Diplomatic History of Europe 1500 - 2000 | Aftermath and Peace Plans (Lecture 31)

Lecture 31: This lecture devotes special attention to the immediate aftermath of World War II from 1945 to 1946. No final and comprehensive settlement was worked out as had been the case in Paris in 1919 after World War I, as the victorious alliance, which had already experienced earlier strains, began to drift apart. We trace the outlines of the founding of the United Nations as a successor to the failed League of Nations; the results of the Potsdam Conference held in defeated Germany by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union; Stalin’s reimposition of harsh personal control; and growing tensions between the victorious powers.

Essential Reading:
Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy, pp. 423–45.

Supplementary Reading:
Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, pp. 347–95.