Before the Cold War World War II and the Grand Alliance

Pre-WWII Russian-American relations Sources of tensions: - antithetical socio-political systems -early 20th century rivalry over influence in China Consequences of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917: -American intervention in the Russian Civil War -Diplomatic non-recognition of the Soviet Union until 1933

Pre-WWII Russian-American Relations Sources of mutual interest: -burgeoning economic ties before and during WWI -extensive American private investment in the Soviet Union in the 1920s -tentative political dalliances in the 1930s over the shared goal to contain Japan in the Pacific and Asia No foreordained hostility prior to WWII

Impact of the Second World War Origins of the Cold War traced to the year of WWII –gradual process The Grand Alliance: U.S.A, USSR, and Great Britain Points of convergence: -shared strategic goal to defeat Germany and Japan -relative military cooperation toward that aim

Impact of the Second World War (cont.) Divergent strategic priorities: - direct and indirect strategies to defeat Germany - Second Front issue Unequal military contributions: - The Soviet Union carrying the burden of the war against the Axis in Europe, the United States in the Far East against Japan Mutual suspicions of each other’s loyalty -fears about possibility of separate peace

Soviet postwar plans Sense of entitlement: rewards to be commensurate to war sacrifice Roadmap to Soviet postwar security -Restoration of 1941 frontiers and establishment of a security cordon -Long-term weakening of Germany and Japan -Soviet economic recovery: reparations and foreign loans These goal could not be obtained unilaterally – necessity of postwar cooperation with the West

Stalin and Molotov as architects of Soviet foreign policy during WWII

American postwar plans Greater American role in world affairs: - establishment of a new international organization - disarmament and club of “Four Policemen” - Wilsonian principle of national self- determination - liberal economic order/free trade Accommodation with the Soviet Union and dismantlement of European colonial empires.

Cordell Hull and Sumner Welles

British and European war aims British goals: - preservation of the British Empire - maintenance of the balance of power in Europe (i. e. restoration of strong France and organization of small European states into federations) French objectives: - restoration of Great Power status, prevention of German resurgence. Regional aspirations of smaller European powers.

Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary ( , , )

The Atlantic Conference, 1941

Wartime Tensions and Compromises The Atlantic Charter, August 1941 Anglo-Soviet negotiations and treaty of alliance, December May 1942 British and American dilemma by 1943: - dependence on the Soviet Union to win the war vs. goal of limiting postwar Soviet influence Fluctuation of Soviet foreign policy: - cooperation vs. unilateralism

Teheran Conference

Wartime Tensions and Compromises (Cont.) Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers (October of 1943) - creation of institutional arrangements for future organization of peace Teheran Conference (November 1943) -private British and American acknowledgment of Soviet prewar frontiers Problems of administration of liberated territory Stalin-Churchill Percentages Agreement (October 1944) -division of Southwestern Europe to British and Soviet spheres of influence

Yalta Conference

Yalta Conference (February 1945) Mutual compromises and concessions Agreement to create the United Nations and establish postwar trusteeships for colonies “Declarations of Liberated Europe” –ambiguity between concession of predominant Soviet sphere of influence vs. promise of free elections and self-determination

Yalta Conference (cont.) Far Eastern Agreements: Soviet pledge to enter the war against Japan in return for American support for Soviet recovery of Russian territories and rights Preliminary agreement on the treatment of Germany: -division into zones of occupation -demilitarization -reparations

Conclusion Plentiful tensions existed between the United States and the Soviet Union during and prior to World War II, but they did not lead to a Cold War. While some people expected hostility between the two powers, just as many did not. Relationship between the Soviets and the Americans hinged on resolution of problems produced by the Second World War.