Question

allies become opponents
as world war ii ended, allies disagreed on the shape of the post - war world.
these differences resulted in decades of conflict.
the big three
the most powerful allied nations in world war ii—great britain, the united
states, and the soviet union—were known as the big three. beginning in 1943,
they met in a series of conferences to discuss strategy for winning the war and for
shaping the world after the war ended.
tehran the first of these meetings took place in tehran, iran’s capital.
during the tehran conference in november 1943, the allies were generally
in agreement. the soviet union would focus on freeing eastern europe from
german control, while britain and the united states would concentrate on
western europe. britain and the united states agreed to a soviet demand to
shift some polish territory to the soviet union, to be made up by poland gaining
territory elsewhere, mostly from germany.
yalta the second meeting took place in february 1945 at yalta, on the
crimean peninsula in ukraine. at the yalta conference, the soviet leader
joseph stalin revealed his distrust of his allies. he recalled that the british had
rejected an anti - nazi alliance in the 1930s and had refused to help russia by
invading france early in the war. he felt that the other allies failed to respect
the level of russian sacrifices in the war. together, great britain and the united
states lost fewer than 1 million lives, while russia lost more than 20 million.
stalin wanted influence over the countries of eastern europe so that the region
would serve as a buffer between the ussr and western europe. u.s. president
franklin roosevelt wanted these countries to rule themselves through free,
democratic elections. in the end, stalin agreed, accepting the “earliest possible
iestablishment through free elections of governments responsive to the will
of the people.”
roosevelt also wanted soviet support in the war against japan. stalin asked
for numerous concessions in return for his commitment to fight japan:

• possession of japanese territory in the southern sakhalin and kuril islands
• control of two chinese ports
• an ownership interest in a manchurian railroad

roosevelt hoped that agreeing to stalin’s demands would lead to self -
determination for eastern europe, the ability of the people of this region to
choose their own government. the conference ended with only vague assurances
of this.
one important agreement was that the world needed a new international
organization to solve future disputes peacefully. this organization became known
as the united nations.
potsdam in july and august 1945 at the potsdam conference, which took
place in a suburb of berlin, the big three met for the final time. harry truman,
who had become u.s. president after roosevelt died in april 1945, represented
the united states. churchill started the conference but lost his position as prime
minister midway through and was replaced by clement attlee. the leaders
agreed to occupy germany by dividing it into four occupation zones administered
by france, great britain, the soviet union, and the united states. austria and the
cities of berlin and vienna were also similarly divided.
an enduring issue:
cooperation
to defeat the nazis, the united
states produced immense
quantities of guns, tanks,
and planes, while the soviets
contributed many millions of
lives. their cooperation is one
example of the influence of
cooperation among states.
read closely: predictions
when you are reading, look
for patterns in events that help
you predict what will happen
next. in the case of the first
two “big three” conferences,
stalin’s relationship with great
britain and the united states
became increasingly strained.
if the pattern continues,
what will happen at the third
conference?

Explanation:

Based on the pattern of growing distrust and strained relations between Stalin and the Western Allies seen at Tehran and Yalta, the Potsdam Conference (the third meeting) would see even greater tensions and disagreements. The new U.S. president Harry Truman took a harder line against Stalin, and the already existing rifts over Eastern Europe's future, post-war territorial control, and differing ideological goals would deepen, leading to more open conflict and laying the groundwork for the Cold War.

Answer:

At the third (Potsdam) Conference, relations between Stalin and the Western Allies (U.S. and Britain) would become even more strained and hostile. Disagreements over Eastern Europe's governance, post-war reparations, and ideological differences would escalate, with the new U.S. president Truman taking a firmer stance against Stalin, further widening the rift that would evolve into the Cold War.