Yalta Conference

The Yalta Conference

By the beginning of 1945, World War II was heading into its final months. The Germans were in retreat and the Allied forces of the United States, Britain, and Russia knew victory was in their grasp. The leaders of those forces, U.S President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Russian Premier Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Church, met in the Russian town of Yalta to hammer out the details of how the post-war world would become. For 7 days in February, they discussed who would be held responsible for the war, what the punishments would be, and what the benefits of aiding the U.S. in defeating the Japanese in what looked to be an extended battle in the Pacific.

It was decided that Germany would be held mainly responsible for WWII and should pay the most in reparations and would be broken into regions that would be supervised by the Allies including France. The countries that the Allied forces had beaten or set free from Nazi rule were to be allowed democratic elections with Poland being permitted Communism within its government. Land that Russia had lost in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 in addition to some islands would be turned over to Russia. In return, Russia promised to bring their might to the battle with Japan that they anticipated lasting for much longer.

Unfortunately, Russia’s assistance was to become unnecessary and Stalin’s duplicitous nature was brought to light by early fall. By mid-August 1945, the war was done but for the signing as Germany had surrendered in May, atomic bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August and the Japanese had agreed to an unconditional surrender. Only days before had Russia entered the war with Japan and did little to aid the victory. The terms of the conference were made public in 1946 and public opinion was not supportive. Stalin had kept none of his promises for free elections in the Eastern European countries but had instead established Communist...