By Mr Crowe
www.SchoolHistory.co.uk
The Cold War begins 1945 -1948
Key issue:
Why did the wartime alliance fall apart?
What were the major points of difference
The importance of Yalta and Potsdam
conferences
The roles of Stalin and Truman
The chronology and narrative
• Major point: The USSR lost around 20
million people in WW2
• Stalin was determined to make the USSR
secure in the future
• By contrast GB lost around 370,000 and the
USA lost 297,000 people.
• KEEP THIS IN MIND
The rise of the superpowers
• Before WW2 there were a number of
countries which could have claimed to be
superpowers – USA, USSR,GB, France,
Japan, Germany.
• The damage caused by the war to these
countries left only two countries with the
military strength and resources to be called
superpowers….USA and USSR.
What they believed
• Don’t forget USA was capitalist and USSR
was communism
• They were complete opposites
• They had allied against Fascism ….. Now
the common enemy had been defeated the
reason for co-operation was gone
• Differences soon emerged
Europe at the end of WW2
• After the war who would lead the countries
and form new governments
• The USSR favoured the communist groups,
the USA favoured the non-communists
• Examples would be Greece and Yugoslavia
• This was one cause of tension between the
superpowers
Goal
• Two conferences were held in 1945 at Yalta and
Potsdam
• The aim was to discuss the future especially
• What to do with Germany’s leaders after the war
• What would happen to the occupied countries
after liberation, especially those of Eastern
Europe
• How to end the war with Japan
• How to build a lasting peace.