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Potsdam Conference
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The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, Germany, from July 16 to August 2, 1945. The participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The three nations were represented by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and later Clement Attlee, and President Harry S Truman.
Stalin, Churchill, and Truman—as well as Attlee, who replaced Churchill as Prime Minister after the Labour Party's victory over the Conservatives in the 1945 general election—had gathered to decide how to administer the defeated Nazi Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier, on May 8 (V-E Day).
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The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, Germany, from July 16 to August 2, 1945. The participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The three nations were represented by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and later Clement Attlee, and President Harry S Truman.
Stalin, Churchill, and Truman—as well as Attlee, who replaced Churchill as Prime Minister after the Labour Party's victory over the Conservatives in the 1945 general election—had gathered to decide how to administer the defeated Nazi Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier, on May 8 (V-E Day). The goals of the conference also included the establishment of post-war order, peace treaties issues, and countering the effects of war.
Participants
- Soviet Union, Stalin arrived at the conference a day late, citing "official business" that required his attention, but in fact may have suffered a minor heart attack.
- United Kingdom, represented by British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee. The results of the British election became known during the conference. As a result of the Labour Party victory over the Conservative Party the leadership changed hands.
- United States, represented by the new President Harry S Truman. It was here where Truman first alluded to Stalin that the Americans had developed the atomic bomb and might use it against Japan, which they later did on August 6 and August 9. Joseph Stalin suggested that Truman preside over the conference as the only head of state attending, a recommendation accepted by Attlee.
Relationships between the Leaders
In the five months since Yalta a number of changes had taken place which would greatly affect the relationships between the leaders.
1. Stalin's armies were occupying most of Central and Eastern Europe
Soviet troops had expelled the armies of the Third Reich from country after country in Eastern Europe, but instead of withdrawing his troops Stalin had left them there. By July, Stalin's troops effectively controlled the Baltic States, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, and refugees were fleeing out of these countries fearing a Communist take-over, Stalin had set up a Communist government in Poland, ignoring the wishes of the majority of Poles. Britain and the USA protested, but Stalin defended his actions. He insisted that his control of Eastern Europe was a defensive measure against possible future attacks.
2. America had a new President
On 12 April 1945, President Roosevelt dies. He was replaced by his Vice-President, Harry Truman. Truman was a very different man from Roosevelt. He was much more anti-Communist than Roosevelt and was very suspicious of Stalin. Truman and his advisers saw Soviet actions in Eastern Europe as preparations for a Soviet take-over of the rest of Europe.
3. The allies had tested an atomic bomb
On 16 July 1945 the Americans successfully tested an atomic bomb at a desert site in the USA. At the start of the Potsdam Conference, Truman informed Stalin about it.
Results
Potsdam Agreement
- Main article the Potsdam Agreement
At the end of the conference, the three Heads of Government agreed on the following actions:
- Germany:
- See also Expulsion of Germans after World War II, The industrial plans for Germany and Oder-Neisse line
- Issuance of a statement of aims of the occupation of Germany by the Allies: demilitarization, denazification, democratization, decentralization and decartelization.
- Division of Germany and Austria respectively into four occupation zones (earlier agreed in principle at Yalta), and the similar division of each's capital, Berlin and Vienna, into four zones.
- Agreement on the prosecution of Nazi war criminals.
- Reversion of all German annexations in Europe, including Sudetenland, Alsace-Lorraine, Austria and the westernmost parts of Poland
- Germany's eastern border was to be shifted westwards to the Oder-Neisse line, effectively reducing Germany in size by approximately 25% compared to her 1937 borders. The territories east of the new border comprised East Prussia, Silesia, West Prussia, and two thirds of Pomerania. These areas were mainly agricultural, with the exception of Upper Silesia which was the second largest centre of German heavy industry.
- Expulsion of the German populations remaining beyond the new eastern borders of Germany.
- Agreement on war reparations to the Soviet Union from their zone of occupation in Germany. It was also agreed that 10% of the industrial capacity of the western zones unnecessary for the German peace economy should be transferred to the Soviet Union within 2 years. Stalin proposed and it was accepted that Poland was to be excluded from division of German compensation to be later granted 15% of compensation given to Soviet Union..
- Ensuring that German standards of living did not exceed the European average. The types and amounts of industry to dismantle to achieve this was to be determined later (see The industrial plans for Germany).
