Council of Foreign Ministers was an organization agreed upon at the
Potsdam ConferenceThe Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
in 1945 and announced in the
Potsdam AgreementThe Potsdam Agreement was an agreement on policy for the occupation and reconstruction of Germany and other nations after fighting in the European Theatre of World War II had ended with the German surrender of May 8, 1945...
.
The Potsdam Agreement specified that the Council would be composed of the Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom, the
Union of Soviet Socialist RepublicsThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
,
ChinaThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition and jurisdiction over China into a democratic state with limited international recognition and jurisdiction only over Taiwan and minor islands, though it...
, France, and the United States. It would normally meet in London and the first meeting was to take place no later than 1 September 1945. As the immediate important task, the Council was authorized to draw up were treaties of peace with Italy,
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
,
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
, Hungary and Finland, and to propose settlements of territorial questions outstanding on the termination of the war in Europe.
Council of Foreign Ministers was an organization agreed upon at the
Potsdam ConferenceThe Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 16 July to 2 August 1945. Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States...
in 1945 and announced in the
Potsdam AgreementThe Potsdam Agreement was an agreement on policy for the occupation and reconstruction of Germany and other nations after fighting in the European Theatre of World War II had ended with the German surrender of May 8, 1945...
.
The Potsdam Agreement specified that the Council would be composed of the Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom, the
Union of Soviet Socialist RepublicsThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
,
ChinaThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition and jurisdiction over China into a democratic state with limited international recognition and jurisdiction only over Taiwan and minor islands, though it...
, France, and the United States. It would normally meet in London and the first meeting was to take place no later than 1 September 1945. As the immediate important task, the Council was authorized to draw up were treaties of peace with Italy,
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
,
BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
, Hungary and Finland, and to propose settlements of territorial questions outstanding on the termination of the war in Europe. Also the Council should prepare a peace settlement for Germany to be accepted by Germany when a "government adequate for the purpose is established".
The Ministers met two times in 1945 first at the London Conference of Foreign Ministers and then in December at the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers and again at the Paris Conference of Foreign Ministers in 1946.
The London Conferences was marred by a dispute between the Soviet Union and the United States over occupation of Japan and little of substance was accomplished. The Moscow conference was more productive; it was agreed to the preparation of peace treaties with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland; the creation of an eleven power Far Eastern Commission and a four power Allied Council for Japan. It also agreed to the establishment by the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
of a commission for the control of atomic energy, as well as a number of other lesser issues bought about by the end of World War II. France joined the Council in 1946 and at the Paris Conference the final wording for the
Paris Peace Treaties of 1947The Paris Peace Conference resulted in the Paris Peace Treaties signed on February 10, 1947. The victorious wartime Allied powers negotiated the details of treaties with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland .The treaties allowed Italy,...
was agreed. The outstanding issue of
Free Territory of TriesteThe Free Territory of Trieste or Free State of Trieste was a City state situated in Central Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, created by the United Nations Security Council and administered by an appointed military governor commanding the peacekeeping forces stationed there.The Free...
were resolved at the New York meeting of the Foreign Ministers in November and December 1946.
In 1947 the ministers met twice first in Moscow, in the Spring, and again in the Autumn in London, but by this time the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
was gathering pace and they failed to agree on a peace treaty for Germany and Austria. They did however agree to the dissolution of the
free stateFree state is a term occasionally used in the official titles of some states.In principle the title asserts and emphasises the freedom of the state in question, but what this actually means varies greatly in different contexts:...
of Prussia, thereby recognising the
annexation of the Prussian territoriesFormer eastern territories of Germany is a term that describes the territories that comprise collectively those provinces or regions east of the current eastern border of Germany which were internationally recognised as the territory of Germany after the formation of the German Empire in 1871 and...
east of the
Oder-Neisse lineThe Oder-Neisse line was drawn in the aftermath of World War II as the eastern border of Germany and the western border of Poland. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...
.
At a meeting in Paris in September 1948 the Ministers failed to agree on what to do with the former Italian colonies. The council was revived in 1949 and met in Paris, during May and June, where they agreed to the ending of the Soviet
blockade of Berlin||-|}The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first such crisis that resulted in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of...
, but failed to agree on German reunification. The Berlin meeting in 1954, ended in deadlock, but, the following year in Vienna, they agreed on a peace treaty for Austria (known as the
Austrian State TreatyThe Austrian State Treaty or Austrian Independence Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on May 15, 1955, in Vienna at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allied occupying powers and the Austrian government...
).
Meetings by the foreign ministers in
GenevaGeneva, is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie...
the first at the
Geneva SummitThe Geneva Summit was first held on July 18th, 1955 in Geneva, Switzerland. This was a meeting of "The Big Four": President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Eden of the United Kingdom, Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin of the Soviet Union, and Prime Minister Edgar Faure...
in July 1955 and again a year later failed to reach agreement on German reunification, or European security and disarmament. A third meeting in 1959 again failed to reach agreement over Germany. The Western powers would only agree to a comprehensive peace treaty with a Germany reunited under a democratic government, not treaties with the governments of East and West Germany. The also refused to agree with a Soviet proposal to a change in the status of Berlin from an occupied city into a demilitarised one.
Twelve years later in 1971 the foreign ministers of the four powers signed the
Four Power Agreement on BerlinThe Four Power Agreement on Berlin also known as the Berlin Agreement or the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin was agreed on 3 September, 1971 by the four wartime allied powers, represented by their Ambassadors...
(effective from June 1972). It regularised trade and travel relations between West Berlin and West Germany and aimed at improving communications between East Berlin and West Berlin. The Soviet Union stipulated, however, that West Berlin would not be incorporated into West Germany. Along with the
Basic TreatyThe Basic Treaty is the short-hand name for the Treaty concerning the basis of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic...
(effective June 1973) which recognized two German states, and the two countries pledged to respect one another's sovereignty. Under the terms of the treaty, diplomatic missions were to be exchanged and commercial, tourist, cultural, and communications relations established. Under the Agreement and the Treaty, In September 1973, both German states joined the United Nations.
In 1990 after the fall of the
Berlin Wall|-||-||-||-||}The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier erected by the German Democratic Republic completely encircling West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin. The longer inner German border demarcated the border between East and West Germany...
on 12 September 1990 the
Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to GermanyThe Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany was negotiated in 1990 between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic , and the Four Powers which occupied Germany at the end of World War II in Europe: France, the United Kingdom, the United States of...
was signed by the four powers and the two German governments which was the final
peace treatyA peace treaty is an agreement between two hostile parties, usually countries or governments, that formally ends an armed conflict. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to cease hostilities, or a surrender, in which an army agrees to give up arms.-Elements of treaties:There are...
of World War II and the restoration of German sovereignty. This allowed
German reunificationGerman reunification is the process in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and Berlin was united into a single city-state. The start of this process is commonly referred to by former citizens of the GDR as die Wende...
to take place on 3 October 1990 and the reunited country became fully sovereign again on 15 March 1991.
Further reading