Which of these two factors was more important in the development of the Cold War to the end of 1945? Disagreement over Poland or Truman's personality

the USSR. Stalin's interpretation of democracy was different as his idea of this was a communist one, where there would be a communist party representing the people and without any opposition. To be certain that Poland was friendly to Russia, he would have to destroy free speech which completely contradicted the West's idea of a democratic system. This clash of ideas was important as it harmed the relation between the countries, and therefore led to a Cold War developing. The British and the Americans were also horrified by Russia's behaviour regarding the Warsaw uprising. When the London Poles (the anti-Soviet potential government) decided to seize control of part of Poland, the Soviet army did nothing to help them although they were very close. As a result, it was brutally destroyed by the Germans and almost 300,000 Poles were killed in the process. Again, this harmed the relation between Britain and America and the USSR. At Yalta, they tried to resolve the problems concerning the government of Poland and Polish land. The borders of Poland were altered without too much problem and it was agreed that the Lublin government in Poland was to be expanded to include some London Poles as well and that free elections would be held as soon as possible. However, this was not put into practice; Stalin only talked about bringing non-communists into Poland without carrying it out and Molotov, the Foreign Minister rejected the idea of letting the London Poles have a significant role in the government. This led to extreme disappointment because people had thought that Stalin would allow western-style governments to be set up in Eastern Europe and it also meant that people lost their trust in him, which I think was the start of the Cold War. The disagreement over Poland led to Truman acting the way he did. Truman was unsure about Stalin's intentions and therefore decided to take a tough line on the USSR. This reason by itself did not have too much of an impact but it was the outcome of the previous difference of opinion. Nevertheless, Truman made relations worse when he spoke angrily to Molotov and when he was incredibly domineering at the Potsdam Conference. Molotov was upset by his behaviour as Truman had refused to listen to his explanations and he felt like he had been mistreated. Also, Truman made it clear that he thought America was in a much stronger position than the USSR because they had the atomic bomb, which irritated the Soviet Union. However, the possibility of the Cold War was high whether Truman was like that or not. To conclude, I think that the disagreement over Poland was a lot more influential in the development of the Cold War. As these two reasons are linked, they are both important. Although the hostility that arose due to Truman's treatment of Molotov and how he acted at Potsdam certainly played a part, the trust that was lost due to Stalin's failure to carry out his promises regarding Poland was a bigger factor and was a major cause of the Cold War. Ellinor Ottosson, 10L