HIST 2476 Lecture 3: Origins of the Cold War_
Document Summary
Soviet russia was slowly dominating eastern europe, but us wouldn"t accept it. Yalta meeting tried to band aid europe and make it more democratic. Poland and a few other countries were expected to become democratic, but the soviets had other ideas. Polish government was exiled to london [london poles] and us and uk expected them to go back into control. Lublin - russian back polish leaders who russia declared to put in charge. At yalta conference stalin promised for secret elections and to bring the london poles back from exile, but he didn"t keep those promises. Russia: 2x poland had been invaded and then the attacker had moved through poland to russia so they wanted to close that rout. West: poland was the barrier between communism and western civilization. 1945 vacuum in germany and soviet red army. Red army - strongest power in europe 260 divisions. Stalin oppressed free speech and didn"t allow any elections.
