Lesson Plan: Students will be split into two different groups and will need to do homework with this lesson. You will need to print out copies for the worksheets for each student.
Background Franklin Roosevelt had repeatedly expressed optimism regarding the postwar relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. When differences between them emerged, he insisted, his personal relationship with Stalin would be enough to smooth them over. Whether he was right was impossible to say, but it became a moot point when FDR died in April 1945. Therefore it was Roosevelt's vice president, Harry Truman, who would be in the White House when serious problems developed.
At the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences of 1945 the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union had reached agreement on a number of topics, particularly the fate of postwar Germany and Eastern Europe. Most importantly, at Yalta they issued a "Declaration of Liberated Europe," in which they pledged "to form interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population and pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections of Governments responsive to the will of the people."
But within a few months policy makers in the Truman administration had come to believe that Stalin was not living up to his side of those agreements. Instead it appeared as though the Russians were trying to create a series of puppet states in Eastern Europe. For their part, the Soviets argued that their security required "friendly" regimes along their border, and that Western-style democratic elections were unlikely to produce pro-Soviet governments. To Truman this seemed like a betrayal of everything that the Allies had fought for in their war against the Axis. Moreover, large numbers of Americans of Eastern European descent were inclined to agree with him.
As a result of this, the high hopes that FDR had for postwar cooperation had been largely dashed by late 1946, prompting a debate over what U.S. policy toward the Soviets should be. Some, like Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace, argued that Stalin's need for security had to be acknowledged, even if it meant tolerating Soviet dominance over Eastern Europe. Others, like George Kennan, deputy head of the U.S. mission to Moscow during World War II, saw in the Soviet Union a growing threat to world peace—one that had to be met with firmness and, if necessary, military force.
1. Engage students with primary sources. Draw on students’ prior knowledge of the topic.
Ask students to closely observe each primary source.
Lesson Activity
Lesson Activities
As they work their way through the documents, students in each group should complete the corresponding worksheet (page 4 for Group #1, page 9 for Group #2), noting the agreements reached at each conference.
After the students have read the documents and completed the worksheets (this might be assigned as homework) they should come together in class to list the main agreements reached at both Yalta and Potsdam. A good way of doing this might be to split up the groups, pairing each member of Group #1 with a member of Group #2 and having them compare their worksheets. The ultimate goal should be a comprehensive list of agreements made at Yalta and Potsdam.
For more advanced students, this activity might conclude with a class discussion comparing and contrasting the agreements made at Yalta with those reached at Potsdam. Students might also be asked to speculate on what problems they think were likely to arise from these agreements, and why.
Activity 2. The Breakdown of Cooperation In the previous activity students will have learned about the agreements made regarding postwar Europe. In this exercise they will examine how the West and the Soviet Union had conflicting interpretations of these agreements. The result was a set of disputes that emerged in the first several meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers, which was first established at Potsdam for the purpose of smoothing over relations among the former Allies.
Again divide the class into two groups. The first will read excerpts from accounts by U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes on the First and Interim meetings of the Council, while the second will read excerpts from Byrnes' account of the Second Meeting. All three accounts are available in their entirety at the Avalon Project; however, excerpts are included on pages 10-17 of the Text Document.
Group #1:
Once the readings and worksheets have been completed (again, this might be usefully assigned as homework) the students should come together to compare their findings. As in the first activity, each student from Group #1 might be paired with a student from Group #2, or you could lead a discussion involving the entire class. In the end students should have a sense for which agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam were not successfully carried out and why.
As in the last activity, more advanced students might be asked to consider, based on Byrnes's comments, how realistic were the goals and objectives set by the Allied Powers at Yalta and Potsdam.
Activity 3. Why did Cooperation Break Down? The rapid breakdown of the agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam left policy makers in Washington scrambling for explanations of why the Soviets were behaving as they were, and for ideas on how to manage relations between the two superpowers. In this activity students will read competing interpretations of recent events. These are available in their entirety at the EDSITEment-reviewed resources Teaching American History and History Matters, but excerpts are included on pages 18-26 of the Text Document.
