Yalta Conference

The Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from February 4 to 11, 1945 between the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. The delegations were headed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin, respectively.

Overview

The “Big Three”, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Winston Churchill were the key allied leaders because of the might of the nations they represented and for their collaboration during World War II. These three leaders met together only twice during World War II, but when they did, their decisions changed the course of history.

After the Tehran Conference, the three leaders promised to meet again, resulting in the Yalta Conference of February 1945. Although Stalin had expressed concern about Roosevelt's health during the Tehran conference, this concern did not translate into action. The Soviet leader refused to travel farther than the Black Sea Resort of Yalta in the Crimean Riviera (then part of the Soviet Union) for the next summit and, once again, Churchill and Roosevelt were both the ones taking long and tiring trips to attend the Yalta summit. Each of the three powers brought their own agenda to the Yalta Conference. The British wanted to maintain their empire, the Soviets wished to obtain more land and to strengthen conquests, and the Americans wanted to ensure the Soviets' entry into the Pacific War and discuss postwar settlement. Moreover, Roosevelt hoped to obtain a commitment from Stalin to participate in the United Nations. As the first topic on the Soviets' agenda of expansion, the subject of Poland immediately arose, and Stalin was quick to succinctly state his case with the following words:

"For the Russian people, the question of Poland is not only a question of honor but also a question of security. Throughout history, Poland has been the corridor through which the enemy has passed into Russia. Poland is a question of life and death for Russia."

Accordingly, Stalin made it clear that some of his demands regarding Poland were not negotiable: the Russians were to keep territory from the eastern portion of Poland and Poland was to compensate for that by extending its Western borders, thereby forcing out millions of Germans. Reluctantly, Stalin promised free elections in Poland, notwithstanding the recently installed Communist puppet government. However, it soon became apparent that Stalin had no intentions of holding true to his promise of free elections. The elections, which were held in 1949 and resulted in the official transformation of Poland into a socialist state, were widely considered not to have been free and were usually seen as fixed. In fact, it was fifty years after the Yalta Conference that the Poles first had the opportunity to hold free elections.

Roosevelt met Stalin's price, hoping that the USSR could be dealt with through the U.N.. Some later considered Yalta to be a 'sellout,' because it encouraged the Soviets expand their influence into Japan and Asia and also because Stalin eventually violated the terms by forming the Soviet bloc. Furthermore, the Soviets agreed to join the United Nations given the secret understanding of a voting formula with a veto power for permanent members in the Security Council, thereby providing the Soviets with more control in world affairs. Some critics suggest that FDR's failing health (Yalta was his last major conference before he died from a stroke) was to blame for his seemingly poor judgement but, in fact, Roosevelt was wary of the Soviet Union during the Yalta Conference and tried to save relations and avoid conflict. At the time, the USSR occupied much of Eastern Europe with a military about three times as large as Eisenhower's forces. The Big Three had ratified previous agreements about the postwar division of Germany: there were to be four zones of occupation, one zone for each of the three dominant nations plus one zone for France. Berlin itself, although within the Soviet zone, would also be divided into four sectors, and would eventually become a major symbol of the Cold War because of the division of the city due to the infamous Berlin Wall, constructed and manned by the Soviet-backed Communist East German government.

The Big Three had further decided that all original governments would be restored to the invaded countries and that all civilians would repatriated. Democracies would be established, all territories would hold free elections, and order restored to Europe, as declared in the following official statement:

"The establishment of order in Europe and the rebuilding of national economic life must be achieved by processes which will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last vestiges of Nazism and fascism and to create democratic institutions of their own choice."

In the postwar setting, Russia would gain the southern half of the Sakhalin Islands and Kuriles, and northern half of the German province of East Prussia. The nationalists and anti-communists in the Eastern European nations often regard the Yalta Conference as the “Western betrayal.” It is rooted in the belief that the Allied powers, despite venerating democratic policies, cynically sold out the Eastern Europeans to ensure their own prosperity over the next 50 years.

