US) & Churchill (UK)
Main events:
● Stalin was pushing for his allies to launch a second front on Western Europe
● No agreements were made on what to do with Germany after it had been
defeated. The only agreement was that all 4 allies wanted it to make an
“unconditional surrender”
● Stalin wanted post-war security for the USSR and therefore wanted to gain
territory in Poland as it had been a place where invasions into Russia (by the
Germans) had been launched.
● Stalin also demanded the right to keep all the territories in Eastern Europe that
it had acquired and the US and Britain reluctantly agreed even though it went
against their Atlantic Charter that promoted self-determination.
● US and UK pressed USSR to join war against Japan and open second front in
Asia
(Side notes: Essentially they were each asking the other to join in on their personal
wars, Stalin with Western European countries and the US and UK with Japan, hence
why they were allies because they acknowledged that it would be beneficial to help
each other and at this point tensions were not yet high, this conference is more for
context of what each side wanted)
Right before the Yalta conference, there was the Warsaw Uprising that happened in
1944 and this was essentially when an underground non-communist Polish group
launched an uprising against Nazi fighters in Warsaw, Poland at the same time that
Soviet fighters (aka the Red army)were meant to arrive in Poland as they were on a
mission to get rid of Nazi in Eastern European countries. However, the Soviet fighters
stopped their advance into Warsaw right outside the city, ultimately giving the Nazi
fighters a chance to attack the Polish back and refusing to aid the Polish even though
they were very able to. Stalin viewed the non-communist Polish fighters as obstacles
to Soviet dominance and his choice to not aid in this uprising could be viewed as him
strategically letting the Nazis crush them in order to rid the country that he wanted
territory in of non/anti-communist groups in order to establish control and spread
communism.
Yalta conference (1945)
Leaders: Stalin (USSR), Roosevelt (US) & Churchill (UK)
Main events:
, ● A second front had finally been launched in Eastern Europe (like Stalin had
requested) and Germany was on the verge of total defeat.
● Stalin’s diplomatic position had strengthened because at this point the USSR
had occupied most of Eastern Europe.
● The three big allies (US, USSR and UK) signed the Declaration for Liberated
Europe
● During this conference they came up with the 4D’s for Germany where it
would be: Disarmed, demilitarized, de-Nazified and Divided (divided
temporarily into four different zones, one for each ally, but ruled as one country
under the Allied Control Council aka the ACC).
● Stalin also wanted Germany to face reparations and for a large percentage of
the reparations to go to USSR (he was given 50%)
● Poland proved to be the main problem: New borders in Poland had been
created and Stalin was given what he wanted in terms of territory, and in return
he agreed to establish a democratic gov. In Poland. However, most of the
tension stemmed from what the gov. In Poland would be after the war because
both Britain and USSR supported different sides of Poland (UK supported the
London Poles & USSR supported the Lublin Committee which was dominated
by Communists). The Poles also had a lot of resentment towards the USSR
because of the Katyn massacre (mass graves of about 10,000 Poles that they
blamed the USSR for) and the warsaw uprising
● Stalin made agreements to join the war against Japan
(Side note: The relationship between the USSR and US was still pretty intact at this
point)
Before the Potsdam conference: Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Truman who
came in with the policy to be tougher towards the Soviets. Germany had also
surrendered unconditionally and Churchill lost the elections and Clement Attlee
became prime minister. Also the day after the Potsdam conference began is when the
US tested the world's first atomic bomb.
Potsdam conference
Leaders: Stalin (USSR), Truman(US) & Attlee(UK)
Main events:
● USSR was getting ready to join war with Japan now that Germany was
defeated
● US intended to use its atomic bomb on Japan
● In regards to German, the allies had agreed on the 4D’s during Yalta but could
not agree on how those 4D’s should be done, however they agreed that they
, would de-Nazify and demilitarize Germany however they wanted in their own
zones but still run the economy as a whole.
