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Yalta Conference
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The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin, respectively, for the purpose of discussing Europe's postwar reorganization. Mainly, it was intended to discuss the re-establishment of nations conquered by Germany.
February to 11 February 1945 the Big Three (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) convened in the Livadia Palace near Yalta, the Crimea.
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The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Premier Joseph Stalin, respectively, for the purpose of discussing Europe's postwar reorganization. Mainly, it was intended to discuss the re-establishment of nations conquered by Germany.
The conference
On 4 February to 11 February 1945 the Big Three (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) convened in the Livadia Palace near Yalta, the Crimea. It was the second of three wartime conferences among the major Allied Power leaders. It had been preceded by the Tehran Conference in 1943, and it was followed by the Potsdam Conference, which Harry S Truman attended in place of the late Roosevelt, and Clement Attlee attended in place of Churchill, due to general election loss, later in 1945.
Premier Stalin, insisting that his doctors opposed any long trips, rejected Roosevelt's suggestion to meet on the Mediterranean. He offered, instead, to meet at the Black Sea resort of Yalta, in the Crimea. Each leader had an agenda for the Yalta Conference: Roosevelt asked for Soviet support in the U.S. Pacific War against Japan, specifically invading Japan; Churchill pressed for free elections and democratic governments in Eastern Europe (specifically Poland); and Stalin demanded a Soviet sphere of political influence in Eastern Europe, as essential to the USSR's national security.
Moreover, all three leaders were trying to establish an agenda for governing post-war Germany. In 1943 William Christian Bullitt, Jr.'s thesis prophesied the "flow of the Red amoeba into Europe". The Front Line at the end of December 1943 remained in Russia, but by August 1944 Soviet forces were inside Poland and parts of Romania in their relentless drive West. By the time of the Conference, Marshal Georgy Zhukov was 65 km from Berlin. Stalin's position at the conference was one which he felt was so strong that he could dictate terms. Moreover, Roosevelt had hoped for Stalin's commitment to participate in the United Nations.
Poland was the first item on the Soviet agenda; Stalin stated the Soviet case:
Accordingly, Stalin stipulated that Polish government-in-exile demands were not negotiable: the Soviet Union would keep the territory of eastern Poland they had already annexed in 1939, and Poland was to be compensated for that by extending its Western borders at the expense of Germany. Stalin promised free elections in Poland despite the recently-installed Communist puppet government. However the Western Powers soon realized that Stalin would not honour his free elections promise. The fraudulent Polish elections, held in January 1947 resulted in Poland's official transformation to undemocratic communist state by 1949.
Roosevelt wanted the USSR to enter the Pacific War with the Allies. One Soviet precondition for a declaration of war against Japan was an American recognition of Mongolian independence from China, and a recognition of Soviet interests in the Manchurian railways and Port Arthur; these were agreed without Chinese representation or consent. Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would enter the Pacific War three months after the defeat of Germany.
Roosevelt met Stalin's price, hoping the USSR could be dealt with via the United Nations. Later, many Americans considered the agreements of the Yalta Conference were a "sellout", encouraging Soviet expansion of influence to Japan and Asia, and because Stalin eventually violated the agreements in forming the Soviet bloc. Furthermore the Soviets had agreed to join the United Nations, given the secret understanding of a voting formula with a veto power for permanent members of the Security Council, thus ensuring that each country could block unwanted decisions.
At the time the Red Army had occupied and held much of Eastern Europe with military three times greater than Allied forces in the West.
It is possible that Roosevelt's failing health was partially to blame for poor judgments. Lord Moran, Winston Churchill's physician, commented on Roosevelt's ill health: "He is a very sick man. He has all the symptoms of hardening of the arteries of the brain in an advanced stage, so that I give him only a few months to live". Roosevelt's companions, however, have never admitted to this theory and perceived him perfectly capable of dealing with Stalin. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage two months later.
The Big Three ratified previous agreements about the post-war occupation zones for Germany: three zones of occupation, one for each of the three principal Allies: The Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the U.S.A. (France later received one also, when the USA and the UK ceded parts of their zones). Berlin itself, although in the Russian zone would also be divided into three sectors (and eventually became a Cold War symbol because of the division's realization via the Berlin Wall, built and manned by the Soviet-backed East German government).
Also, the Big Three agreed that all original governments would be restored to the invaded countries (with the exception of the French government, which was regarded as collaborationist; in Romania and Bulgaria, where the Soviets had already liquidated most of the governments; the Polish government-in-exile was also excluded by Stalin) and that all civilians would be repatriated.
Major points
Key points of the meeting are as follows:
- There was an agreement that the priority would be the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. After the war Germany would be split into four occupied zones.
- Stalin agreed that France might have a fourth occupation zone in Germany and Austria but it would have to be formed out of the American and British zones.
- Germany would undergo demilitarization and denazification.
- German reparations were partly to be in the form of forced labor of German soldiers, to be used to repair damage Germany inflicted on its victims. (see also Rheinwiesenlager)
- Creation of a reparation council which would be located in Russia.
- The status of Poland was discussed. It was agreed to reorganize the communist Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland that had been installed by the Soviet Union "on a broader democratic basis."
- The Polish eastern border would follow the Curzon Line, and Poland would receive territorial compensation in the West from Germany.
- Churchill alone pushed for free elections in Poland. The British leader pointed out that UK "could never be content with any solution that did not leave Poland a free and independent state". Stalin pledged to permit free elections in Poland, but eventually never honored his promise.
- Citizens of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia were to be handed over to their respective countries, regardless of their consent.
- Roosevelt obtained a commitment by Stalin to participate in the United Nations.
- Stalin requested that all of the 16 Soviet Socialist Republics would be granted United Nations membership. This was taken into consideration, but 14 republics were denied.
- Stalin agreed to enter the fight against the Empire of Japan within 90 days after the defeat of Germany.
- Nazi war criminals were to be hunted down and brought to justice.
- A "Committee on Dismemberment of Germany" was to be set up. The purpose was to decide whether Germany was to be divided into several nations, some examples of partition plans are shown below:
Section of the Report Addressing Democratic Elections
The Big Three further agreed that democracies would be established, all liberated European and former Axis satellite countries would hold free elections and that order would be restored per these statements in the February 11, 1945 report:
In Poland, after the reorganization of the provisional government, the report states that the reorganized "Polish Provisional Government of National Unity" shall:
See also
Further reading
- O’Neil, William L. World War II: a Student Companion. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.
- Persico, Joseph E. Roosevelt’s Secret War. New York: Random House, 2001.
- “Portraits of Presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt.” School Arts Magazine February 1999: 37. Student Research Center. EBSCO Host. Philadelphia. 2 Apr. 2006. Keyword: FDR.
- Snyder, Louis L. World War II. New York: Grolier Company, 1981.
- Sulzberger, C L. American Heritage New History of World War II. Ed. Stephen E. Ambrose. New York: Viking Penguin, 1998.
- Waring, J. G. A student's experience of Yalta
- “Yalta Conference.” Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia. World Almanac Education Group, 2003. SIRS DISCOVER. Philadelphia. 2 April 2006. Keyword: Yalta Conference.
External links
- Online Documents Collection
- Allied discussions on the dismemberment of Germany into separate states, March 29, 1945. The committee was ordained at Yalta.
- , BBC, February 7, 2005
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