The Potsdam Conference

1. Read Source 17 (p 68). At Yalta, Churchill and Roosevelt had agreed with Stalin that eastern Europe would be a Soviet ‘sphere of influence’. Do you think Source 17 is what they had in mind?    
  Source 17 is not what Churchill and Roosevelt had in mind when they agreed that the eastern part of Europe would be a soviet "sphere of influence".  Roosevelt and Churchill had only wanted the USSR to watch over this area with troops or other government people.  However, Source 17, Stalin, is stating that any region where a country has their troops is a region it controls.  This would mean that the USSR would have direct control over eastern Europe since its troops were there.  Since this control was not what Roosevelt and Churchill had in mind, Source 17 is not what they had in mind.




2. Would they agree with Stalin’s views expressed in Sources 17 and 18? Explain your answer.       
  Roosevelt and Churchill would nto agree with Stalin's views in Source 17 and 18.  Source 17 states Stalin's view that any country that has troops in a region controls this region.  Since this would mean that the Soviet Union would have direct control over eastern Europe and this was not what they wanted, they would not agree with Source 17.  Source 18 states that Great Britain relies on Greece for its security and the Soviet Union does not, so the Soviet Union stayed out of the discussion about the type of government that was to be established there.  It also states that the Soviet Union relies on Poland for its security and America and Great Britain do not.  This is Stalin inferring that Great Britain and America should not interfere with the discussion about what type of government should be set up in Poland.  Since this would mean that only the Soviet Union would be in the discussion, Poland would become Communist.  Roosevelt and Churchill did not want a Communist Poland, so they would not agree with Stalin's views expressed in Sources 18 either.  




3.  Explain how each of the three developments described in the text might affect relationships at Potsdam.      
  The facts that Stalin had troops in most of eastern Europe, America had a new president, and an atomic bomb had been developed.  The fact that Stalin had troops in most of eastern Europe was threatening to Truman and Britain because they did not want communist governments being set up in countries that had just been freed.  This was, however, what Stalin wanted and was pushing for.  Therefore, there was tension between the two and Stalin.  The new president, Harry Truman, also added to the tension between America and the Soviet Union because he hated communism and was suspicious of Stalin.  He thought that all Stalin wanted to do was make eastern European countries communism and was very against this.  This made Stalin feel mistrusted and Truman not trust Stalin.  The third development, the atomic bomb that America possessed, made both Britain and the Soviet Union not trust America.  This is because America was supposed to be their ally, but was the only one that possessed such a weapon.  This also might have made America feel superior to the other two.  This is how the three developments affected relationships at Potsdam.