LibGuides: G11: The Cold War Begins: Causes: Collapse of the Grand Alliance

Breakdown of the Grand Alliance

Post-War Divisions
At wartime conferences in Yalta and Potsdam, attempts to construct a peaceful post-war world – were thwarted by competing interests, mistrust and broken promises.
GCSE: Cooperation Ends and Cold War Begins
How did the collapse of the 'Grand Alliance' lead to the Cold War?
Origins of the Cold War 1945-49
Series of lessons taught through analysis of primary source documents and guiding questions.
Origins of the COld War: Cartoon Analysis
Examines series of illustrative cartoons that reflect the diverse interpretations of the Cold War.
Video: Truman, Beginning of the Cold War
In this video segment on the Cold War adapted from American Experience, examine archival photos, interviews, and newsreels to learn about Harry Truman's efforts to oppose the spread of Communism in the years immediately following World War II.
Origins of the Cold War
from the State Library of North Carolina.

Was the postwar collapse of the allies inevitable?
pro/con argument
Starting the Cold War
From the very beginning of the cold war there was a dispute about its origins-about when, why and how the conflict started and who was responsible. ( Issue 38 December 2000)
Churchill Delivers the "Iron Curtain" Speech, 1946
On March 5, 1946, former British prime minister Winston Churchill delivered a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, in
which he warned that an “iron curtain … lies across Europe.”

Stalin's Reply to Churchill
End of WW II and the Division of Europe
Post-war negotiations took place at two conferences in 1945, one before the official end of the war, and one after. These conferences set the stage for the beginning of the Cold War and of a divided Europe.

When the World Went Cold
A postwar collaboration was always unlikely, given the differences between the Soviet Union and the West.

Superpowers / Ideological Differences

The Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine and the Division of Europe
The Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine of Containment together defined the structure of the emerging Cold War between America and the Soviet Union.
GCSE: Emerging Super Power rivalry
As the Second World War came to an end, the growth of the Soviet superpower became increasingly apparent in Eastern Europe.
Cold Conflict
The United States was not the only leading power on the world stage after the end of World War II; it had a new competitor for this power in the Soviet Union
Ideological Conflict
Ideology and the Cold War
JSTOR (1999): Western scholars have long disagreed about the role that ideology played in the Cold War. The release of crucial documentation from the former East-bloc archives has shed new light on this question

Ideologies in Conflict: The Cold War
Textbook chapter exploring how clashing ideologies conributed to the cold war.
Did Ideology play a central role in the US-Soviet conflict?
pro/con argument
A long view of the cold war
Article exploring the historical differences between US and Soviet Union and their impact on the cold war. (Volume 51 Issue 1 January 2001)

Cold War ideology
Explores changing inerpretations of the causes for the Cold War

Graphics

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at the Yalta Conference, 1945

Cold war hot spots, 1948-75

Political Cartoon, Punch Magazine 1947

Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech, 1946

On 6 March 1946, British cartoonist Illingworth illustrates the address given by Winston Churchill at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, in which the former British Prime Minister warns the Western countries of the advance of Communism in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe

Causes of the CW

Khan Academy: Origins of the Cold War

Cold War Overview 1945-52

Source: The Early Cold War