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Difficulty: HardWorld War II: Military Campaigns and Postwar Planning

"The establishment of order in Europe and the rebuilding of national economic life must be achieved by processes which will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last vestiges of Nazism and Fascism and to create democratic institutions of their own choice. This is a principle of the Atlantic Charter—the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live—the restoration of sovereign rights and self-government to those peoples who have been forcibly deprived of them by the aggressor nations."
— Joint Declaration on Liberated Europe, Yalta Conference, February 1945

Which of the following postwar developments most directly contributed to the collapse of the cooperative consensus expressed in the excerpt?

  1. A
    A resurgence of strict United States isolationism, which led Congress to reject participation in the newly formed United Nations.
  2. The establishment of pro-Soviet governments in Eastern Europe, which prompted the United States to adopt a policy of containment.Answer
  3. C
    The immediate deployment of United States ground forces to militarily roll back Soviet influence in Poland.
  4. D
    The decision by United States policymakers to prioritize domestic New Deal recovery programs over the economic stabilization of postwar Europe.

Answer

The establishment of pro-Soviet governments in Eastern Europe, which prompted the United States to adopt a policy of containment.
The correct option is correct because the Soviet Union's creation of pro-Soviet puppet governments in Eastern Europe directly violated the Yalta Conference's Declaration on Liberated Europe, which promised self-determination and free elections. This breach of trust dismantled the wartime alliance and led the United States to adopt the containment policy to prevent the further spread of Soviet influence.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus to determine its core historical context.
The text is from the Joint Declaration on Liberated Europe signed at the Yalta Conference, which affirmed the right of liberated nations to hold free elections and establish democratic governments.
Identifying the diplomatic goals of the Allied powers helps establish a baseline for analyzing how those goals failed in the postwar period.
2
Evaluate post-World War II developments in Eastern Europe that directly conflicted with this agreement.
The Soviet Union established satellite states with communist governments across Eastern Europe (e.g., in Poland and Romania) and suppressed democratic opposition.
This step identifies the primary cause of the collapse of the wartime consensus between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.
3
Determine the resulting shift in United States foreign policy.
In response to Soviet expansionism, the United States abandoned its wartime cooperation and implemented the containment doctrine (including the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan).
This connects the violation of the Yalta agreements to the start of the Cold War and the reshaping of U.S. foreign policy.

Key Concept

The breakdown of World War II alliance agreements and the emergence of the containment doctrine.
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World War II: Military Campaigns and Postwar Planning

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