Potsdam+and+Yalta

The Yalta Conference


 * In February 1945 Franklin Roosevelt of the USA, Joseph Stalin of the USSR and Winston Churchill met at Yalta in the Soviet Union. The war in Europe was nearing its end and decisions had to be made about how to organize Europe after the war. **

__** Decisions: **__ The Allies decided the following:
 * Germany was to be defeated and then disarmed. It was to be split into four zones of occupation – the Big Three plus France. Germany would also have to pay reparations.
 * In Eastern Europe countries were to be allowed to hold free elections to choose how they would be governed.
 * In Poland free elections were to be held. The eastern frontier was to return to the pre-1921 position.
 * The USSR was to join the war against Japan three months after Germany’s defeat.
 * A United Nations Organization was to be set up.
 * The Soviet Union had suffered terribly in the war. An estimated 20 million Soviet people had died. Stalin was therefore concerned about the future security of the USSR. The Big Three agreed that Eastern Europe should be seen as ‘a Soviet sphere of influence’.

__** Tensions: **__ There were already differences between East and West:
 * The Western Allies were concerned because the USSR wanted Poland’s western frontier moved into Germany and the German population removed. Stalin argued that Poland, in turn could move its borders westwards into German territory. Churchill did not approve of Stalin’s plans for Poland, but he also knew that there was not very much he could do about it because Stalin’s Red Army was in total control of both Poland and eastern Germany. Roosevelt was also unhappy about Stalin’s plan, but Churchill persuaded Roosevelt to accept it, as long as the USSR agreed not to interfere in Greece where the British were attempting to prevent the Communists taking over. Stalin accepted this.
 * They disagreed over how much Germany was to pay in reparations. Stalin wanted to fix a sum that the West thought was too large. The decision was postponed.

**Task - What was going on behind the scenes at Yalta?**

The war against Hitler had united Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill and at the Yalta Conference they appeared to get on well. The Source below illustrates the ‘public’ face of Yalta: “I want to drink to our alliance, that it should not lose its … intimacy, its free expression of views … I know of no such close alliance of three Great Powers as this … May it be strong and stable, may we be as frank as possible.” - Stalin, proposing a toast at a dinner at the Yalta Conference, 1945

But what was going on behind the scenes?

**One - Using the quotes provided, fill in the table below (download an answer sheet below):**

“Perhaps you think that just because we are the allies of the English we have forgotten who they are and who Churchill is. There’s nothing they like better than to trick their allies. During the First World War they constantly tricked the Russians and the French. And Churchill? Churchill is the kind of man who will pick your pocket of a kopeck! (A kopeck is a low value Soviet coin). And Roosevelt? Roosevelt is not like that. He dips in his hand only for bigger coins. But Churchill? He will do it for a kopeck.”
 * Source One - Stalin speaking to a fellow Communist Milovan Djilas, in 1945. Djilas was a supporter of Stalin. **

“In the hallway (at Yalta) we stopped before a map of the world on which the Soviet Union was colored in red. Stalin waved his hand over the Soviet Union and exclaimed, “They (Roosevelt and Churchill) will never accept the idea that so great a space should be red, never, never!”
 * Source Two - Milovan Djilas writing about Yalta in 1948 **

“Once Churchill asked Stalin to send him the music of the new Soviet Russian anthem so that it could be broadcast before the summary of the news from the Soviet German front. Stalin sent the words (as well) and expressed hope that Churchill will set about learning the new tune and whistling it to members of the Conservative Party. While Stalin behaved with relative discretion with Roosevelt, he continually teased Churchill throughout the war."
 * Source Three - Written by Soviet Historian **

“The Soviet Union has become a danger to the free world. A new front must be created against her onward sweep. This front should be as Far East as possible. A settlement must be reached on all major issues between West and East in Europe before the armies of democracy melt.”
 * Source Four - Churchill writing to Roosevelt shortly after the Yalta Conference **


 * Source Five - A Soviet Cartoon. Churchill is shown with two flags, the first proclaiming that ‘Anglo-Saxons must rule the world’ and the other threatening an ‘Iron Curtain’. **



“(At Yalta) Churchill feared that Roosevelt was too pro-Russian. He pressed for a French zone to be added to the other three to add another anti-Russian voice to the armies of occupation.”
 * Source Six - Written by Christopher Cuplin in a school textbook, The Modern World, 1984 **

“One could see that Churchill had left a deep impression on the Soviet leaders as a farsighted and dangerous statesman – although they did not like him.”
 * Source Seven - Milovan Djilas comments, in 1948 on Stalin’s assessment of Churchill **

“(In May 1945) Churchill ordered (General) Montgomery to keep the German arms intact, in case they had to be used against the Russians.”
 * Source Eight - Written by historian Hugh Higgins in The Cold War, 1974 **

**Two - Using the diagram below and your knowledge at this point in time, summarise what each of the leaders thought of one another (download an answer sheet below).**

= = = **The Potsdam Conference** =

In May 1945, three months after the Yalta Conference, Allied troops reached Berlin. Hitler committed suicide. Germany surrendered. The war in Europe was won. The Allies met again at Potsdam in July - August 1945. Roosevelt had died suddenly in April, so the USA was represented by its new president Harry S Truman.

The Potsdam Conference did not go as smoothly as the Yalta Conference had earlier in 1945.

__** Decisions: **__
 * In Germany details of the zones of occupation were finalised. The Nazi Party was to be banned and its leaders tried as war criminals.
 * For reparations each power was to collect industrial equipment from its zone. Since its zone was mainly agricultural, the USSR was to receive additional reparations from the other zones.
 * Poland’s western boundary was to be along a line created by Oder and Neisse rivers.
 * Germans living in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia were to return to Germany.

__** Tensions: **__ Despite these decisions it soon became apparent that the divisions between East and West were growing:
 * The West was suspicious of Soviet intentions in Eastern Europe. In March Stalin had invited non-communist Polish leaders to Moscow and then imprisoned them. Communists now held key positions in the Polish government.
 * Far more Germans were to be expelled from Eastern Europe than the Western Allies had expected.
 * Truman did not tell Stalin that the USA intended to drop an atomic bomb on Japan.
 * Truman was highly suspicious of Stalin’s motives. He was much less willing to trust the Soviet Union than Roosevelt had been. The Red Army was the biggest in the world. Stalin refused to cut down his armed forces. The Soviet Union was trying to catch up with the USA by developing its own atomic bomb. Truman was also suspicious of Stalin’s aims in Eastern Europe. He believed the Soviet leader intended to set up buffer states under the control of the USSR.

**The Iron Curtain** – the Potsdam Conference ended without complete agreement on these issues. Over the next nine months, Stalin achieved the domination of Eastern Europe that he was seeking. By 1946 Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania all had Communist governments which owed their loyalty to Stalin. Churchill described the border between Soviet-controlled countries and the West as an Iron Curtain. The name stuck.

Lesson source: coldwarcgs

Answer sheet:

__**Other Resources**__ [|John D Clare on Yalta and Potsdam]