However, on August 29th, 1949, the Soviet Union performed a test of their first atomic bomb codenamed ‘First Lighting’. As such, the Soviet Union was not able to militaristically challenge the United States and worked to develop their own atomic weapons. As such, many historians view the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences as the start of the Cold War since they highlighted the growing mistrust and tensions between Truman of the United States and Stalin of the Soviet Union.Īt the outset of the Cold War, the United States was the only nation in the world to contain atomic weapons, such as those used against Japan in 1945. The United States would bomb Hiroshima just days after the conference ended and World War II would be over in the just a few weeks, while the Cold War was just beginning. In general terms, the seeds of the Cold War were planted at the Potsdam Conference. Truman was incredibly suspicious of Stalin and his intentions and Stalin felt a similar way towards Truman. It was also at this conference that a deep divide was created between the United States and the Soviet Union specifically. As well, it is at the Potsdam Conference that Truman made Stalin aware of the American atomic weapons program (Manhattan Project) and that the Americans had developed the world's first atomic bomb. However, the Potsdam Conference is now viewed as a major event in the Cold War as well, because it highlighted the divide between Stalin and the other two leaders similar to the earlier Yalta Conference. The hope was that the three leaders could agree on how to handle world issues after the war was over, including: peace treaty issues and the effects of the war.
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