To begin, divide the class into two groups and assign each one of the readings listed below. Inform the students that their task will be to explain to President Truman (played by the teacher) why cooperation with the Soviet Union has broken down and what the United States should do as a result.
Group #1: Excerpts from George Kennan's "Long Telegram," February 22, 1946: (pages 18-21 of the Text Document)
Group #2: "Achieving an Atmosphere of Mutual Trust and Confidence": Henry A. Wallace Offers an Alternative to Cold War Containment: (pages 22-26 of the Text Document)
Whichever group they are in, students should answer the following questions to guide their reading (available as a worksheet on page 27 of the Text Document
Students will then after going over all the documents will need to watch the movie the Sum of All Fears and how the Russians felt about United States involvement in their country. Students need to see the different perspectives and understand that because America forced their involvement on Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Based on the movie and documents how history played out the students will have to explain the different cause and effects on the documents and U. S involvenment. Also students will need to draw a conclusion understanding the multiple perspectives of both sides and how they felt with the outcome of the Yalta Conference and Potsdam. I also want to know their interpretation of the documents and what it means for Soviet and U.S. relations. All of these questions will be answered throughout the week. But by the end of the week they need to answer all the questions as stated in the beginning of the paragraph. Most of the 5th and 6th day will be watching the movie and homework will be to answer the questions which will be due on day 7.
Background Franklin Roosevelt had repeatedly expressed optimism regarding the postwar relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. When differences between them emerged, he insisted, his personal relationship with Stalin would be enough to smooth them over. Whether he was right was impossible to say, but it became a moot point when FDR died in April 1945. Therefore it was Roosevelt's vice president, Harry Truman, who would be in the White House when serious problems developed.
At the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences of 1945 the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union had reached agreement on a number of topics, particularly the fate of postwar Germany and Eastern Europe. Most importantly, at Yalta they issued a "Declaration of Liberated Europe," in which they pledged "to form interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population and pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections of Governments responsive to the will of the people."
But within a few months policy makers in the Truman administration had come to believe that Stalin was not living up to his side of those agreements. Instead it appeared as though the Russians were trying to create a series of puppet states in Eastern Europe. For their part, the Soviets argued that their security required "friendly" regimes along their border, and that Western-style democratic elections were unlikely to produce pro-Soviet governments. To Truman this seemed like a betrayal of everything that the Allies had fought for in their war against the Axis. Moreover, large numbers of Americans of Eastern European descent were inclined to agree with him.
As a result of this, the high hopes that FDR had for postwar cooperation had been largely dashed by late 1946, prompting a debate over what U.S. policy toward the Soviets should be. Some, like Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace, argued that Stalin's need for security had to be acknowledged, even if it meant tolerating Soviet dominance over Eastern Europe. Others, like George Kennan, deputy head of the U.S. mission to Moscow during World War II, saw in the Soviet Union a growing threat to world peace—one that had to be met with firmness and, if necessary, military force.
1. Engage students with primary sources. Draw on students’ prior knowledge of the topic.
Ask students to closely observe each primary source.
- Who created this primary source?
- When was it created?
- Where does your eye go first?
- What do you see that you didn’t expect?
- What powerful words and ideas are expressed?
- What feelings and thoughts does the primary source trigger in you?
- What questions does it raise?
- What was happening during this time period?
- What was the creator’s purpose in making this primary source?
- What does the creator do to get his or her point across?
- What was this primary source’s audience?
- What biases or stereotypes do you see?
- Ask students to test their assumptions about the past.
- Ask students to find other primary or secondary sources that offer support or contradiction.
- Ask for reasons and specific evidence to support their conclusions.
- Help students identify questions for further investigation, and develop strategies for how they might answer them.
Lesson Activity
Lesson Activities
- Activity 1. Plans for Postwar Europe
- Activity 2. The Breakdown of Cooperation
- Activity 3. Why did Cooperation Break Down?
As they work their way through the documents, students in each group should complete the corresponding worksheet (page 4 for Group #1, page 9 for Group #2), noting the agreements reached at each conference.
