What Was The Big Three Alliance in World War II?
The Big Three, or the Grand Alliance, was an alliance formed in 1941 through the merging of the allied powers (the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom) during the Second World War.
Grand Alliance Members
The Grand Alliance was formed two years after the beginning of World War II. During the war, the members of the Big Three had massive power and control over different states. However, the Axis powers were gaining momentum. The countries that made up the Axis alliance were Japan, Italy, and Germany. These countries united during World War II with the primary aim of defeating the allied nations. Due to this threat, there was a need for these superior countries to ally to protect their territories and titles. Despite their differences in ideologies – the United Kingdom was a colonial power, the United States was the pinnacle of capitalism, and the Soviet Union was a communist stronghold – the Grand Alliance had the common goal of controlling the expansion of the Axis.
Problems In The Grand Alliance
The formation of this alliance was not out of good faith as much as it was out of necessity. These countries needed each other to emerge victorious by the end of World War II. For example, there existed too much tension between the Soviet Union and the US because the Soviet Union never trusted the United States as it never recognized the Soviet Union as an independent state. The United States had also taken an active role in the armed intervention against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. All these factors made it difficult to have a smooth and transparent running of operations between these two nations.
The Big Three countries held numerous meetings between 1943 and 1945. However, they had frequent disputes due to the increased number of demands by the USSR. When the president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, died, and his successor Truman refused to honor the requests made by the USSR. Tension increased, and by 1946, the Grand Alliance was no more. The world was on the eve of the Cold War.