The meeting

The conference was held in Yalta, a resort town on the Crimean peninsula in the Soviet Union (now in Ukraine). The American delegation was housed in the Tsar's former palace, while President Roosevelt stayed at the Livadia Palace where the meetings took place. The British delegation was installed in Prince Vorontsov's castle of Alupka. Key members of the delegations were Edward Stettinius, Averell Harriman, Anthony Eden, Alexander Cadogan, and Vyacheslav Molotov. According to Anthony Beevor, all the rooms were bugged by the NKVD. Stalin arrived by train on February 4. The meeting started with an official dinner on the evening of that day.

Major points

Key points of the meeting are as follows:

There was agreement that the priority was the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. After the war, the country would be split into four occupied zones, with a quadripartite occupation of Berlin as well.
Stalin agreed to let France get the fourth occupation zone in Germany and Austria, carved out from the British and American zones. France would also be granted a seat in the Allied Control Council.
Germany would undergo demilitarization and denazification.
German reparations were partly to be in the form of forced labor.
Creation of an allied reparation council with its seat in Moscow.
The status of Poland was discussed but was complicated by the fact that Poland by this time was under the control of the red army. It was agreed to reorganize the Provisionary Polish Government that had been set up by the Red Army through the inclusion of other groups as the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity to be followed by democratic elections. This effectively excluded the legitimate Polish government-in-exile that had evacuated west in 1939.
The Polish eastern border should basically follow the Curzon Line, and Poland should receive substantial territorial compensation in the west from Germany.
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 once it was agreed that each of the five permanent members of the Security Council would have veto power.
Stalin agreed to enter the fight against the Empire of Japan within 90 days after the defeat of Germany. The Soviet Union would receive the southern part of Sakhalin and the Kurile islands after the defeat of Japan.
Millions of Russians across Europe were forced to return to Russia under Stalin's Communist Rule
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, and if so, what borders and inter-relationships the new German states were to have.

Aftermath

Yalta was the last great conference before the end of the war and the last trip of Roosevelt abroad. To observers he appeared already ill and exhausted. Arguably, his most important goal was to ensure the Soviet Union's participation in the United Nations, which he achieved at the price of granting veto power to each permanent member of the Security Council, a condition that significantly weakened the UN. Another of his objectives was to bring the Soviet Union into the fight against Japan. ...effectiveness of the atomic bomb had yet to be proven. The Red Army had already removed Nazi forces from most of Eastern Europe, so Stalin essentially got everything he wanted: a significant sphere of influence as a buffer zone. In this process, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable and sacrificed for the sake of stability, which would mean that the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia would continue to be members of the USSR.

References

Beevor A: The Fall of Berlin 1945. Viking Penguin, New York, NY, 2002.

Bibliography for Overview

Best, Geoffrey. Churchill: A Study in Greatness. London: Hambledon and London, 2001.

Clemens, Diane S. "Yalta Conference." World Book. 2006 ed. vol. 21. 2006, 549.

"Cold War: Teheran Declaration." CNN. 1998. 26 Mar. 2006. .

Meacham, John. Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship. New York: Random House Inc., 2003. O’Neil, William L. World War II: a Student Companion. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.

Perisco, Joseph E. Roosevelt’s Secret War. New York: Random House, 2001.

“Portraits of Presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt.” School Arts Magazine Feb. 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 Wagnells New Encyclopedia. World Almanac Education Group, 2003. SIRS DISCOVER. Philadelphia. 2 Apr. 2006. Keyword: Yalta Conference.

External links

Foreign relations of the United States. Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945
Protocol of proceedings of Crimea Conference
The Yalta Betrayal
Mr Bush and the Riga axioms (Positive view on Yalta)
How good was the Good War?
The Division of Europe Online Documents Collection
The Real Myths of Yalta
Special German series 2. The Committee on Dismemberment of Germany Allied discussions on the dismemberment of Germany into separate states, March 29, 1945. The commite was ordained at Yalta.

1945 | World War II conferences | History of Crimea | Joseph Stalin | Winston Churchill

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