Conflicting ideologies: The triumvirate of power

Colorized Picture of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin from the Yalta conference (1945) by Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives. (Public Domain)

Activity

In this activity you are being asked to create a profile for each Big 3 key player. You will investigate Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt and develop a profile that analyses their backgrounds, ideologies, policies, and contribution to the Cold War. Consider the Yalta Conference in your inquiry. Utilise these profiles to assist you in diversifying your understanding of political perspectives and in answering questions about causes of the Cold War.

Part 1: Big 3 Profiles

Create your own profile table based on your own research and include an image of each leader.

Part 2: Causes of the Cold War

1. How might the ideological differences between a communist dictatorship and a capitalist democracy shape the motivations between the USSR and the US following WWII? Use your profiles to help formulate your answer.

2. Did the Yalta Conference create a fertile ground for the Cold War? Consider the geopolitical climate at the time.

3. “The introduction of the Marshall Plan cemented the Netherlands distinctively into western sphere of influence… (however) the United states had decided in the late 40s that the western allies would not be able to hold off the Red Army in case they would start a conventional attack” Rob Verhofstad et al. (2010)

a) Were the Netherlands part of NATO?

b) What is Peripheral Defence?

c) What was the Ijssel-line and what was its purpose?

4. “Poland was one of the closet Soviet satellites and important factor in the eastern bloc…No other eastern European country suffered so strongly the consequences of Stalin’s aspirations for territorial gains. As a result of the II World War Poland lost approximately one fourth of its territory to the soviet union and was moved westwards without any international recognition” (Spasimir Domaradzki et al, 2020).

a) What was the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity? Why was it established?

b) What made provisions from the Yalta Conference easy for the Soviets to manipulate? How would this impact Poland?

5. “According to Soviet interpretations, one of the main results from World War II was the formation of the two new “lines” in the world of politics: the line of peace presented by the soviet union and the line of war presented by the US… all Soviet foreign policy acts were seen as peaceful even if they were military interventions.” Maryna Bessonova et al. (2010)

a) What was the Zhdanov doctrine? What was its ideological significance?

b) What policies were implemented towards the USSR regarding trading of commodities?

c) How might the Soviet Union have interpreted Winston Churchill’s speech in Fulton March 5, 1946? How would this escalate tensions?