TMA: Once Germany had been defeated, relations between the Allies deteriorated.

(a) What was the Berlin Airlift? [4]

It was a blockage by Stalin as a reaction to the Western powers introducing a new currency to West
Berlin. He hoped by blocking the entry to West Berlin from the western powers would therefore force
the allied powers to surrender West Berlin with the intention to bring West Berlin under Soviet rule.
Throughout the blockage, the USA sends food, water, and coal for the citizens through the aircraft over
a period of 11 months. The airlift was an enormous logistical operation involving over 200,000 flights
and delivering around 2.3 million tons of supplies.

(b) Why was it harder for the Allies to reach agreement at Potsdam than it had been at Yalta? [6]

It was harder for the Allies to reach an agreement at the Potsdam conference as the alliances between
the three allies had broken down during the period.

The allies disagreed on several issues regarding the future situation of Germany. As the Soviets
demanded heavy reparations from Germany after the war with the aim to cripple Germany; twenty one
million Russians died during the war and the Soviet Union suffered devastating loss. The Soviets wanted
to keep Germany weak; worried that former Nazis would return to power in the western zones.
However, the Allied Powers refused and in the end, the Soviets were only given a small number of
reparations for what they had demanded. This remained one of the main disagreements as the western
powers were concerned that they would repeat the mistakes of the Treaty of Versailles in the aftermath
of World War 1.

The new president who replaced Roosevelt, Truman, was much more anti-communist and more
suspicious of Stalin than the previous American president. There was also further tension between the
allies as the USA had successfully tested the atomic bomb the day before the Potsdam Conference.
When Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Japan so that they would surrender before the Russian
troops could enter Japan in July 1945, Truman did not inform Stalin about the matter. Stalin wasn’t
surprised as he had been informed of the atomic bomb while it was being created by his spy network in
the experiment.

(c) Who was more to blame for the Cold War, the United States or the USSR? Explain your answer.
[10]

I believe the USSR was more to blame for the Cold War, as Stalin broke his promise of giving free
elections for the countries in Eastern Europe which he made to the US and Britain during the Yalta
conference. During the Potsdam Conference, he disagreed with the allies and never intended on
rebuilding Germany. The harsh demand for reparations from Germany which the USSR demanded with
the intention of crippling Germany, as Stalin was afraid that former Nazis might return to power, display
Stalin’s obsessive and paranoid personality about his country’s security and safety. The Soviet Union was
expansionist and aggressive in its foreign policy, seeking to spread its sphere of influence. The Berlin
Blockade was an example of Stalin’s expansionist behaviour - as his initial intention was to take over
Berlin, which caused an angry reaction from the Allies; Stalin broke their initial promise of splitting Berlin
into 4 different zones. The creation of COMECON in response to the Marshall Plan was to ensure that
each of the Soviet-controlled countries followed the same economic model as the Soviet Union. The
existence of COMECON is evidence that he planned to undermine capitalist countries through national
communist parties.

On the other hand, the United States was active in promoting its own interests and policy around the
world. The US policy of containment, aimed at preventing the spread of communism, led to
interventions in countries such as Vietnam. The Marshall aid introduced by the US could be seen as
prioritising their own self-interest instead of their perceived motive of helping Europe recover
economically. An economically deprived Europe would be unable to trade goods with the US, which
would affect the US economy and potentially cause another depression. The Mashall aid was principally
designed to aid the economic recovery of a capitalist Europe to ensure trade flow between the nations;
as the US ended their Land-Lease agreements with the USSR in 1945 without informing Stalin
beforehand. The Truman Doctrine and the establishment of NATO can be seen as aggressive and anti-
communist; the Truman Doctrine originated with the primary aim of containing Soviet geopolitical
expansion. There is also a military alliance of NATO with the aim of protecting and supporting the
Western capitalist countries. All of the actions can be seen as aggressive pro-western expansion and
anti-Soviet communism.

However, the Marshall Plan benefitted many countries during the post-war economic recession. The aid
allowed Europe to rebuild its infrastructure and jumpstarted its economy which managed to restore the
country’s economic productive capacity. NATO was established more for defending the West from any
potential attack rather than for expansionism. The purpose of NATO is to provide security against
potential military threats to its member states through collective security. The Truman Doctrine was a
defensive act towards Stalin’s dismissive attitude towards giving free elections in Eastern Europe, which
illustrated his desire to break the wartime agreement. And not an offensive act towards the
developments in Greece and Turkey. In contrast to Stalin’s forceful takeover of Eastern European
countries, the West European governments had a choice and joined the Marshall Plan of their own free
will.