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Soviet and Nazi nonaggression pact
Hitler and Stalin made a promise not to go to war with each other and to invade Poland and split it between them. The United States was upset with the pact.
It contributed with the war because it weakened the Russia and US alliance. -
Yalta Conference
The leaders of Britain, Soviet Union and the United States met at the Soviet Black Sea resort of Yalta in order to create a postwar plan. They agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation controlled by the allies.
Germany had to pay the Soviet Union for its loss of life and property.
There was distrust and suspicions among them. -
US and Soviet goals
The Soviet Union and the US had very different postwar aims for Europe. The US wanted to prevent the rise of communism meanwhile the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism.
The Soviet Union wanted to keep Germany divided in order to prevent its waging to war again. The US wanted to reunite Germany in order to stabilise it and increase the security of Europe.
This created a ideology war between the tow countries. -
Free elections in Eastern Europe
Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945 and his successor was Harry S. Truman. He thought that Stalin´s hesitation to allow free elections in Eastern Europe was violating these countries´s rights. Truman pressed Stalin to permit free election on July, 1945 in Postdam,Germany.
Stalin refused and in a speech in early 1946 he declared that communism and capitalism could not exist in the same world. -
Separation of Germany
Germany has been split between two sections, the East and the West. The Soviets controlled the East part, including half of Berlin, under a communist government and was named German Democratic Republic.
The west was controlled by the allies and became de Federal Republic of Germany.
In Berlin, many people preferred to live in the West Zone and started to move sides. The Soviet Union realized about this problem and in 1961 they decided to built a wall separating Western and Eastern Berlin. -
Containment Policy
US-Soviet relations got worse during 1946 and 1947.
The US were afraid of the growth of the Soviets and Truman adopted the foreign policy called containment.
The policy was directed at the blocking of the Soviet influence and the expansion of communism.
The policy also included forming alliances and helping weak countries in order to resist Soviet advances.
