Potsdam Conference

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Potsdam Conference

Causes

  • July 1945
  • Atlee, Truman and Stalin Present
  • Germany had already surrendered in May '45, the Americans had the atomic bomb and the encirclement of Japan was complete. The anti-communist Truman had taken power after Roosevelt died, and he had a much more aggressive way of approaching his views, which did not sit well with Stalin
  • First Atomic bomb created by the US- Truman does not tell Stalin about the Manhattan project until a day before the conference (but stalin found out via infiltration). This caused conflict during the Conference
  • Stalin did not abide by the agreements made at Yalta- making the western powers annoyed.

Effects

  • Agreements:
  • Nazi Party banned, and remaining Nazi War criminals to be put on trial
  • Disagreements:
  • After the German surrender, Stalin had occupied much of Eastern Europe and Poland had not been given free elections- a communist government was set up (this broke the agreements of the Yalta Conference). The size of reparations to be taken from Nazi Germany caused trouble- Stalin wanted a huge sum (because he had suffered much during the War) whilst the West did not want a repeat of the Treaty of Versailles
  • The fact that Truman was so anti-communist made negotiations between nations very hard, which caused further difficulties in making decisions in this conference

Overall summary

Truman gleefully reveals his super-weapon, the atomic bomb. Tensions are high due to Poland becoming communist, and Truman and Stalin don't have good relations

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