Ahmed Boughaba
International Relations
Question: What was the reason for the Big Three to separate, and what sparked the Cold
War?
The Big Three was the world’s most powerful alliance in 1945 and was meant to
keep world peace, and try to stop the furious Adolf Hitler from spreading all over the
world. But after some serious misunderstandings amongst the three leaders, the Big Three
had to come to an end and the Cold War had to start. The question is, what made them
separate? Was it FDR, Stalin, or Churchill’s fault for the Grand Alliance to fall apart?
1
The Grand Alliance were doing well together in the beginning and had the same
goals which was to keep world peace and prevent Hitler from spreading through out the
world. But after some misconceptions and some doubts the leaders experienced amongst
each other, the alliance had to come to an end. Conferences like the Yalta Conference and
Potsdam Conference, proved to FDR and Churchill that Stalin had different ideas than
them and didn’t want democracy and peace. 2Tactics like the Berlin Blockade Stalin did
against America and Britain validated that Stalin was nothing but a dictator that was
looking for greed, power, and more control.
One of the first meetings the Grand Alliance had was the Yalta Conference, which
was held in Berlin on August 2, 1945. The points discussed on this meeting was the
division of Germany in four parts, the debating of why Stalin invaded Poland, and a way
to punish the Germans and prevent them from getting powerful. Germany was divided
1
2
John Lewis Gaddis. We Now Know.Oxford University Press. 1998 P.87 87
Jogn Lewis Gdaddis. Grand Stragedies in the Cold War. Oxford University press. P.4
into four parts which the French, American, British, and Russians took control of. After
the invasion of Poland by Stalin, the western allies were infuriated but Stalin still argued
that Poland was always attacking Russia and the only solution that would guarantee the
security of the Soviet Union was a pro-Communist government in Poland. Most ideas
were established in the meetings except the fact that Poland and Eastern Europe should
have free and fair elections. Stalin denied this fact and this angered the western allies.
The Soviet’s leader did the exact opposite of what America and Britain asked for, and
this was an introduction to The Grand Alliance break up.
After Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death, Harry Truman who was vice president took
his place. Harry Truman became one of the Big Three so the Grand Alliance decided to
meet again. Potsdam Conference took place in Berlin from July 17 to August 2, 1945.
The victorious leaders of Europe met to discuss the delicate balance of power between
them. They also discussed the division of Germany in four parts, as discussed in the Yalta
conference. What the Grand Alliance agreed on was that America, Britain, and France
would take the West and Stalin would take the east. Berlin also, which was located on
Stalin’s part, was to be broken down into west and east leaving Stalin only with the east.
All three powers agreed on the execution of Nazi war criminals and any German with the
ideas of Nazism or follows Nazi ideology. They were trying to destroy Germany and
make it take the blame for the all the problems it caused, but they didn’t want to put a lot
of pressure on it in case they react like they did before WWII. The powers agreed upon
shifting Germany’s borders to the west, which decreased 3Germany 25% of its land
according what it used to be back in 1937. They also wanted to destroy all resources that
gave Germany war-potential. Anything like copper factories, metal factories, airplane
production and so on were to be produced to the minimum and under supervision. 4Harry
Truman didn’t really like Stalin’s actions so he informed him with the face that America
has “ a new weapon of unusual destructive force”. These words made Stalin furious and
gave him reason to disagree and destroy what Truman and Churchill are trying to do.
After Berlin was split into east and west and Stalin was left only with the west, he
became outraged. Stalin obviously had different ideas than Churchill and Truman.
Truman wanted to rebuild Germany but Stalin wanted to destroy it. Stalin wanted to
destroy Germany, and he was really mad why the democrats are interfering with his part
of the country. Subsequently, what Stalin did was surround Berlin with fences not
allowing any supplies to enter the west part of Berlin. He thought that if he blocked the
boundaries of West Berlin he would starve the Allies out of his part of the country. But
the westerners were smart enough to do the Berlin Airlift, which is send, the supplies
using planes. Stalin was annoyed at what they came up with but they were surprised on
what he did against them. The Big Three now started to fall apart and Stalin was the
reason to all this mess.
One of the most important people that had a great effect on the spark of the cold
war was, George F. Kennan, an American diplomat, historian, and adviser that used
articles and words to convince America that Stalin is bad person. He was also the man
3
International Boundary Study Office of the Geographer Bureau of Intelligence and
Research. http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/collection/limitsinseas/IBS007.pdf
4 Harry S. Truman, Year of Decisions (Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company,
1955) p. 416.
that convinced President Truman to create the Truman Doctrine and he played a leading
role in the Marshall Plan. In his Long Telegram from Moscow in 1946 and The Sources
of Soviet Conducts article in 1947, he convinced the world that the Soviet Union was
expansionists and they had to be given importance because communism is spreading in
the whole world and this makes the world in great jeopardy.
President Truman feared communism would spread worldwide so he had to do
something to stop it. He had to prove to the world that America is the leading country and
it’s going to help other countries in need economically so he started the Truman Doctrine.
The British announced that they would no longer provide economical and military
assistance to the Greek Government that is fighting against the Greek Communist Party.
Truman quickly reacted and asked Congress to provide economical and military help to
the Greeks instead of Britain. He also asked congress to aid the Turkish since that nation
too, was no longer aided by the British.
After World War 2 Europe was a mess and the fear of communism spreading was
getting scarier to the Americans. The Marshall Plan was launched, named after the US
secretary of state George Marshall. This plan’s goal was to rebuild Europe into a proper
country after the devastating destructions during WW2, but the Americans also wanted to
reduce the spread of communism and get people on their sides instead of the Soviet’s
side. The Marshall played a big role in doing that showing the US was the leading
country aiding the ones in need.
Having all theses disagreements and all theses fears going on, the cold war had t
start. Stalin wanted to destroy Germany and spread communism through out the world
and America was trying to stop him. Some of the disagreements the big three experienced
were the disagreement Stalin had with Churchill and FDR in the Yalta conference where
Stalin promised to provide Eastern Europe and Poland with fair elections while he forced
pro-Communist parties in the government. Another disagreement was when Stalin felt
threatened after the Potsdam Conference when Truman informed him with the fact that
they have ‘’they had weapons of mass destructions’’. So in response to this threat and in
response to the division of Berlin Stalin did the Berlin Blockade, which angered America
and Britain a great deal. Also the fear of communism spreading and fear that Stalin would
be the next Hitler led to the fact that Stalin had to have his power reduced and had to be
controlled. All these incongruities and facts had to start the Cold War; this was the only
solution for Stalin and his bad moves to come to an end.