Reasons

1941-45

'the Big Three', Soviet and US forces met at River Elbe in central Germany

est 70,000 Soviet soldiers died due to Stalin's orders to attack and occupy Berlin before the Americans arrived, GB and US delayed 2nd front until 1944

Bolsheviks couldn't fight Germany and civil war so made peace treaty with Germany - West furious and against communism - intervened on White Army side

1938, GB FR and IT agreed to let Hitler take parts of Czechoslovakia with lots of ethnic Germans

had not been asked opinion, bitter enemies with Nazis, area close to USSR borders

1939, Hitler and Stalin agreed to split Poland between them

GB and FR felt betrayed - knew USSR wanted parts of Poland so thought it wouldn't allow Hitler to invade, declared war on Germany 1939 when it invaded Poland but USSR invaded too

Nov 1943

US and GB open 2nd front, Stalin declare war on Japan once war in Europe over, aim was complete German surrender, Poland would recieve land from Germany but USSR would keep land from 1939

Stalin fears about 2nd front delay - appeased by agreement made

Churchill wanted to open 2nd front in Balkans - FDR sided with Stalin, FDR seemed to view British colonialism as more of a threat to world peace than communism at times

Feb 1945

Germany 4 zones, Germany pay $2 billion in repatriations - half to USSR, Nazi party banned and war criminals prosecuted

Stalin agreed to enter war with Japan - 3 months after German defeat

Stalin agreed future Eastern European govs would be decided in free elections, borders of Poland return to 1921 position (significant Soviet gains), free elections in Poland

UN set up - all nations could join

Stalin wanted to keep new European territories - protect from future German invasion, US and FR disagreed with Stalin's suggestion that all 16 Soviet republics should have individual UN membership - just Russia, Ukraine and Belarus admitted, Stalin expected Polish elections to bring about pro-communist gov but GB supported non-communist London Poles

FDR died, Churchill lost 1945 general election, Germany surrendered May 1945, UN created in Treaty of San Francisco

July-Aug 1945

Germany divided into 4 (Berlin too), German economy run as a whole, each administering country take reparations from its own zone, USSR controlled poorest so allowed to take 1/4 industrial equipment form other zones

Truman and Attlee quite new to diplomatic discussions - harder to get their way with Stalin

'get tough' approach with Stalin - harder line in discussions, suspicious of Stalin - worldwide revolution, deliberately delayed conference date until atomic bomb ready - tested successfully day after conference began

main concern was to return to GB - didn't want talks to drag on

Soviets wanted Germany to pay heavy reparations - Truman worried about German economy recovery, Truman objected to Stalin's control of Eastern Europe - thought he was using as an army of occupation, Truman objected to Polish border arrangements made before and wanted new gov with less communist influence

blast equivalent to over 12,000 tons of TNT used in normal bombs

3 days after Hiroshima

est 120,000 Japanese civilians killed by the 2 bombs

Stalin more determined to create a buffer zone, 1st successful test in 1949

by 1964 - GB, FR and China also had one