● Truman was not happy with the agreements made over Poland and did not
believe that the free and democratic voting had been implemented.
● Truman also challenged Stalin's influence in Romania and Bulgaria but could
not do anything about it without getting into a literal fight since the Red Army
was stationed so clearly in multiple Eastern European countries.
● Truman was not fully honest with Stalin about his atomic weapon and dropped
atomic bombs in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki
● UN was fully established
Specific events and Policies that led to the breakdown of the
Grand Alliance
More on the Warsaw Uprising of 1944
● The underground Polish resistance Army rose to free Warsaw from German
occupation (Nazis) as the USSR Red Army advanced towards the City.
● Red Army paused their advance tho, claiming it needed to rest, and this gave
German soldiers a chance to attack back and win after 63 days of fighting
● Soviets had control over most of Central Warsaw and had access to Polish
communications however they did not respond to any of them during this
uprising and about 16,000 Polish were killed in this uprising
● Churchill had even urged Soviets to go in and help, so they were aware of the
situation but they chose not to react and this was then perceived by Kennan
(US) as a deliberate strategy to weaken anti-Soviet Polish nationalists which
would make it easier for the Soviets to take control once the war was over.
Kennan said that Stalin's reaction to the uprising was a show of his true
objectives to expand communism and this was one event that sparked
skepticism in certain US figures, like George Kennan. However, Roosevelt
maintained his stance of wartime cooperation.
● In case you’re able to remember: Historians had varying perspectives on this,
Arthur Koestler agreed with Kennan’s suspicions, agreeing that the Soviets
lack of aid was a strategic way for the Polish resistance to be crushed.
However, Davis Glantz argues that the Polish resistance started their uprising
earlier than they had communicated that they would and that the Red Army
could not tangibly support them.
Soviet Salami tactics in Eastern Europe (1945-49)
● This term was created to describe how the USSR was gradually increasing its
political control in Eastern Europe.
, ● The way that the Soviets did this was that they would supervise the alliances of
various political parties within these Eastern European countries under the
guise of national unity or anti-fascist sentiments and then when that was done,
the USSR would begin getting rid of all non-communist parties through arrests,
purges and rigged elections until only the communist-dominant regimes
remained.
● The USSR also had baggage train leaders, who were men that were trusted by
the USSR and had spent most of their time in the war in Moscow, and they
were sent to various Eastern European countries to ensure that the governments
in those countries remained run by Moscow-backed Stalinist communists
● By 1946, the USSR had Soviet-dominated communist governments in
Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Poland. This was all in spite of the hopes
shared at the Yalta conference of free elections and democratic governments
that Stalin had agreed to btw (hence why Truman challenged his influence in
these Eastern European countries and called him out for not implementing free
elections).
● Case Study Poland: During the Polish elections of 1947, 246 of the opposing
candidates who were from the Polish Peasant Party and not members of the
communist party were disqualified, 149 of them were arrested and 18 were
murdered. One million voters were also taken off the electoral register,
ultimately resulting in the communist party winning. The West viewed these
elections as a breach of the Yalta agreements but the Soviets viewed them as a
victory against Western expansion.
● The “empire” that the USSR established through its salami tactics then became
referred to as its "satellite empire” where the nations were independent but had
heavy economic, political and military influence from the USSR and the USSR
kept them in line through the use of state police and security/spy networks,
COMECON (bc these satellite states were economically dependent on ussr)
and military power.
● There was also the creation of the Communist Information Bureau in 1947
which was created with the aim of increasing Stalin’s control of communist
parties in other countries but the West was concerned that this would lead to
communism spreading to their sphere of influence (the countries that the US
and UK had influence over in Western Europe).
