Cold War 1800-1900

   Struggled to make decision on Poland and eastern Europe, the “Pandora Box of infinite troubles”

  Finally decided eastern European governments would be freely elected but pro-Russian

  The Yalta compromise over eastern Europe broke down almost immediately

         Even before the conference, Bulgaria and Poland were controlled by communists who arrived home with the Red Army

-          Postwar Potsdam Conference of July 1945

o   Long-avoided differences over eastern Europe finally surged to the fore

o   Compromising Roosevelt had died and been succeeded by determined Harry Truman

  Demanded immediate free elections in eastern Europe

  Stalin refused point-blank, because they would all be anti-Soviet

-          Here was the key to the much-debated origins of the cold war

o   American ideas and politics demanded free elections in Soviet-occupied eastern Europe

o   Stalin wanted absolute military security from Germany and its potential Eastern allies

  Believed only communist states could be truly dependable allies

  Knew free elections would result in independent and hostile governments on his western border

o   By mid-1945, there was no way the United States could determine political developments in eastern Europe, and war was out of the question

o   Stalin was bound to have his way

West Versus East

-          America’s response to Stalin’s conception of security was “get tough”

-          May 1945 Truman cut off all aid to the U.S.S.R.

-          October Truman declared the United States would never recognize any government established by force over the free will of its people

-          March 1946 Churchill informed American audience that an ‘iron curtain’ had fallen across the continent, dividing Germany and all of Europe into two antagonistic camps

o   Emotional, moralistic denunciations of Stalin and communist Russia emerged as part of American political life

o   United States was... [continues]

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