• THE POLISH QUESTION: the reason dissention was created was because the allies had to figure out who would govern poland and what the borders would be. 

• On august 15 1945 joint occupation of korea was established between the USA and the USSR
  
• stalin believed that when both troops left, moscow communists would take over
  
• Both nations however wanted to control the area
  
• in 1945 stalin recognized the polish government in lublin (Poland); the same government the soviets created
  
• At yalta churchill and roosevelt wanted free elections and a mixed polish government comprised of the lublin government and the polish government in exile in london. stalin ignored these wishes and instead increased his control over the area and placed it firmly under the soviet sphere of influence.
  
• Stalin put the western border of poland at the oder-niesse line and forced the relocation of 6-9 million germans in east prussia, silesia and East pomerania. stalins reason for this was to compensate poland for the loss of its territory taken by russia.
  
• the western powers objected but did not want to risk confrontation so soon after the war

IRAN:

• in iran the soviet government had not withdrawn its troops after the war and it was promoting a communist revolt in the northen province of azerbaijan
  
• american and british diplomatic pressure on the soviet union caused them to withraw, in turn the american government persuaded the iranian government to buy weapons from them

TURKEY:

• Turkey had remained neutral during the war but since it had a strategic location in regards to shipping routes between the black sea and the mediterranean the soviet union made an offer to secure access to the straits.
  
• When the offer was rejected stalin responded by sending 25 soviet decisions into turkey
  
• america took this as a breach of their sphere of influence and sent a naval task force to the area. the soviets reminded of the american nuclear ability withdrew.

• Being part of the western sphere of influence it was britains job to take care of greece. British economy however could not support greece anymore and with the threat of a communist takeover the greece government asked for american help.
  
• America fearing the soviet union to step in took action and President truman announced that economic and military aid will be given to greece and turkey.
  
• 250 million was to be given to greece and 150 million to turkey
  
• This became known as the truman doctrine, which said the USA must support a policy "to support free people who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures"
  
• Truman was to stop the american isolationist stance in order to prevent communism from spreading world wide.

• When america realized that western europe was economically ill equiped Secretary of the state George Marshall said that in order to prevent communism from soviet forces they must strengthen the economies of western european nations. This came to be known as the marshall plan.
  
• The marshall plan not only improved western european economies but also improved the american economy because of the redevelopment of trade with european nations.

• Czech communists won 38% of the vote but neither the president (Eduard Benes) or foreign minister (Jan Masaryk) were communists.
  
• Czechloslovakia wanted marshall plan assistance but stalin pulled them out of this discussion

1948-1949

• President Benes was pushed aside and the communists seized complete control. Two weeks later Jan Masaryk was found dead and it was stated as suicide. Most people did not believe this though.

BERLIN BLOCKADE, TITO AND TREATIES:

• The four power agreement had guaranteed the allies the security of the air corridors into west berlin from west germany but there were no guarantees on access by land or rail
  
• Stalin was dissapointed the allies had not left the area and when the western powers tried to extend help to west berlin the soviets who feared a strong western sector of germany imposed a blockade on all road and rail traffic into berlin.
  
• Deciding that it would be better to stay the western powers airlifted supplies into their sectors.
  
• soviet harrassment of cargo planes caused america to once again promote their nuclear power.
  
• on march 17 belgium, france, luxembourg, netherlands and great britain signed the treaty of brussels. This was an alliance of military power in case of soviet aggression
  
• stalin decided to end the blockade when he realized it was ineffective and on may 12 the blockade was lifted
  
• on may 23 west germany was declared the federal republic of germany, formalizing the german division.
  
• on june 11 the vandenburg resolution was signed which allowed the united states to align itself with other regional alliances in order to promote national and regional safety
  
• on june 28 Yugoslavia was expelled from the Cominform and economic sanctions were made by the soviet union. The reason being that stalin did not like Tito's (Yugoslavias leader) foreign policy and his intrusion on greece which was part of the western sphere of influence.
  
• on april 4 1949 The North atlantic treaty was signed (NATO). It was designed to warn the Soviet Union that the west was united against soviet expansion.
  
• The countries involved in NATO were belgium, france, luxembourg, netherlands, great britain, denmark, iceland, italy, canada, and the united states
  
• Comecon was established
  
• on september 22nd the soviet union exploded an atom bomb