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Bolshevik Revolution
Led by Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik faction of the Social Democratic Labour Party took power after a year of instability in Russia started by the February abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. Mass collectivisation - the process of food and land transfer from individual farmers to state agricultural projects ensued, resulting in a 3.3 'Holodomor' famine in Ukraine. Stalin succeeded Lenin in 1924, reinforcing centralisation, an NKVD which arrested 1.5 million, killing or sending to gulags 100,000s -
Percentages Agreement at Moscow Summit
Churchill secured retain 90% British interest in Greece, with Romania as the inverse to the USSR. Hungary and Bulgaria would see a 20% British figure. Churchill aimed for Poland to achieve self-determination through free and fair elections as the country that Britain joined WW2 for. He feared a return to US isolationism and supported the necessity of a strong Britain and France. -
Yalta Conference
Stalin and Roosevelt envisioned a mutually beneficial relationship, both believing Churchill was too sensitive to Soviet provocations. Churchill had grave reservations about the British Empire and the USSR's demands. Agreements over Poland included exiled politicians being allowed into the Lublin government and free elections taking place. The Western border with East Germany would also be expanded. The Allies agreed to temporarily divide Germany and Berlin into four zones of occupation. -
Death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman sworn in as President
A realist, FDR envisioned a world peace quartet of GB, USSR USA + China at the UN security council. He pressed for decolonisation of the Philippines and stressed self-determination in Poland. Truman, anxious to not appear weak, became hostile at Roosevelt's move towards US demobilisation and free trade. -
United Nations Conference on International Organization (San Francisco) begins
50 Allied nations concluded by drafting the United Nations Charter -
Victory in Europe Day
Soviets - 20 million dead, prompted Stalin to envision Soviet influence over a military weakened Europe. Their Western border had been invaded 3 times this century, twice in the World Wars from Germany and from 'White' Volunteers during the Civil War. Wished to maintain control, through the Red Army, over Polish '39 borders and severed relations with Polish government-in-exile. -
Labour's Attlee wins landslide in General Election
Having served in the coalition war cabinet, Attlee was concerned with internal affairs and rebuilding Britain's economy. To this end, he wanted to stay close to the US and secure Germany, and Europe's, security. He feared Stalinist expansion. Counting of votes was delayed until 26 July, explaining why Attlee only joined the PotsdamConference halfway through. -
Potsdam Conference begins
Based in Soviet-occupied Germany, Truman succeeded Roosevelt whilst Attlee replaced Churchill after winning a landslide election. The context of increasing communist influence across Eastern Europe and the 5mil expulsion of Germans from Poland worried US and GB. Stalin had backtracked on his promise of free elections, demanding the new Albanian, Polish, Hungarian and Romanian governments to include communist politicians. Truman's decision not to inform the USSR of the Manhattan Project provoked. -
Potsdam Conference concludes
The Allies agreed to demilitarise and de-Nazify Germany, restoring basic freedoms and treating it as a single economic unit. 25% of reparations from the Western zones would go to the USSR, in return of agricultural produce from the East. -
USSR Declares war on Japan
After leaving the Yalta conference with a Declaration on Liberated Europe around common ideas of self-determination, the USSR assured they would join the war against Japan. In return, they would gain the lower half of the Sakhalin island and economic rights in Manchuria -
Czech Communist Party reaches 1 million members
Demonstrated the organic support for communism as a guarantor of full employment, welfare and out of their recognition of the communist contribution in the fight against fascism -
George Kennan sends Long Telegram
Kennan, a US diplomat based in the embassy in Moscow, told the State Department that the USSR viewed the West as hostile, sought to expand with an aggressive foreign policy and cited the threat of force as necessary to combat the USSR. As many US policymakers still believed that negotiating and compromising with Stalin was necessary for international peace, this Telegram accelerated Truman's policy of containment. Strenghtening non-communist states' prosperity and suspending negotiations took fx -
Churchill delivers 'Iron Curtain' speech
At Fulton, Missouri, Churchill decried the division of Europe along ideological lines. He spoke of the necessity for a continued 'special relationship' between the US and UK, and of the economic strength of Europe to reinforce Atlantic trade and steer away from communist proposals. Stalin reacted by telling Pravda he believed the West was 'meddling' and it pushed the US towards a policy of containment. The speech followed Churchill's letter to Truman "we do not know what is happening behind." -
Bizonia created - American and British Occupation zones merge in Germany
The Four Power Allied Control Council had previously agreed on unanimous economic and political co-ordination to be taken through it, whereas other matters were left to the occupying power. Stalin had used East Berlin to nationalise industry and make Russian language learning compulsory in schools, envisioning it as being the epicentre of widespread communist activity in Germany. Britain had helped their sector to recover economically through Marshall aid, aiming to protect the Ruhr from Fr+USSR -
US view in 1947
US placed an emphasis on supporting Britain and retaining its world power status as it was the 'least socialist' country. They envisioned long-term committment to Europe as Germany had not re-stabilised, gave up on the already communist countries in the East but sought to reinforce Western Europe as the French, Greek and Italian communist parties gained ground and support. They had organised free elections in their German zone of occupation. May46 US stopped paying USSR reparations -
'Truman Doctrine' announced to Congress
In a speech to a joint session of Congress, Truman spoke of defending 'free peoples' against the 'aggressive movements of totalitarian regimes' -
US pledges assistance to Greek monarchists in the Civil War
British assistance from 1946 to the monarchists was in danger of being retracted due to Britain's domestic financial issues. Truman put containment into practice by assisting the Greek and Turkish monarchists, promising to send money and resources to any peoples threatened by a communist takeover. Truman requested $400 million in military and economic assistance for Greece and Turkey. -
George Marshall's European Recovery Plan announced
Signed into law by president Truman April 3, 1948.
