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Yalta vs Potsdam. Winston Churchill, in a telegram dated 17 February 1945, thanking Stalin for his 'hospitality and friendship' at the Yalta Conference.
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Winston Churchill, in a telegram dated 17 February 1945,thanking Stalin for his 'hospitality and friendship' at the Yalta Conference. • On behalf of HM Government I send you grateful thanks for all the hospitality and friendship extended to British delegation at Crimea Conference... No previous meeting has shown so clearly the results which can be achieved when the three heads of government meet together with the full intention to face difficulties and solve them. • You yourself said that co-operation would be less easy when the unifying bond of fight against a common enemy had been removed. I am resolved, as I am sure the President and you are resolved that the friendship and co-operation so firmly established shall not fade when victory has been won.
The Yalta conference Churchill Roosevelt Stalin USA USSR Great Britain These three leaders, known as the Big Three, met at Yalta in Russia in February 1945.
The Yalta conference is often thought of as the beginning of the Cold War. It was a meeting of the Big Three at the former palace of Tsar Nicholas II on the Crimean shore of the Black Sea. They met between 4 and 11 February 1945. Stalin’s army had reached the River Oder and were poised to attack Berlin. The Soviet army had been told to pause while the conference took place. Stalin had occupied Poland and had the largest army in Europe.
Key agreements at Yalta • Stalin accepted France as one of the four powers. • Germany was to be divided into four zones, each occupied by one of the four allies (USA, USSR, Britain, France). Berlin was also to be divided into four sectors. • Poland would get land from Germany, and would lose land to USSR in the east. • The USSR would declare war on Japan three months after the end of the war with Germany. • Stalin promised to allow free elections in the East European countries the Soviet army was occupying. • Germany was to pay reparations of $20 million, half of which was to go to the USSR. Who seems to have done best at the conference?
YALTA • Held during the war, on the surface, the Yalta conference seemed successful. The Allies agreed a Protocol of Proceedings to: • divide Germany into four ‘zones’, which Britain, France, the USA and the USSR would occupy after the war. • bring Nazi war-criminals to trial. • set up a Polish Provisional Government of National Unity 'pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as possible'. • help the freed peoples of Europe set up democratic and self-governing countries by helping them to (a) maintain law and order (b) carry out emergency relief measures (c) set up governments (d) hold elections (this was called the 'Declaration of Liberated Europe'). • set up a commission to look into reparations.
YALTA • At Yalta, the negotiations went very much in Stalin's favour, but this was because Roosevelt wanted Russian help in the Pacific, and was prepared to agree to almost anything as long as Stalin agreed to go to war with Japan. Therefore, Stalin promised that: • Russia would join the war in the Pacific, in return for occupation zones in North Korea and Manchuria. • Russia also agreed to join the United Nations. • Although the Conference appeared successful, however, behind the scenes, tension was growing, particularly about reparations, and about Poland. • After the conference, Churchill wrote to Roosevelt that ‘The Soviet Union has become a danger to the free world.’ And on their return home both he and Roosevelt were criticised for giving away too much to the Soviets:
The Yalta conference – interpretations Read source a and b. Note down which you think is written by an American and which by a Briton. You must explain your choice. “Churchill was anxious to limit Russian influence in Europe, but Roosevelt did not share his aim … Stalin obtained his aims over Poland. Her frontiers were to be the so-called Curzon line … on the east and the western Neisse on the west. Her government was to be … the Lublin Committee rather than … the exiled government in London.” A Ramm, 1992.
The Yalta conference – interpretations Read source a and b. Note down which you think is written by an American and which by a Briton. You must explain your choice. “Churchill was anxious to limit Russian influence in Europe, but Roosevelt did not share his aim … Stalin obtained his aims over Poland. Her frontiers were to be the so-called Curzon line … on the east and the western Neisse on the west. Her government was to be … the Lublin Committee rather than … the exiled government in London.” A Ramm, 1992.
The problems of Yalta The Yalta Conference was initially thought to be very successful. However, problems were emerging between the superpowers. The US thought the agreement to ‘democracy and free elections’ meant that Eastern Europe would have freedom of speech and proper elections. The Soviets’ idea of democracy was the communist one, where the Communist Party represented the people, and all worked for the good of the nation. Problems Whatever the reasons, these tensions at Yalta were the beginnings of much deeper mistrust and suspicion that led to the Cold War. Some suggest Roosevelt was simply naive, others suggest he was trying to keep the USSR in the war.
The Potsdam conference Stalin Atlee Truman Churchill Roosevelt USA USSR Great Britain In July and August 1945, the Big Three met again. However, the Big Three changed. Roosevelt died, and was replaced by Truman. Truman felt Roosevelt had been too soft on the communist USSR. During the Potsdam Conference Churchill lost a general election and was replaced by Atlee.
From 17 July to 2 August 1945, the Allies held a conference in Potsdam, a port 25 km south of Berlin. In May 1945, Germany surrendered. The war still continued in the Pacific, but the Allies had to build on the decisions made at Yalta. The ‘new’ Big Three did not get on as well as the original Big Three. In addition to changes in the leaders, there were other tensions at Potsdam.