- Destruction of German industrial war-potential through the destruction or control of all industry with military potential. To this end, all civilian shipyards and aircraft factories were to be dismantled or otherwise destroyed. All production capacity associated with war-potential, such as metals, chemical, machinery etc were to be reduced to a minimum level which was later determined by the Allied Control Commission. Manufacturing capacity thus made "surplus" was to be dismantled as reparations or otherwise destroyed. All research and international trade was to be controlled. The economy was to be decentralized (decartelization). The economy was also to be reorganized with primary emphasis on agriculture and peaceful domestic industries. In early 1946 agreement was reached on the details of the latter: Germany was to be converted into an agricultural and light industry economy. German exports were to be coal, beer, toys, textiles, etc — to take the place of the heavy industrial products which formed most of Germany's pre-war exports.
- All other issues were to be answered by the final peace conference to be called as soon as possible.
Potsdam Declaration
- Main article the Potsdam Declaration
In addition to the Potsdam Agreement, on July 26 Churchill, Truman and Chiang Kai-shek (the Soviet Union was not at war with Japan) issued the Potsdam Declaration which outlined the terms of surrender for Japan during WWII in Asia.
Other issues
The western allies, and especially Churchill, were suspicious of the motives of Stalin, who had already installed communist governments in the central European countries under his influence; the Potsdam conference turned out to be the last conference among the allied leaders.
During the conference, Truman mentioned an unspecified "powerful new weapon" to Stalin; Stalin, who had known of its existence long before Truman ever knew, through espionage, encouraged the usage of any weapon that would hasten the end of the war. Towards the end of the conference, Japan was given an ultimatum to surrender (in the name of United States, Great Britain, China and USSR) or meet "prompt and utter destruction", which did not mention the new bomb. After prime minister Kantaro Suzuki's declaration that the Empire of Japan should ignore (mokusatsu) the ultimatum, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively.
Previous Conferences
- the Yalta Conference, February 4 to February 11, 1945
- the Second Quebec Conference, September 12 to September 16, 1944
- the Tehran Conference, November 28 to December 1, 1943
- the Cairo Conference, November 22 to November 26, 1943
- the Casablanca Conference, January 14 to January 24, 1943
See also
Further reading
- Michael Beschloss. The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945 (2002)
- Farquharson, J. E. "Anglo-American Policy on German Reparations from Yalta to Potsdam." English Historical Review 1997 112(448): 904-926. Issn: 0013-8266 Fulltext: in Jstor
- Gimbel, John. "On the Implementation of the Potsdam Agreement: an Essay on U. S. Postwar German Policy." Political Science Quarterly 1972 87(2): 242-269. Issn: 0032-3195 Fulltext: in Jstor
- Gormly, James L. From Potsdam to the Cold War: Big Three Diplomacy, 1945-1947. Scholarly Resources, 1990. 242 pp.
- Mee, Charles L., Jr. Meeting at Potsdam. M. Evans & Company, 1975. 370 pp.
- Thackrah, J. R. "Aspects of American and British Policy Towards Poland from the Yalta to the Potsdam Conferences, 1945." Polish Review 1976 21(4): 3-34. Issn: 0032-2970
- Zayas, Alfred M. de. Nemesis at Potsdam: The Anglo-Americans and the Expulsion of the Germans, Background, Execution, Consequences. Routledge, 1977. 268 pp.
- Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers. The Conference of Berlin (Potsdam Conference, 1945) 2 vols. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960
External links
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- 1945 Volume I Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1945
- 1945 Volume II Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1945
- Foreign relations of the United States : diplomatic papers, 1945.
- , Time Magazine, January 21, 1946
- , Time Magazine, April 8, 1946
- Time Magazine, July 28, 1947
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- Chief, Division of Central European Affairs, U.S. Dept. of State, 1944-47
- in B. Heuser et al., eds., Myths in History (Providence, RI and Oxford: Berghahn, 1998)
- in Stephen Schuker, ed., Deutschland und Frankreich vom Konflikt zur Aussöhnung: Die Gestaltung der westeuropäischen Sicherheit 1914-1963, Schriften des Historischen Kollegs, Kolloquien 46 (Munich: Oldenbourg, 2000).
- April, 1946.
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