To prevent a poor, war-torn Europe from turning to communism and closing US trade relationships, Marshall pledged to financially assist all of Europe, though Stalin rejected the plan on behalf of his satellite states. The plan gave $13 Bn to 16 countries in Europe across 1947-52, with the UK, France and West Germany the main beneficiaries. Countries bought goods from American markets, shared information and joined the Organisation of Euro EC -
JCS 1779 adopted, Morgenthau Plan ceases to have any influence over Germany
Action was limited to short-term military measures, and de-industrialisation of Germany never came about. A US approach was to avoid instability by curbing harsh reparations. The USA soon accepted a divided Germany under the status quo, with Western-controlled areas to receive Marshall Aid. Stalin saw Berlin as a communist city due to the USSR liberating Germany from the East, and united the German left into the German Socialist Unity Party through his Soviet Military Administration. Nationalise -
Cominform (Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties) re-established
9 founding members, including the Italian and French communist parties. The parties would directly follow political and economic orders from Moscow. -
Red Army presence in Europe
The overall size of the Red Army was reduced from11 million to 2 million in the years following WW2.
By 1948, 60 Red Army divisions remained in Europe to act as a policing force over satellite states and acted as an enforcer for communist regimes. Stalin sought its presence to secure the communist regimes. Stalin manipulated elections, divided opposition parties and united the Left in satellites, gradually incurring communist domination. There did exist organic communist support amongst peasants -
Defenestration of Jan Masaryk caps the Czechoslovakia coup
Son of Czechoslovakia's founder, Tomas Masaryk, the Foreign Minister was killed by communists. A country that had enjoyed freedoms and unity in the inter-war years, these events horrified the West and prompted the passing of the Marshall Plan in US Congress. CzechoSlovakia was the last Eastern European country to fall to communism. Communism had appealed to some voters naturally, who were anti-elitist, and sought a welfare state to guarantee employment, housing and food. -
Deutsche Mark currency officially introduced in all Western zones including West Berlin
Marked a historic collaboration between the Anglo-Americans and the French. France supported two Germany's, with an internationalised (french-dominated) Ruhr area acting as a buffer for French security. The creation of Bizonia, rejection of a unified economic administration and currency reform was received poorly by the USSR, who felt that the promise of co-operation had been abandoned. -
Stalin orders the Berlin Blockade
Responding to the Deutsche Mark reform, Stalin attempted to force the Western powers out of Berlin by blocking all road, rail and canal links from Western controlled areas to Berlin. Both sides wished to avoid war, so the Allies responded by dropping supplies into Berlin through aircraft, Stalin deciding not to shoot any planes down. This decision possibly increased Soviet security problems. -
Tito's Yugoslavia expelled from Cominform, accepts Marshall Aid
After accepting Marshall aid from the US, Stalin accused Tito of deviating from the Marxist-Leninist line and expelled the Yugoslav Communist Party from Cominform. Molotov, Stalin viewed the plan as 'dollar imperialism', instructing Czechoslovakia and Poland not to accept it. Stalin would go on to set up the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance in response. -
Trizonia created - French occupation zone merges with Bizonia
Frustrated by the mass expulsions of Polish and Czech refugees, and the dismantlement of factories in the Soviet zones, the Allies sought to suspend reparation payments. They hoped this move would help Germany's economic recovery. -
President Truman re-elected in shock victory
Truman defeated Republican candidate Dewey by 303 Electoral votes to 189, after trailing in polls for the majority of the year. Truman had seen American success in the Manhattan Project as a reason to be 'tough' on communism and the USSR, informing Molotov on his visit to the US to stick to Yalta agreements. He was, however, open to international trade and self-determination. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) formed
Perceiving the USSR's actions in Berlin as aggressive, numerous Western European states demanded collective security. The US supported this endeavour to prevent the further encroachment of communism in Europe and ensure European self-determination. Truman's US joined the organisation along with Canada and 10 European states. The USSR perceived it as an aggressive, capitalist club backed by the US military. Article 5 enshrined collective security. -
Stalin orders the end of the Berlin Blockade
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Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) or West Germany founded
West German constitution had been approved, with Konrad Adenauer as the first Chancellor. The Allied Powers would retain decision-making powers over defence and foreign affairs.