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Shaping the Post-war World -- The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
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.
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 WWI.
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 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.
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 U.S. 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 USSoviet conflict began, many people looked back on anything given to the Soviet Union as too much.
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 1/3 of Germany's ships and industrial
equipment. The German economy was also decentralized, and monopolies were broken up. 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. 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.
Comparison of Yalta and Potsdam
At Yalta and Potsdam, the issues were the same, but the goodwill to overcome them was gone.
Yalta
Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
Germany to be split into four zones.
Germany will pay reparations.
Potsdam
Attlee, Truman and Stalin
Arguments about the details of the boundaries between
the zones.
Disagreements about the amount of reparations Russia
wanted to take. It was agreed that Russia could take
whatever it wanted from the Soviet zone, and 10 per cent of
the industrial equipment of the western zones, but Britain
and the US thought this was too much.
A government of 'national unity' to be set up in
Poland, comprising both communists and nonTruman was angry because Stalin had arrested the noncommunists.
communist leaders of Poland.
Free elections in the countries of eastern Europe.
America and Britain were alarmed because communists
This part of the agreement was called the
were coming to power in the countries of Eastern Europe.
Declaration of Liberated Europe.
Yalta
Potsdam
Truman dropped the atomic bomb so that Japan would
surrender before Russian troops could go into Japan.
Russia would help against Japan when Germany
America had the bomb in July 1945, but Truman did not tell
was defeated.
Stalin about it. When he saw how he had been tricked,
Stalin was furious.
The Yalta and Potsdam Peace Conferences set the stage for life after WWII and influenced and led to many
future events including the Cold War.
Reading Comprehension:
1. What conditions are agreed upon at the Yalta Conference?
2. What conditions are agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference?
True/False (There is no right or wrong answer! Just be able to justify your response.)
1. Germany was reduced to a state just as bad as it had after WWI.
2. The Allies’ Powers’ alliance was formed out of convenience, not out of a genuine respect for each
other.
3. FDR’s death was a turning point in post-war agreements.
4. The Soviet Union is to blame for the beginning of the Cold War.
On Your Own – Who is to blame for the breakdown of post-war talks between the U.S. and the USSR?
Why?