IB History Breakdown of Grand Alliance 1943-45 Notes

Wartime Alliance Context

1. The Grand Alliance united the USA, USSR, and Britain against Nazi Germany from 1941.
2. The alliance was one of necessity, not shared values - the three powers had deeply conflicting ideologies.
3. US Lend-Lease aid totalled 11 billion dollars to the USSR - it kept the alliance functional but did not remove mutual suspicion.
4. Stalin resented Western delays in opening a Second Front in France, suspecting the West wanted the USSR to bear the heaviest losses.
5. The USA and Britain were capitalist democracies; the USSR was a communist one-party state under Marxist-Leninist ideology.
6. Roosevelt believed personal diplomacy with Stalin could build a lasting postwar partnership.
7. Churchill was more suspicious of Soviet intentions and prioritised British imperial interests.
8. The common enemy held the alliance together - once Germany neared defeat, underlying tensions resurfaced rapidly.
9. Western fears of communist expansion and Soviet fears of capitalist encirclement predated 1941 and shaped every wartime negotiation.

Tehran Conference (November 1943)

1. First meeting of the Big Three (Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill) in the Iranian capital.
2. Stalin secured a firm commitment to open a Second Front in France by May 1944 (Operation Overlord).
3. The three agreed in principle to create a postwar international organisation - the future United Nations.
4. Poland's borders were discussed but not settled - Stalin wanted the Curzon Line as the eastern border.
5. Roosevelt and Stalin developed a personal rapport, often sidelining Churchill on key decisions.
6. Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan once Germany was defeated - a key US priority.
7. The conference was the most cooperative of the three wartime summits - the allies still needed each other.
8. However, competing visions for postwar Europe were already visible beneath the surface of wartime unity.

Yalta Conference (February 1945)

1. Held in the Crimea with Germany's defeat weeks away - the Red Army already occupied most of Eastern Europe.
2. Germany would be divided into four occupation zones (USA, USSR, Britain, France) with Berlin similarly split.
3. The Declaration on Liberated Europe promised free elections in liberated countries - but its wording was vague enough for Stalin to ignore.
4. Poland was the most divisive issue: Stalin insisted on the Lublin Poles (communist) over the London Poles (non-communist exile government).
5. The UN Security Council structure was agreed - each of the five permanent members would hold a veto.
6. Reparations from Germany were discussed - the USSR demanded 20 billion dollars total with half going to the Soviet Union.
7. The USSR agreed to join the war against Japan within three months of Germany's surrender, in exchange for territorial concessions in Asia.
8. Roosevelt was seriously ill and died just two months later - critics argue his illness weakened US bargaining at the conference.
9. Yalta produced agreements on paper but left key issues - especially Poland - unresolved in practice.