Soviet Pressure on Iran
● USSR also tried to increase its influence in Iran
● After the Tehran conference, it was agreed that both the British and Soviets
would take the troops that they had in Iran,out and while the British followed
STEP 1: Wartime conferences
Tehran conference (1943)
Leaders: Stalin (USSR), Roosevelt (US) & Churchill (UK)
Main events:
● Stalin was pushing for his allies to launch a second front on Western Europe
● No agreements were made on what to do with Germany after it had been
defeated. The only agreement was that all 4 allies wanted it to make an
“unconditional surrender”
● Stalin wanted post-war security for the USSR and therefore wanted to gain
territory in Poland as it had been a place where invasions into Russia (by the
Germans) had been launched.
● Stalin also demanded the right to keep all the territories in Eastern Europe that
it had acquired and the US and Britain reluctantly agreed even though it went
against their Atlantic Charter that promoted self-determination.
● US and UK pressed USSR to join war against Japan and open second front in
Asia
(Side notes: Essentially they were each asking the other to join in on their personal
wars, Stalin with Western European countries and the US and UK with Japan, hence
why they were allies because they acknowledged that it would be beneficial to help
each other and at this point tensions were not yet high, this conference is more for
context of what each side wanted)
Right before the Yalta conference, there was the Warsaw Uprising that happened in
1944 and this was essentially when an underground non-communist Polish group
launched an uprising against Nazi fighters in Warsaw, Poland at the same time that
Soviet fighters (aka the Red army)were meant to arrive in Poland as they were on a
mission to get rid of Nazi in Eastern European countries. However, the Soviet fighters
stopped their advance into Warsaw right outside the city, ultimately giving the Nazi
fighters a chance to attack the Polish back and refusing to aid the Polish even though
they were very able to. Stalin viewed the non-communist Polish fighters as obstacles
to Soviet dominance and his choice to not aid in this uprising could be viewed as him
strategically letting the Nazis crush them in order to rid the country that he wanted
territory in of non/anti-communist groups in order to establish control and spread
communism.
Yalta conference (1945)
Leaders: Stalin (USSR), Roosevelt (US) & Churchill (UK)
Main events:
, ● A second front had finally been launched in Eastern Europe (like Stalin had
requested) and Germany was on the verge of total defeat.
● Stalin’s diplomatic position had strengthened because at this point the USSR
had occupied most of Eastern Europe.
● The three big allies (US, USSR and UK) signed the Declaration for Liberated
Europe
● During this conference they came up with the 4D’s for Germany where it
would be: Disarmed, demilitarized, de-Nazified and Divided (divided
temporarily into four different zones, one for each ally, but ruled as one country
under the Allied Control Council aka the ACC).
● Stalin also wanted Germany to face reparations and for a large percentage of
the reparations to go to USSR (he was given 50%)
● Poland proved to be the main problem: New borders in Poland had been
created and Stalin was given what he wanted in terms of territory, and in return
he agreed to establish a democratic gov. In Poland. However, most of the
tension stemmed from what the gov. In Poland would be after the war because
both Britain and USSR supported different sides of Poland (UK supported the
London Poles & USSR supported the Lublin Committee which was dominated
by Communists). The Poles also had a lot of resentment towards the USSR
because of the Katyn massacre (mass graves of about 10,000 Poles that they
blamed the USSR for) and the warsaw uprising
● Stalin made agreements to join the war against Japan
(Side note: The relationship between the USSR and US was still pretty intact at this
point)
Before the Potsdam conference: Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Truman who
came in with the policy to be tougher towards the Soviets. Germany had also
surrendered unconditionally and Churchill lost the elections and Clement Attlee
became prime minister. Also the day after the Potsdam conference began is when the
US tested the world's first atomic bomb.
Potsdam conference
Leaders: Stalin (USSR), Truman(US) & Attlee(UK)
Main events:
● USSR was getting ready to join war with Japan now that Germany was
defeated
● US intended to use its atomic bomb on Japan
● In regards to German, the allies had agreed on the 4D’s during Yalta but could
not agree on how those 4D’s should be done, however they agreed that they
, would de-Nazify and demilitarize Germany however they wanted in their own
zones but still run the economy as a whole.