- Group #1: The Yalta Conference (excerpts on pages 1-3 of the Text Document)
- Group #2: The Berlin (Potsdam) Conference (pages 5-8)
After the students have read the documents and completed the worksheets (this might be assigned as homework) they should come together in class to list the main agreements reached at both Yalta and Potsdam. A good way of doing this might be to split up the groups, pairing each member of Group #1 with a member of Group #2 and having them compare their worksheets. The ultimate goal should be a comprehensive list of agreements made at Yalta and Potsdam.
For more advanced students, this activity might conclude with a class discussion comparing and contrasting the agreements made at Yalta with those reached at Potsdam. Students might also be asked to speculate on what problems they think were likely to arise from these agreements, and why.
Activity 2. The Breakdown of Cooperation In the previous activity students will have learned about the agreements made regarding postwar Europe. In this exercise they will examine how the West and the Soviet Union had conflicting interpretations of these agreements. The result was a set of disputes that emerged in the first several meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers, which was first established at Potsdam for the purpose of smoothing over relations among the former Allies.
Again divide the class into two groups. The first will read excerpts from accounts by U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes on the First and Interim meetings of the Council, while the second will read excerpts from Byrnes' account of the Second Meeting. All three accounts are available in their entirety at the Avalon Project; however, excerpts are included on pages 10-17 of the Text Document.
Group #1:
- First Meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers, September 11-October 12, 1945 (excerpts on pages 10-11 of the Text Document)
- Interim Meeting of Foreign Ministers, December 16-26, 1945 (pages 12-13)
Once the readings and worksheets have been completed (again, this might be usefully assigned as homework) the students should come together to compare their findings. As in the first activity, each student from Group #1 might be paired with a student from Group #2, or you could lead a discussion involving the entire class. In the end students should have a sense for which agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam were not successfully carried out and why.
As in the last activity, more advanced students might be asked to consider, based on Byrnes's comments, how realistic were the goals and objectives set by the Allied Powers at Yalta and Potsdam.
Activity 3. Why did Cooperation Break Down? The rapid breakdown of the agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam left policy makers in Washington scrambling for explanations of why the Soviets were behaving as they were, and for ideas on how to manage relations between the two superpowers. In this activity students will read competing interpretations of recent events. These are available in their entirety at the EDSITEment-reviewed resources Teaching American History and History Matters, but excerpts are included on pages 18-26 of the Text Document.
To begin, divide the class into two groups and assign each one of the readings listed below. Inform the students that their task will be to explain to President Truman (played by the teacher) why cooperation with the Soviet Union has broken down and what the United States should do as a result.
Group #1: Excerpts from George Kennan's "Long Telegram," February 22, 1946: (pages 18-21 of the Text Document)
Group #2: "Achieving an Atmosphere of Mutual Trust and Confidence": Henry A. Wallace Offers an Alternative to Cold War Containment: (pages 22-26 of the Text Document)
Whichever group they are in, students should answer the following questions to guide their reading (available as a worksheet on page 27 of the Text Document
- Why, according to the author, had relations deteriorated between the United States and the Soviet Union?
- Why, according to the author, did Americans distrust the Soviet Union?
- Why, according to the author, did the Soviet Union distrust the United States?
- What was the author's greatest fear regarding Soviet-American relations?
- What were the author's recommendations for how U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union ought to be conducted?
Students will then after going over all the documents will need to watch the movie the Sum of All Fears and how the Russians felt about United States involvement in their country. Students need to see the different perspectives and understand that because America forced their involvement on Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Based on the movie and documents how history played out the students will have to explain the different cause and effects on the documents and U. S involvenment. Also students will need to draw a conclusion understanding the multiple perspectives of both sides and how they felt with the outcome of the Yalta Conference and Potsdam. I also want to know their interpretation of the documents and what it means for Soviet and U.S. relations. All of these questions will be answered throughout the week. But by the end of the week they need to answer all the questions as stated in the beginning of the paragraph. Most of the 5th and 6th day will be watching the movie and homework will be to answer the questions which will be due on day 7.