Scott N.
The conferences at Yalta and Potsdam were the two most important peace conferences of World War II. The major powers at the conferences were the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union.
The conference at Yalta took place from February 4-11, 1945. Yalta is located on the southern coast of Ukraine. The "Big Three" at Yalta were US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Coming into the conference the Soviet Union held the strongest military position in Europe. They controlled Rumania, Bulgaria, and most of Poland and Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia, and had moved within 100 miles of Berlin.
The Big Three This picture shows (left to
right) Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and
Joseph Stalin at Yalta before the end of war. This
was the last time the Big Three would meet together
because Roosevelt died in April, and Churchill was
voted out as Prime Minister during the Potsdam
Conference. Groliers Multimedia
Encyclopedia, 1994
It was determined that it was necessary to develop a new world peace keeping organization, the United Nations. This came on the heels of the failure of the League of Nations, which had been developed after W.W.I. The United States, Soviet Union, and Great Britain would be the heads of the new organization. The Soviet Union wanted sixteen votes in the organization, one for each individual Soviet Republic, but ended up with three. They agreed to ask France and China to help sponsor their new meeting in San Francisco on April 25, 1945 for a future conference to complete plans for the formation of the United Nations.
At this time, the United States was still at war with Japan, with no clear end in sight. This was before a successful atom bomb test, so the United States asked the Soviet Union to declare war against Japan. Stalin agreed to declare war on Japan within three months of Germany's surrender, in exchange for control of the southern half of Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, and the rights to Manchurian Ports of Dairen and Port Arthur.
What to do with Germany was
also discussed at the Yalta Conference. It was decided to
divide Germany into four separate zones of control, one each
under the three Great Powers and France. Stalin wanted
Germany to stay permanently divided, but Churchill said that
a healthy Europe must include a prosperous Germany. Stalin
also wanted reparations to compensate the Soviet Union for
its 20 million dead and for the destruction of 1000 towns
and cities and a harsh punishment so that Germany could
never make war again. He originally supported the plan of US
Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., which
favored complete deindustrialization of Germany. All German
industry would go to the allies as reparations. The Soviet
Union then suggested the removal of German heavy industry by
the allies, allied control of the German economy, annual
payments to the allies by Germany for ten years, and 80% of
German heavy industry to be confiscated by the allies.
Churchill did not want the German people to be left poor and
hungry as a result of reparations. Roosevelt agreed with the
idea of reparations, but said that enough industry must be
left in Germany for the people to live
on. At the Yalta Conference,
February 4-11, it was decided to split Germany into
four zones of control, one each controlled by the
USSR, United States, Great Britain, and France.
Though the zones were controlled from Berlin it was
located in the Soviet zone of control. Purple was
controlled by the US, green was controlled by Great
Britain, orange was controlled by France, and
yellow was controlled by the Soviet
Union. World
History: Perspectives on the Past, 4th Edition
by Larry S. Krieger, Kenneth Neill, and Steven L.
Jantzen
D.C. Heath + Co. Lexington MA, 1994
Stalin also promised to establish governments with free democratic elections in Eastern European countries occupied by the Soviets in exchange for Soviet control of Poland. An agreement was reached to reorganize Poland's government to be more democratic and to include members of Poland's government-in-exile in London, which was supported by the western powers.
After the Yalta Conference many critics of Roosevelt believed that the US gave up too much to the Soviet Union. However, at the time the Soviet Map of Europe/Asia Union held the superior position, yet didn't get everything they wanted, including severe monetary reparations from Germany. Later in history, as the US-Soviet conflict began, many people looked back on anything given to the Soviet Union as too much.
This map shows the sides of
W.W.II in 1941, just before the United States
entered the war. Red represents axis controlled
territory, blue represents allied controlled
territory, and yellow represents neutral territory.
Japan controlled Manchuria, Southeast Asia, The
Philippines, and Indonesia. Germany controlled most
of Central Europe, including France, its territory
in Northern Africa, and Norway and Finland, except
for Switzerland which was neutral. The allies
controlled Australia, the rest of Asia, many
colonies in Africa, eastern Europe and the UK.
Switzerland, along with Turkey, Saudi Arabia,
Sweden, Spain, and much of Africa remained
neutral.
The Potsdam Conference took place in Germany, from July 17-August 2, 1945. The "Big Three" nations were once again represented, though their leaders had changed. Stalin was there, but Truman had become President when Roosevelt died in April. Churchill was there to begin the conference, but he was replaced when Clement Atlee was elected Prime Minister in the middle of the conference on July 26. Many things from the Yalta Conference came up, including the occupation of Germany and reparations. Also discussed were plans for war crime trials, and a possible surrender by Japan.
Reparations were finally decided on. The Soviet Union received one-third of Germany's ships and industrial equipment. The German economy was also decentralized, and monopolies were broken up. At Potsdam, Truman learned of the first successful atom bomb test on July 16. Truman told Churchill, and Stalin later learned of it from one of Truman's aides. As a result of this, the Potsdam Proclamation was issued. This called on Japan to surrender unconditionally or be destroyed. Japan chose to ignore the Potsdam Proclamation and continued fighting. This led to the first atomic bomb used on Hiroshima on August 6 and the second against Nagasaki. Differences amongst the allies also arose at Potsdam. Britain and the US refused to accept the Soviet government in Poland and called for free elections in Rumania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, while Stalin demanded that they accept his puppet governments. They also charged that the Soviet Union had helped establish communist governments in other Eastern European countries which had been freed from German control. The allies together agreed to prosecute German leaders for war crimes. They decided that they should make a list of all major war criminals and every criminal captured would be given a fair judicial trial.
The Yalta and Potsdam Peace
Conferences set the stage for life after W.W.II and
influenced and led to many future events including the Cold
War.
1) "The Meaning of Yalta", by Snell, John L., Louisiana State Press, Louisiana, 1956
2) "Meeting At Potsdam", by Mee, Charles L., M Evans+Co., New York, 1975
3) "Potsdam Conference", by Hamby, Alonzo L., Groliers Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1994
4) "Potsdam Conference", by Clemens, Diane Shaver, World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1998
5)"Triumph and Tragedy", by
Churchill, Winston S, Bantham Books, New York, 1962
This is my primary source because Winston Churchill was at
the Yalta Conference, and part of the Potsdam Conference, as
Britain's Prime Minister. This book is part of his diary
from the time surrounding the two conferences
6) "Yalta Conference", by Hamby, Alonzo L., Groliers Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1994
7) "Yalta Conference", by Clemens, Diane Shaver, World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia, 1998