Sources of Discord, 1945-1946

Lesson Plan One of the Curriculum Unit: The Origins of the Cold War, 1945-1949

Introduction

This lesson will examine the U.S.-Soviet disagreements regarding Germany and Eastern Europe. Students will read excerpts from the agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam, then, based on later documents, will study how these arrangements unraveled. Finally they will look at two opposing American views of the Soviet Union and of the strategy that the United States should use in dealing with it.

Guiding Question

Learning Objectives

• Articulate the agreements made at Yalta and Potsdam regarding the nature of the postwar world
• Explain the differences that emerged regarding those agreements in the months following the end of the war in Europe
• Assess the strategic options available to the United States in 1946

Background Information for the Teacher

At the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences of 1945 the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union had reached agreement on a number of topics, particularly the fate of postwar Germany and Eastern Europe. Most importantly, at Yalta they issued a "Declaration of Liberated Europe," in which they pledged "to form interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population and pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections of Governments responsive to the will of the people."

But within a few months policy makers in the Truman administration had come to believe that Stalin was not living up to his side of those agreements. Instead it appeared as though the Russians were trying to create a series of puppet states in Eastern Europe. For their part, the Soviets argued that their security required "friendly" regimes along their border, and that Western-style democratic elections were unlikely to produce pro-Soviet governments. To Truman this seemed like a betrayal of everything that the Allies had fought for in their war against the Axis. Moreover, large numbers of Americans of Eastern European descent were inclined to agree with him.

As a result of this, the high hopes that FDR had for postwar cooperation had been largely dashed by late 1946, prompting a debate over what U.S. policy toward the Soviets should be. Some, like Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace, argued that Stalin's need for security had to be acknowledged, even if it meant tolerating Soviet dominance over Eastern Europe. Others, like George Kennan, deputy head of the U.S. mission to Moscow during World War II, saw in the Soviet Union a growing threat to world peace—one that had to be met with firmness and, if necessary, military force.

Preparing to Teach this Lesson

Download the Text Document for this lesson, available here as a PDF file. This file contains excerpted versions of the documents used in the various activities, as well as questions for students to answer. Print out and make an appropriate number of copies of the handouts you plan to use in class.

Perhaps most importantly, you should become familiar with the interactive map which accompanies this lesson. This map shows the most important events in Europe from 1945 through 1949. By clicking on the numbered locations, pop-ups will appear with more information and, in some case, links to additional EDSITEment-reviewed web sites. This lesson will encompass locations 1 through 7 on the map.

Analyzing primary sources

Suggested Activities

Activity 1. Plans for Postwar Europe

Activity 2. The Breakdown of Cooperation

Activity 3. Why did Cooperation Break Down?

During conferences at Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July-August 1945) the Allies concluded agreements for the postwar world; the most important concerned the fate of Germany and Eastern Europe. In this activity students will consider those agreements so that they will understand how they later unraveled. Begin the lesson by dividing the class into two groups. The first will be responsible for reading excerpts from the proceedings of the Yalta Conference, while the second will do the same for the Potsdam Conference. Both of these documents are available in their entirety at the EDSITEment-reviewed resource The Avalon Project. However, excerpted versions of both are available on pages 1-8 of the Text Document that accompanies this lesson.

As they work their way through the documents, students in each group should complete the corresponding worksheet (page 4 for Group #1, page 9 for Group #2), noting the agreements reached at each conference.

Group #1: The Yalta Conference: (excerpts on pages 1-3 of the Text Document)

Group #2: The Berlin (Potsdam) Conference: (excerpts on pages 5-8 of the Text Document)

After the students have read the documents and completed the worksheets (this might be assigned as homework) they should come together in class to list the main agreements reached at both Yalta and Potsdam. A good way of doing this might be to split up the groups, pairing each member of Group #1 with a member of Group #2 and having them compare their worksheets. The ultimate goal should be a comprehensive list of agreements made at Yalta and Potsdam.

For more advanced students, this activity might conclude with a class discussion comparing and contrasting the agreements made at Yalta with those reached at Potsdam. Students might also be asked to speculate on what problems they think were likely to arise from these agreements, and why.

In the previous activity students will have learned about the agreements made regarding postwar Europe. In this exercise they will examine how the West and the Soviet Union had conflicting interpretations of these agreements. The result was a set of disputes that emerged in the first several meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers, which was first established at Potsdam for the purpose of smoothing over relations among the former Allies.

Again divide the class into two groups. The first will read excerpts from accounts by U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes on the First and Interim meetings of the Council, while the second will read excerpts from Byrnes' account of the Second Meeting. All three accounts are available in their entirety at the Avalon Project; however, excerpts are included on pages 10-17 of the Text Document.

