Immediately after the Second World War relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were very difficult.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2022). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1] They disagreed over elections in Poland.
2. [1] They disagreed over what to do with Germany.
3. [1] Stalin wanted Germany kept weak, while the Allies wanted it to recover.
4. [1] Stalin wanted access to Germany's industrial heartland.
5. [1] The USSR wanted a role in Japan.
6. [1] There were disagreements over the de-Nazification of Germany.
7. [1] There were disagreements over reparations.
8. [1] There were disagreements over the recognition of East European countries.
9. [1] The blockade failed because it was not properly thought through and stood little chance of success. It also had a lot of opposition.
10. [1] It failed because of the Allied airlift.
11. [1] It failed because Britain, France and the USA decided not to back down.
12. [1] It failed because the Soviets did not fire on the Allied aircraft.
13. [1] Enormous numbers of planes kept Berlin supplied with the goods it needed to keep going.
14. [1] It failed because Stalin did not risk taking it further. He feared another military conflict.
15. [Explanation L3] The main reason why it failed was because Stalin's plan to force Berlin into submission by cutting off food, fuel and other supplies was defeated by the Allied airlift. Stalin might have cut off the road links, but the Allies could still fly into Berlin. The airlift consisted of planes landing every 90 seconds, taking in all the supplies Berlin needed. It was an enormous operation and there were over 300 000 flights. The airlift succeeded.
16. [1] I do not think that Stalin's policies were defensive. He wanted to take over Eastern Europe and he was very aggressive.
17. [1] Stalin wanted to spread communism throughout the world.
18. [1] Stalin imposed communist governments on Eastern Europe.
19. [1] Stalin broke the agreements he made at Yalta.
20. [1] COMECON showed that Stalin wanted to control the countries in Eastern Europe.
21. [1] Stalin felt the Soviet Union was under threat from the West and wanted a protective barrier for the Soviet Union.
22. [1] Stalin felt threatened by Truman's hard-line policies.
23. [1] Stalin felt threatened by the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan.
24. [1] Stalin was worried about a new powerful Germany emerging.
25. [Explanation L3 (Defensive)] I agree that Stalin's policies were defensive in Eastern Europe. The main reason behind all his actions was a concern for the security of the Soviet Union. Russia had been attacked twice by Germany and he was worried about future attacks from the West, especially given Truman's hard-line attitude and the fact that the US had the atomic bomb. What particularly worried him was the fear that Germany would be allowed to recover and become strong again. It would be in a position to threaten Russia again. This led Stalin to plan for a protective ring of friendly states on his western border.
26. [Explanation L3 (Not Defensive)] I do not agree with this. One of Stalin's aims was to spread communism around the world and destroy capitalism. His first step was to control Eastern Europe. He did not keep to the agreements made at Yalta and forced communist governments on Poland and Romania. By 1948, Eastern Europe was under communist control and through COMECON all the countries there followed the Soviet economic model. The Soviet Union had firm control of Eastern Europe and this was the first step in destroying capitalism everywhere.