History Essay

HISTORY ESSAY





Essay Title:To what extent did events in the final year of world war two turn wartime allies into cold war enemies?




During the final year of the World war 2, germany was on the verge of being defeated. Allied troops were driven the Germans from the east (Soviets) and from the west (USA, Britain, and France).Roosevelt did not appear overlyconcerned about the allies taking the german capital, Berlín, before the soviets, so they let them do it.Whereas at Yalta Conference Stalin agree on establishing a more democratic goverment in Poland. Simultaneously, president Roosevelt died in April 1945 and Winston Churchill`s conservative Party lost the 1945 UK general election.Therefrom the new US president ,Harri S Truman , was to adopt a morehardline policy towards the soviets .However Soviet military control of Eastern Europe was a Fact, and it was very difficult for the west to force Stalin to make any changes .During that Conference Truman was told that the first atomic bomb had been successful.Although the Americans liaised with their British allies ,Truman did not tell Stalin the “full story” about this new “super weapon”.The end of the war on itself ,meant that there was no common interest holding the USA and the USSR together and so there was already a strong likelihood of them becoming enemies .During the war Churchill and Roosevelt sent aid to the soviets and this ,marked the beginning of the grand alliance.However ,this did not mark a change in how stalin`s Soviet Union was seen,particulary by the British .Churchil retained his dislike of the Soviet leader.Stalin neended to regain strength as the `nursey of Comunism´ ,an ideology that belives that Capitalism creates divisions between rich and poor ,thus all businesses and farms should be owned by the state ,whereas Britain or the Allies ,needed to establish markets and open doors to free trade.The ruthless maintenanceof power,from Stalin, by the elimination of opposing leaders,groups or entire sections of the population ,was not well seen by the Allies .They Belive on individuals choosing their own goverment through voting .After all, the intervention of the west in the Russian Civil War supporting conservative forces in their attempt to overthrow the new Bolshevik goverment,left to the soviets a not veryliked impresión from West ,against the Comunism .We could mention the Fact That the USSR did not recived diplomatic recognition ,nor join the League of nations until 1930´.On the other hand we could also mention the NON AGRESSION PACT,which, by the hands of Stalin, allowded Hitler to concentrate on attacking the West during the World war 2.

The Yalta Conferencehad already shown that the wartime allies had very different ideas on what Europe after the war should look like.The Red Army was a fact , Alliance was just a gambling thing. Stalin gave people what they wanted on his own benefitt ,so did people wanted another war? DEFINITELY NO ,thus to secure his western border ,he followed the idea of establishing free elections in Poland by ensuring thatPoland had a pro-Soviet goverment . Consecuently this Developed into disagreement since the British supported the pre-war goverment while, the Russians, the Comunist-dominated Lublin Committee to form the new post-war goverment .

At Postdam Conference attitudes had hardened still further .USA s president Truman insisted that the polish goverment should be re-organized ,they did not feelthere had been a “free/democratic vote”.He also challenged the influence that the so-called `Percentages Agreement´had given Stalin over Romania and Bulgaria .In brief The `Percentages Agreement´ discussed in terms of percentages Shperes of influence when deciding the future fate of countries in East and south–eastern Europe .Truman did not want to see Eastern Europe becoming a Soviet `sphere of...