'The Wartime "Grand Alliance" between Britain, the USA and the USSR was undermined by mutual suspicion.' Explain why you agree or disagree with this view.
'The Wartime "Grand Alliance" between Britain, the USA and the USSR was undermined by mutual suspicion.' Explain why you agree or disagree with this view.
I agree with the statement that suspicion had undermined the Grand Alliance because it had lessen the effectiveness and power of the Grand Alliance. The USSR, USA and Britain had formed a military alliance despite their long-term differences. The Big Three had conflicted ideology; the Soviet Union were communist, whilst America and Britain were capitalist. Communism was different from capitalism. In capitalism, the resources and the means of production lies with the private owner, while in communism they are owned by the community or society. According to historian John D Clare, "Britain and America were natural enemies of the Soviet Union." This meant as soon as the common threats of Hitler and Japan were removed, it was inevitable that the Allies would fall out. The Grand Alliance had met at three conferences; Tehran in 1943, and Yalta and Potsdam in 1945. Disagreements emerged over Germany, Poland and Eastern Europe economic reconstruction and nuclear weapons – the arms race had emerged between the USSR and USA. By 1946, the Grand Alliance had completely broken down due to problems not being resolved.
The Atlantic Charter was eight principles policy between the Allies. The principles had defined the Allies goals for the post-war world and it also presented the unity between the USA, Britain and the USSR. However, there was wartime disagreement between the Grand Alliance. Stalin had demanded that the Allies open a second front in Western Europe to relive pressure of the Soviet Union because Nazi military was invading the Soviets. Stalin became more suspicious of the Western Allies because they delayed the opening of the second front. Another wartime disagreement that was caused America and the Soviet Union to be suspicious of one another is ideological beliefs. Despite agreeing to the principles of the Atlantic Charter, Stalin had concerns over Roosevelt's foreign policy. Roosevelts' 'open door' policy was based on free world trade and equal access to raw materials. This made Stalin fear that the policy would only benefit capitalist countries like the US. The Allies had attempted to resolve the differences by three conferences. The failure of the conferences had resulted in international relations to worsen.