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→US and USSR forge an uneasy alliance
====US and USSR forge an uneasy alliance====
[[File:alta_Conference_1945_ChurchillYalta_Conference_1945_Churchill,_Stalin,_Roosevelt.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta in 1945]]
Several issues arose during the war that threatened the alliance. These included the Soviet refusal to aide the Polish Home Army during the Warsaw Uprising of August 1944, and the decision of British and U.S. officials to exclude the Soviets from secret negotiations with German officers in March of 1945 in an effort to secure the surrender of German troops in Italy. The most important disagreement, however, was over the opening of a second front in the West. Stalin’s troops struggled to hold the [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140284583/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0140284583&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=0fc0f6ecfe244fbde9197916df730787 Eastern front against the Nazi forces], and the Soviets began pleading for a British invasion of France immediately after the Nazi invasion in 1941. In 1942, Roosevelt unwisely promised the Soviets that the Allies would open the second front that autumn. Although Stalin only grumbled when the invasion was postponed until 1943, he exploded the following year when the invasion was postponed again until May of 1944. In retaliation, Stalin recalled his ambassadors from London and Washington and fears soon arose that the Soviets might seek a separate peace with Germany.