However at Yalta there seemed to be some real progress being made. They agreed to split up Germany (and Berlin) between them and that Eastern Europe should be a ‘Soviet sphere of influence’. They also agreed that the countries liberated from Germany should be able to choose their own government. The meaning of the term ‘Soviet sphere of influence’ was a moot point. Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan once Germany had surrendered. The only real disagreement was what to do with Poland. Stalin wanted to expand his borders and move Poland into Germany, decreasing Germany’s area. Churchill was unhappy about this but there was not a lot he could do because Stalin’s armies were already occupying Poland and eastern Germany. However, at Potsdam just a few months later, there were several factors that had changed. The war in Europe was won, Stalin’s armies occupied most of Eastern Europe, Roosevelt had died and had been replaced by Truman and Clement Attlee had defeated Churchill in the elections. The Americans had also tested their atom bomb. This was foreshadowing the future likelihood of the two superpowers opposing each other (the massed ranks of Soviet troops in the east with the mighty firepower of America in the west): polarisation. Nevertheless, the allies agreed to divide Germany into zones and to claim reparations for war losses.
However, the USA began to realise that it did not want a weakened Germany in Central Europe, a perfect breeding ground for communism. Truman wanted to rebuild Germany, while Stalin wanted to weaken it further by taking equipment and materials as reparations. The pattern for future conflict between the USA and the USSR had begun.
Stalin’s interpretation of a ‘Soviet sphere of influence’ was not the same as the West’s. Soviet propaganda was put up in Eastern Europe and armed forces were moved in. When Communists were elected (either as a stand-alone candidate or as part of a coalition government) they immediately eliminated the opposition, either by murder or outlawing other parties or both.
The USSR was a one party state dominated by Stalin. Individuals did not have the choice to choose alternative politicians in free elections; industry and agriculture was owned by the state. In the 1930s, Stalin had transformed the USSR into a modern industrial state. The transformation had come at a huge cost in human life, but a superpower had been born. Stalin believed that the USA’s long-term ambition was to destroy communism, therefore he adopted policies that he believed would prevent this from happening.
The USA was a democratic state, with free elections, freedom of speech and a capitalist economic system. The USA emerged immeasurably more powerful from the war with Germany and Japan. It was clear that the USA could no longer sit on the sidelines in world politics. In addition, the USA was extremely concerned by the spread of communism in Eastern Europe and the Far East. The USA believed that Stalin wanted to convert the rest of the world to communism. The USA had fought the fascist ideologies of Germany, Italy and Japan, now it was prepared to fight the communist ideology of the USSR.
Great Britain and France had come out of the Second World War weaker; their economies were in a worse state than the USA’s and they were in a poorer position to influence world affairs.
All throughout the Big Three’s alliance there were underlying tensions, deep-rooted mistrust and suspicion that went back to before the wars. Furthermore, there was a big distinction between their beliefs and ideologies which emphasised this rift. This eventually bubbled to the surface, breaking the thin ice upon which their affiliation was balanced.