Changes

The western allies, especially Churchill, did not like what Stalin proposed and saw it as opportunistic, they reluctantly agreed to Stalin's demands as they needed the Soviet Union to defeat the Third Reich. <ref>Roberts, Geoffrey, <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300112041/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0300112041&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=9b12c40f73ceb88f68fa490cbc8bc9ae Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953]</i>. (Yale University Press, Yale, 2006), p. 156</ref> In May 1944, in accordance with the decisions made at the Tehran Conference, Britain and US troops launched an invasion of France, opening the so-called “second front” in the West. Their actions allowed the Soviet Union to make significant advances across Eastern Europe toward Germany. In particular, they advanced into the territories that they had lost during the German invasion. It was becoming clear that Germany was near defeat and that the geopolitical situation was going to quickly change. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin needed to meet again to sort out the future of Europe. <ref> Roberts, p. 145</ref>

====Cement territorial and political gains at Yalta====

[[File: Yalta 1.jpg|thumbnail|300px|left|Soviet soldiers in Berlin in 1945]]

====Build Soviet Empire in Europe====

Stalin has often been referred to as the 'Red Tsar'. He wanted to build a great empire for himself and his nation. The Supreme Soviet Leader believed that the Soviet Union had all but won the war against the Germans, on its own. This meant that they were entitled to the spoils of war and that because of their great victory that they had won the right to dominate, politically and economically, smaller countries.<ref>Montefiore, Simon Sebag. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400076781/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1400076781&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=a2465ef3d37dd105ffcfe226239d20ed Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar]</i>. (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003), p. 317</ref> Stalin believed that the Soviet Union was entitled to be regarded as a great power. Now great powers, such as Britain and France had empires, and so the Soviet Union was entitled to a great empire. Stalin's desire to establish an empire from the countries that his Red Army had recently liberated was one of the main goals of the communist leader, in the post-war period.

Stalin believed that the Soviet Union's sacrifices meant that he and his nation were entitled to be treated like a great power and that they could create an Empire for their own strategic and economic benefit. The Soviet leader was eager to expand his territory to create a buffer around the USSR, in a bid to protect it from any invasion, possibly from the western powers. Stalin as a committed communist was also eager to expand communism around the world and to promote a global revolution, that would sweep away the capitalist system. Stalin did achieve many of his goals.<ref> Applebaum, p. 143</ref> By the time of his death, he ruled or influenced almost one-fifth of the world's landmass, and the USSR was acknowledged as only one of two Superpowers in the world. However, his ambitions meant that he caused the Cold War, that for four decades, threatened to turn into a nuclear conflict between the Communist bloc and the western democratic powers.

====References====