Post-War Diplomacy and the Rise of the Bipolar World

The Management of a Bipolar World

Conferences of Tehran, Moscow, Yalta, and Potsdam

At the conferences attended by Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill, it was decided to fix a day for the landing and that partisans in Yugoslavia should receive full support and be helped in commando operations. It was also agreed that the Russian army would launch an offensive into Eastern Europe.

In October 1944, a meeting took place in Moscow which Roosevelt was unable to attend and in which the division of Europe was decided. In February 1945, the Yalta Conference occurred; it was an experiment in world government that showed a disregard for small powers regarding their participation in the direction of world affairs. This marked the end of the dominance of the planet by a single country and the start of the struggle between capitalism and Marxist dogma. The Polish elections were to become the first event of the Cold War conflict.

When Molotov proposed that the meetings would be held in the Russian way, the American President was disgusted; later, he accused Stalin of breaking the Yalta agreements. Great Britain wanted to win the war strategically and politically; however, for British public opinion, Yalta was seen as the biggest British-American treachery. Between July 17 and August 2, 1945, the Potsdam Conference took place, which confirmed the de facto borders of Poland and Germany as designed by Stalin. It was an attempt to address war reparations, which the Soviets were very interested in, and to discuss destroying Germany economically.

Consequences of International Treaties

The repercussions of global treaties were significant. The great political and geographical success was that Stalin's USSR emerged from the war as a world power, expanding its territory. This led to the birth of communist states in Eastern Europe and the Cold War from 1945 to 1989.

Stages and Impact of the Cold War

The Cold War passed through three stages. During this period, the Missile Crisis and the fall of the Berlin Wall occurred. Arms races were driven by military-industrial complexes. There was a spectacular change in the mindset of European societies, which became part of a mute and bipolar antagonistic world until 1989. This period saw the loss of European hegemony, though Europe tried to regain leadership through the first sketches of the European Union.

Key Developments in the Bipolar Era

• Maintenance of a democratic multiparty system in Western Europe under the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine.
• Configuration of pro-American political models in exchange for aid.
• Maintenance of the communist model in the Soviet Union and expansion of real socialism in Eastern Europe.
• Crackdown on communist parties in the West.
• The origin of the European Economic Community and the birth of NATO.
• Appearance of the dollar standard in capitalist countries against the gold standard.
• Global polarization and the sharing of influence between the USSR and the USA.