● Truman was not happy with the agreements made over Poland and did not
believe that the free and democratic voting had been implemented.
● Truman also challenged Stalin's influence in Romania and Bulgaria but could
not do anything about it without getting into a literal fight since the Red Army
was stationed so clearly in multiple Eastern European countries.
● Truman was not fully honest with Stalin about his atomic weapon and dropped
atomic bombs in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki
● UN was fully established
Specific events and Policies that led to the breakdown of the
Grand Alliance
More on the Warsaw Uprising of 1944
● The underground Polish resistance Army rose to free Warsaw from German
occupation (Nazis) as the USSR Red Army advanced towards the City.
● Red Army paused their advance tho, claiming it needed to rest, and this gave
German soldiers a chance to attack back and win after 63 days of fighting
● Soviets had control over most of Central Warsaw and had access to Polish
communications however they did not respond to any of them during this
uprising and about 16,000 Polish were killed in this uprising
● Churchill had even urged Soviets to go in and help, so they were aware of the
situation but they chose not to react and this was then perceived by Kennan
(US) as a deliberate strategy to weaken anti-Soviet Polish nationalists which
would make it easier for the Soviets to take control once the war was over.
Kennan said that Stalin's reaction to the uprising was a show of his true
objectives to expand communism and this was one event that sparked
skepticism in certain US figures, like George Kennan. However, Roosevelt
maintained his stance of wartime cooperation.
● In case you’re able to remember: Historians had varying perspectives on this,
Arthur Koestler agreed with Kennan’s suspicions, agreeing that the Soviets
lack of aid was a strategic way for the Polish resistance to be crushed.
However, Davis Glantz argues that the Polish resistance started their uprising
earlier than they had communicated that they would and that the Red Army
could not tangibly support them.
Soviet Salami tactics in Eastern Europe (1945-49)
● This term was created to describe how the USSR was gradually increasing its
political control in Eastern Europe.
, ● The way that the Soviets did this was that they would supervise the alliances of
various political parties within these Eastern European countries under the
guise of national unity or anti-fascist sentiments and then when that was done,
the USSR would begin getting rid of all non-communist parties through arrests,
purges and rigged elections until only the communist-dominant regimes
remained.
● The USSR also had baggage train leaders, who were men that were trusted by
the USSR and had spent most of their time in the war in Moscow, and they
were sent to various Eastern European countries to ensure that the governments
in those countries remained run by Moscow-backed Stalinist communists
● By 1946, the USSR had Soviet-dominated communist governments in
Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Poland. This was all in spite of the hopes
shared at the Yalta conference of free elections and democratic governments
that Stalin had agreed to btw (hence why Truman challenged his influence in
these Eastern European countries and called him out for not implementing free
elections).
● Case Study Poland: During the Polish elections of 1947, 246 of the opposing
candidates who were from the Polish Peasant Party and not members of the
communist party were disqualified, 149 of them were arrested and 18 were
murdered. One million voters were also taken off the electoral register,
ultimately resulting in the communist party winning. The West viewed these
elections as a breach of the Yalta agreements but the Soviets viewed them as a
victory against Western expansion.
● The “empire” that the USSR established through its salami tactics then became
referred to as its "satellite empire” where the nations were independent but had
heavy economic, political and military influence from the USSR and the USSR
kept them in line through the use of state police and security/spy networks,
COMECON (bc these satellite states were economically dependent on ussr)
and military power.
● There was also the creation of the Communist Information Bureau in 1947
which was created with the aim of increasing Stalin’s control of communist
parties in other countries but the West was concerned that this would lead to
communism spreading to their sphere of influence (the countries that the US
and UK had influence over in Western Europe).
Soviet Pressure on Iran
● USSR also tried to increase its influence in Iran
● After the Tehran conference, it was agreed that both the British and Soviets
would take the troops that they had in Iran,out and while the British followed
