Steps to the Political, Economic and Military Division of Europe

1. Steps to the Political, Economic and Military Division of Europe Part I of II

2. Introduction • By 1949, Europe divided into two sphere’s of influence, West Germany and East Germany established • Steps that led to this division • Wartime Conferences: Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam • Kennan’s Long Telegram • Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech • Truman Doctrine and Cominform • Marshall Plan • Red Army Occupation of Eastern Europe • Czech Coup • Berlin Blockade • East Germany and West Germany Established • NATO Established

3. Breakdown of the Grand Alliance • Beginning of alliance was when Soviets received aid from Churchill and Roosevelt in 1941 • Churchill still disliked Stalin, mutual suspicion • Stalin had demanded a second front in Europe • Allies had only agreed in principle, Stalin thinks delays are intentional

4. Wartime Conferences • Issues to be addressed • State of the war • Status of Germany, Poland, Eastern Europe and Japan • United Nations

5. Tehran Conference • Nov. 1943 • Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill – Big Three • State of the War • By 1943, Allies had begun to win the war • Soviets pushing Germans in East, Allies in North Africa • Not yet a second front • Germany • Differences from wartime experiences, unconditional surrender confirmed • Poland • Stalin seeking security, wanted territory from Poland, pro-Soviet government there • Tensions increased in 1943 with discovery of mass graves in Katyn forest

6. Tehran Conference • Eastern Europe • Soviets demanded territory they had seized, meant the Baltic States, parts of Finland and Romania • Agreed, but against the Atlantic Charter • Japan • Pressed Soviets to enter the war, could not be convinced • United Nations • Supported by all participants • Conclusion • Agreement on UN • Need for a post-war weak Germany • Roosevelt played mediator between the other two • May have believed British imperialism was the real problem • Not concerned about Stalin

7. Yalta Conference • Feb. 1945, Stalin’s position strengthened as Red Army occupied most of Eastern Europe • State of the War • Germany almost defeated, second front opened, Ready to invade Germany • USA in control of the air and sea in the Pacific, preparing for invasion • Germany • Would be disarmed, demilitarized, de-Nazified and divided • Four zones, temporary, run as one country by the Allied Control Commission • Would pay $20 billion, 50 percent to USSR

8. Yalta Conference • Poland • Presented the greatest problem still • Borders established at Russo-Polish War of 1921 lines • Oder-Neisse Line in the west • Stalin got what he wanted • Gave in to ‘free elections’ in democratic government • British supported ‘London Poles’, pre-war government, Russians wanted Communist group

9. Yalta Conference • Eastern Europe • Again ‘free elections’, seen as significant for British and Americans • Japan • Stalin promised to enter the war with Japan as soon as Europe was finished • Demanded territory in return, accepted • United Nations • Stalin agreed to join • Five permanent members of the Security Council, each with veto power • Conclusions • Structure of the UN • Soviets help with Japan • ‘Declaration for Liberated Europe’

10. Between the Conferences • Radical changes occur before Potsdam • Roosevelt died in April 1945, Truman in with ‘get tough’ policy towards Stalin • Germany finally surrendered unconditionally May 7 • Churchill lost the 1945 UK general election • Succeeded by Labour Party leader Clement Atlee • Soviet Red Army occupied Germany • Day after the conference began, US tested the bomb

11. Potsdam Conference • July 1945, Stalin, Truman, Atlee • State of the War • Americans poised to invade Japan, introduced bomb • Germany • Would be administrating in their own ways throughout each occupation zone • Economy was to be run as a whole • Eastern zone to give food to others • Poland • Truman not happy over prior agreements • Stalin could not appease Truman, left alone

12. Potsdam Conference • Eastern Europe • U.S. also unhappy with Eastern Europe Percentage Agreements • Too much for Soviets, but they were already in the land • Difficult to force them to change, an occupation force • Japan • Atomic bomb tests successful, August 6 first one • Did not ask for Soviet aid • United Nations • Established with Treaty of San Francisco in same year • Stalin used veto power well • Conclusion • Agreement for immediate, practical control of Germany • Establishment of UN

13. Churchill’s Copy of Percentages Agreement

14. 1946-47 Other Key Developments

15. Salami Tactics • Slicing off Eastern Europe piece by piece • Supervised organization of anti-fascist governments • Parties were pruned, leaving only Communists trained by Moscow • Leaders were often those who spent the war hiding in Moscow

16. Case Study: Poland • Free elections promised at Yalta to be held in weeks • January 19, 1947 • Campaign of murder, censorship and intimidation • 50,000 deported to Siberia • Polish Peasant Party had 246 candidates disqualified • 149 arrested, 18 murdered • One million voters taken off the register • Soviets called all of this a victory over Western expansionism • Pattern in Eastern Europe

17. Soviet Pressure on Iran • At Tehran, had been agreed British and Soviets would withdraw their troops from Iran after the war • Stalin left his there, quelling ‘internal rebellion’ • Soviet troops encouraged a Communism uprising • Iranian government complained to British and Americans • First UN crisis • Moscow finally removed troops

18. Instability Elsewhere • Pro-Communist rebellions in Greece and Turkey • Believed to be supported by Soviets • Communist parties also grew in Italy and France due to economic deprivation at the end of the war • Certainly weak links in anti-Communist Western Europe

19. Kennan’s Long Telegram, Feb. 1946 • Key U.S. diplomat in Moscow, George F. Kennan sent a telegram to the State Dept. • Views would have a lasting impact • USSR view of the world was one of insecurity • Soviets wanted to advance Stalinism • Soviets were cruel and repression and justified it through perceived evil outside of the Stalinist system • Fanatically hostile to the West, but not suicidal • Logic of force

20. Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech • March 1946, former PM now in Missouri at Westminster College • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvax5VUvjWQ • Despite hopes for free elections, Eastern Europe was Communist, presence of Red Army • Soviet Reaction • Stalin saw the speech as racist, called it a call to war, compared Churchill to Hitler • Withdrew from IMF • Stepped up propaganda • Five-Year Plan