Churchill's relationship with other wartime leaders was troublesome. However, it seemed to be that fundermental political differences were the cause of the tensions, and that Churchill merely exacerbated these tensions rather than causing them entirely.

Churchill's relationship with Stalin was problematic, however this was always going to be the case as Churchill strongly believed in capitalism, and Stalin in communism. The fundamental differences between these ideologies meant that Churchill and Stalin would always disagree- this was shown through how both leaders wanted Poland to be governed. Churchill wanted Poland to have free elections, however Poland became dominated by the USSR after the Polish government had “slandered” the USSR, so the USSR cut off the Polish government. This struck a chord with Churchill, as the reason for Britain to enter the war was to defend Poland from German dictatorship rule, only for it to be dominated by a Soviet dictatorship. In this way, Churchill and Stalin were never going to agree, due to their opposite political beliefs. 

 

Churchill’s relationship with Roosevelt was arguably equally troublesome, due to Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s differing attitudes to imperialism. FDR believed that Stalin could be convinced that the West was not trying to destroy the Soviet Union, however Churchill believed in the importance of looking for political security after the war- shown by the “percentages agreement” in which Churchill and Stalin negotiated for control of Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia in order to avoid later conflict.  In comparison, FDR neglected the threat of the Soviet sphere of influence, instead criticising British Imperialism, and making Britain reduce trade barriers with the empire in order for the US to enter the war. Therefore, a fundamental disagreement was caused by differences in ideology, much like the capitalism-communism dispute between Churchill and Stalin. It seems that bad relations were only to be expected from the beginning, and that Churchill may have only worsened already existing tensions.