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Legacy of the War Notes. Yalta Conference (1945). Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt meet to discuss post war Europe Stalin wants a buffer zone (doesn’t want Germany to be able to invade Roosevelt wants Soviet Union to enter war in Pacific (willing to give him buffer zone to get it)
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Yalta Conference (1945) • Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt meet to discuss post war Europe • Stalin wants a buffer zone (doesn’t want Germany to be able to invade • Roosevelt wants Soviet Union to enter war in Pacific (willing to give him buffer zone to get it) • FDR and Churchill want United Nations • Organization designed to keep the peace • Based on Atlantic Charter by FDR and Churchill
End Results • More than 20,000,000 soldiers killed • More than 40,000,000 civilians killed • Defeat of Axis Powers • Beginning of Nuclear Age – 9 countries now have nuclear weapons • At home, GI Bill allows soldiers to go to college
Nuremberg Trials • individual responsibility for crimes in wartime so “following orders” is not a defense anymore • Many German and Japanese officials were tried and executed for “crimes against humanity”
Medal of Honor Winners Vernon Baker Audie Murphy
Beginning of Cold War • (no direct shooting but lots of indirect fighting and arms race) • US is a global power – only true opposition is Soviet Union • US briefly occupies Japan, which becomes a democracy • Marshall Plan to rebuild war-torn Europe and prevent the spread of communism • gives economic aid (remember it was depression that started all this in the first place)
Soviet domination of Eastern Europe (satellite nations become Stalin’s “buffer zone”) • Germany partitioned (divided) • West is democratic, self-governing • East is Soviet-dominated, communistic