From World War to Cold War:

The Yalta Conference The Potsdam Conference

Recall: The leaders of the Grand Alliance The Big Three were the US, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union.

They met at Yalta, Ukraine From February 4 to 11, 1945

The three leaders were:

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United States

Josef Stalin, Premier of the USSR

Each leader had his own political goals:

Wanted the USSR to declare Wanted eastern Europe as a War on Japan buffer zone against future war Wanted the USSR to support Communist sphere of influence the United Nations

Wanted free, democratic elections in Europe, esp. In Sovietoccupied countries: e.g. Poland

Agreements about Germany:

Unconditional surrender

of Germany

Division of Germany & Austria into 4 occupied zones controlled by: France Great Britain USSR USA Berlin & Vienna (capitals) would also be jointly occupied Demilitarization of Germany

Nazi war criminals were to be brought to justice @ Nuremberg Trials

The Reparations Question:

Stalin wanted $20 billion in war reparations for Russia
But the decision was postponed and not made at Yalta.

Spheres of Influence are established:

USSR was to gain control over Romania and Bulgaria British and Americans were to gain control over Greece

Consequences of Yalta
Germany divided Communism spread to Eastern Europe United Nations formed Grand Alliance began to fall apart

Churchill wrote to Roosevelt after Yalta: THE SOVIET UNION HAS BECOME A DANGER TO THE FREE WORLD.

Soviet Flag over Berlin, May 1945

How quickly the situation changed!

On March 1, 1945, Roosevelt reported the Yalta results to the American congress

On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt, who had been ill, died

On April 30, 1945, Hitler allegedly committed suicide

On May 2, 1945, Germany surrendered (VE day)

Second Conference: Potsdam, Germany July 17 to August 2, 1945

Americas New Leader:

Harry Truman replaced Roosevelt as US President
As senator he had headed the Special Committee Investigating National Defence Had insight into US military build-up but no experience in foreign affairs

Britains New Leader:

Churchill lost the election in 1945
Clement Attlee became the new prime minister of Great Britain Was not at Yalta Weak Replacement for Churchill; Britain begins to decline as a superpower

Same Soviet Leader:

Josef Stalin was the only Big Three Leader who had been at Yalta
Most experienced leader present Since Yalta, Stalin had arrested the non-communist leaders of Poland, which angered Britain and USA Determined to get maximum reparations ($$) from Germany

Refined agreements on Germany:

Nazi Germany destroyed: The Nazi party was banned Germany and Berlin divided into four military zones with clear boundaries Truman and Attlee agree to let the Soviets collect $10 billion in war reparations from the Soviet zone

Consequences of Potsdam:
United Nations firmly established
USA used atomic bomb to end war against Japan without Soviet help Stalin informed the other two that any freely elected government in Eastern Europe would be anti-Soviet and not allow[ed] 1946-47, Stalin ensured proCommunist governments were set up in Poland, Albania, Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria

Consequences of Potsdam:
In 1948-49, Stalin established a communist regime in Czechoslovakia and turned the Soviet zone of Germany into a communist country, renamed the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)

The Cold War had begun:

On MARCH 5, 1946, Winston Churchill said: a shadow had fallen on Eastern Europe, which was now cut off from the free world by an iron curtain. Behind that line, he said, the people of Eastern Europe were subject to Soviet influencetotalitarian control [and] police governments.