1945, the Year That Marked Both the High Point and the Breakdown of East-West Relationship in the Cold War

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WWII finished in 1945. The Allies were victorious and Germany destroyed. The West and the East had to define the fate of the world after the war. The statement “the events of 1945 marked both the high point and the breakdown of East-West relationship” is to an entire extent true because in the beginning of the year both countries were fighting side by side and were going to decide the fate of the world together as a union but by the end of the year disagreements appeared and they went from allies to enemies. The high point of the East-West relationships was when the war finished and the both sides had to agree on what to do. The west would be France and mainly the USA and England (later mainly the USA) and the East would be represented by the USSR. After having open relationships to fight together in the war, both sides scheduled two conferences to decide, as allies, the fate of the world. These conferences were named Yalta (scheduled in February) and Potsdam (scheduled in November). The conferences are the proof that their relationship was at its highest point. Never before were these countries so together and open to making agreements amongst each other. When the Yalta and the Potsdam conferences took place, however, the situation changed. On February, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin were the representatives at the conference of their countries. The idea of finding a common interest between both sides was lost. Not only did the two sides not agree in the solutions, Churchill and Stalin also showed their personal problems. These personal problems were clearly seen the year after in Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech. Also, when Stalin invaded Poland he directly went against what was agreed in the Yalta conference, showing the disagreement in between the countries. Their relationship already worsened by the end of the conference, but after the Potsdam

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