The Potsdam Conference

1. Read Source 17 (p 68). At Yalta, Churchill and Roosevelt had agreed with Stalin that eastern Europe would be a Soviet ‘sphere of influence’. Do you think Source 17 is what they had in mind?   
                     Churchill and Roosevelt didn't have the message in Source 17 in mind when they agreed with Stalin that eastern Europe would be a Soviet 'sphere of influence'.  In Source 17 Stalin says that," Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army has power to do so". This statement is different from what Roosevelt and Churchill had agreed to. Roosevelt and Churchill had agreed to countries being influenced by the Soviet Union, Stalin was not only talking about influencing the countries but also 'imposing his own system' on the countries that he occupied.




2. Would they agree with Stalin’s views expressed in Sources 17 and 18? Explain your answer.       
                    Churchill and Roosevelt wouldn't agree with Stalin views expressed in Sources 17 and 18, that Stalin had to occupy the eastern European countries in order to protect itself from further invasions.. They wouldn't agreed because Churchill and Roosevelt would have recognized that Stalin wasn't simply using the countries to protect itself, the Soviet Union was also taking over the countries governments and spreading communism; and the spread of communism was something that neither Roosevelt or Churchill wanted.





3.  Explain how each of the three developments described in the text might affect relationships at Potsdam.
                  The Soviets occupying most of Eastern Europe, America having a new president and, the U.S.A developing a atomic bomb all affected relationships at Potsdam. Due to the Soviets occupying most of Eastern Europe, Trueman and Churchill were fearful of the Soviet Union's growing power and didn't want to allow the Soviet Union to claim anymore territory. America had a new president, Trueman, and Trueman was less willing to compromise with Stalin than F.D.R had been. Finally because America had the atomic bomb,  Trueman was even less willing to compromise for Stalin because Trueman knew that had power over Stalin.