Group #1: First Meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers, September 11 - October 12, 1945: (excerpts on pages 10-11 of the Text Document)

AND

Interim Meeting of Foreign Ministers, December 16-26, 1945: (excerpts on pages 12-13 of the Text Document)

Group #2: Second Meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers, April 25 - May 16, 1946: (excerpts on pages 14-17 of the Text Document)

Once the readings and worksheets have been completed (again, this might be usefully assigned as homework) the students should come together to compare their findings. As in the first activity, each student from Group #1 might be paired with a student from Group #2, or you could lead a discussion involving the entire class. In the end students should have a sense for which agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam were not successfully carried out and why.

As in the last activity, more advanced students might be asked to consider, based on Byrnes's comments, how realistic were the goals and objectives set by the Allied Powers at Yalta and Potsdam.

The rapid breakdown of the agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam left policy makers in Washington scrambling for explanations of why the Soviets were behaving as they were, and for ideas on how to manage relations between the two superpowers. In this activity students will read competing interpretations of recent events. These are available in their entirety at the EDSITEment-reviewed resources Teaching American History and History Matters, but excerpts are included on pages 18-26 of the Text Document.

To begin, divide the class into two groups and assign each one of the readings listed below. Inform the students that their task will be to explain to President Truman (played by the teacher) why cooperation with the Soviet Union has broken down and what the United States should do as a result.

Group #1: Excerpts from George Kennan's "Long Telegram," February 22, 1946: (pages 18-21 of the Text Document)

Group #2: "Achieving an Atmosphere of Mutual Trust and Confidence": Henry A. Wallace Offers an Alternative to Cold War Containment: (pages 22-26 of the Text Document)

• Why, according to the author, had relations deteriorated between the United States and the Soviet Union?
• Why, according to the author, did Americans distrust the Soviet Union?
• Why, according to the author, did the Soviet Union distrust the United States?
• What was the author's greatest fear regarding Soviet-American relations?
• What were the author's recommendations for how U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union ought to be conducted?

Assessment

• How, in the eyes of the Truman administration, did Soviet behavior regarding Germany conflict with the sentiments expressed at Yalta and Potsdam?
• How, in the eyes of the Truman administration, did Soviet behavior regarding Eastern Europe conflict with the sentiments expressed at Yalta and Potsdam?
• Compare and contrast the arguments of George Kennan and Henry Wallace regarding U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union.

• What accounts for the breakdown in relations between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II? Is there anything that the United States could have done to avoid it?

• Yalta Conference
• Potsdam Conference
• James Byrnes
• George Kennan
• Henry Wallace

• Germany (East and West)
• Poland
• Rumania
• Bulgaria

Extending the Lesson

Not surprisingly, the Soviets themselves had their own interpretation of events in 1945-46. The Soviet equivalent of Kennan's "Long Telegram" came from Nikolai Novikov, Moscow's ambassador to the United States, who tried to explain U.S. behavior in a telegram to the Kremlin. Teachers may wish to have students read this document, perhaps comparing and contrasting it to Kennan's. It is located at the EDSITEment-reviewed site Teaching American History.

One of the most influential speeches of the early Cold War years was given by Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, to students at Westminster College in Missouri. Although Churchill did not coin the term "Iron Curtain" (it actually was first used by German Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels in the final weeks of World War II), it was this speech that popularized it—so much so that to this day the address is usually referred to as the "Iron Curtain Speech." The relevant excerpts from the speech are available at the Internet Modern History Sourcebook, which is accessible via the EDSITEment-reviewed site History Matters.

Next Lesson Plan

Return to the Curriculum Unit Overview—The Origins of the Cold War, 1945-1949

Related EDSITEment Lesson Plans

"Police Action": The United States and the Korean War, 1950-1953

American Diplomacy during World War II.

Selected EDSITEment Websites

• The Avalon Project at Yale Law School:
  http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/avalon.htm
  • A Decade of American Foreign Policy—Basic Documents, 1941-1949:
    http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/decade/decade.htm
    • The Yalta Conference:
      http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/yalta.htm
    • The Berlin (Potsdam) Conference:
      http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/decade/decade17.htm
    • First Meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers:
      http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/decade/decade18.htm
    • Interim Meeting of Foreign Ministers:
      http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/decade/decade19.htm
    • Second Meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers:
      http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/decade/decade20.htm
• History Matters:
  http://historymatters.gmu.edu/
  • "Achieving an Atmosphere of Mutual Trust and Confidence": Henry A. Wallace Offers an Alternative to Cold War Containment:
    http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6906
  • Internet Modern History Sourcebook:
    http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html
    • Excerpt from Winston Churchill's Speech at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, March 6, 1946:
      http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/
      churchill-iron.html
• Teaching American History:
  http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org
  • Document Library:
    http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
    • Excerpts from George Kennan's "Long Telegram," February 22, 1946:
      http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/
      index.asp?document=505
    • Nikolai Novikov (Soviet Ambassador to the United States), Telegram Regarding American Postwar Behavior, September 1946:
      http://teachingamericanhistory.org/
      library/index.asp?document=904
• Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum:
  http://www.trumanlibrary.org/
  • Truman Presidency Exhibit:
    Origins of the Cold War:
    http://www.trumanlibrary.org/hst/g.htm