Potsdam (July 1945) • At Potsdam, the Allies met after the surrender of Germany (in May 1945) to finalise the principls of the post-war peace – Potsdam was the Versailles of World War II. Three factors meant that the Potsdam Conference was not successful: • Relations between the superpowers had worsened considerably since Yalta. • In March 1945, Stalin had invited the non-Communist Polish leaders to meet him, and arrested them. • Things had got so bad that, in May 1945, the British Joint Planning Group had drawn up plans for 'Operation Unthinkable' - a 'total war ... to impose our will upon Russia’.
Potsdam ( July –August 1945 ) • Meanwhile, Roosevelt had died, and America had a new president, Truman, who was inclined to ‘get tough’ with the Russians. • Also, soon after he had arrived at the Conference, Truman learned (on 21 July) that America had tested the first atomic bomb. It gave the Americans a huge military advantage over everyone else. It also meant that Truman didn't need Stalin's help in Japan. Instead, Truman's main aim at the conference was to find out from Stalin what date the Russians intended to enter the war in the Pacific - something which (unlike Roosevelt) he did NOT want.
Tensions at Potsdam Traditional Perspective : Truman was in the middle of trials for the newatomic bomb. He didn’t reveal this, but Stalin secretly knew from his spies. Stalin was furious that Truman kept the issue a ‘secret’. Stalin was determined to get what he felt the USSR deserved: reparations from Germany and guaranteed future security. Truman was determined to force free elections in Eastern Europe to encourage countries to recover. Stalin had other ideas and wanted to keep the countries weak to act as a buffer zone.
New Information : July 24 , 1945 • On July 24, 1945, as the Potsdam Conference entered its second week, Truman told Stalin about the weapon, though he did not mention it was an atomic bomb. After a meeting, he walked around the round table to talk to the Soviet leader. • “I casually mentioned to Stalin that we had a new weapon of unusual destructive force,” Truman said. • Stalin’s reply, according to Truman: He hoped the United States would make “good use of it against the Japanese.”
So, at Potsdam, the arguments came out into the open. • The Conference agreed the following Protocols: • to set up the four ‘zones of occupation’ in Germany. The Nazi Party, government and laws were to be destroyed, and 'German education shall be so controlled as completely to eliminate Nazi and militarist doctrines and to make possible the successful development of democratic ideas. • to bring Nazi war-criminals to trial. • to recognize the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity and hold 'free and unfettered elections as soon as possible’. • Russia was allowed to take reparations from the Soviet Zone, and also 10% of the industrial equipment of the western zones as reparations. America and Britain could take reparations from their zones if they wished.
The disagreements • President Truman presented it as a 'compromise', but in fact the Allies had disagreed openly about: • the details of how to divide Germany. • the size of reparations Germany ought to pay. • Russian influence over the countries of eastern Europe.
“Agreements” at Potsdam • German reparations were agreed – each country was to take reparations from its own area of occupation. The USSR was also to receive some industrial equipment from the Western zones – little of this was actually handed over. • The details of the German–Polish borders on the rivers Oder and Neisse were agreed, although the British and Americans were unhappy with it. • The German people were to be “re-educated” and Nazism stamped out, and war criminals tried and punished. • Austria was also to be divided into four zones, like Germany. Independence was regained in 1955. • The USSR wanted to help run the rich German industrial area of the Ruhr – the USA rejected this. • The USSR wanted a share in the occupation of Japan – the USA rejected this.
Understanding Potsdam: buffer zone What was the point of this buffer zone Stalin wanted? The USSR had suffered three invasions from the West (1914, 1918 and 1941). It believed the Western Allies were helping Germany to rebuild, meaning Germany would be a threat yet again. Stalin decided the only way to be truly safe was to have a ‘buffer zone’ of ‘friendly states’ between themselves and Germany. From 1945, the USSR made sure the countries of Eastern Europe became communist.
The Iron Curtain In March 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech in Fulton, Missouri. In his speech he was the first to use the term Iron Curtain. “From Stettin, in the Baltic, to Trieste, in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line … all are subject to a high and increasing control from Moscow...”
The ‘Iron Curtain’ stood for the border between East and West set up by Stalin. It soon became a thousand mile fence making a clear division between East and West, the division between communism and capitalism. In December 1946, Britain and the USA agreed to unite their German zones for economic purposes. The Soviets were furious. Not only had they acted without agreement from the Soviets, but they also appeared to be rebuilding Germany, when Stalin wanted to keep it weak. THE COLD WAR HAD BEGUN.
Conclusions • Distrust and suspicion that developed after the defeat of the ‘common enemy’ – Nazi Germany. • Change in leadership created greater distrust and rivalry. • The USA and UK didn’t want to cripple Germany, whereas the USSR did – Stalin was suspicious of why his ‘allies’ wanted to help Germany rebuild. • The USSR didn’t allow free elections in Eastern Europe – Stalin was determined to create a ‘buffer’ protection zone. • The USA didn’t tell the USSR they’d developed an atomic bomb – was it dropped on Japan as a threat to the USSR? Think back to your previous work and create a diagram showing both the long- and short-termcauses.Which do you consider to be the most significant?
