Topic 5: The Yalta Conference Flashcards
Who?
USA- Franklin Roosevelt
Soviet Union- Joseph Stalin
Britain- Winston Churchill
Where?
Yalta- Soviet union
Why?
How Europe was going to be organised after the war.
What was decided from the conference?
- Germany should be divided into zones of occupation, one controlled by the USSR, one by the USA, one by Britain and the last by France. Since the capital Berlin would by under Soviet control it was then divided into sections for the four country’s.
- Once Germany was defeated, the Soviets would join the war against Japan.
- A UN organisation would be set up to keep peace after the war.
- As the east European countries were liberated from Nazi control, they would hold free elections to set up a democratic government.
What did Stalin want?
- to keep parts of Poland that he had won from the Nazi Soviet Pact 1939
- Poland to expand westward giving him parts of Germany.
- Poland to still have a pro-soviet government
- Buffer zone between Germany and the Soviet union.
What did Churchill and Roosevelt want?
- Agreed some of the London Poles would be included in the government, and there would be free elections for a new government asap
- this didn’t happen and a pro-communist government was elected
- Roosevelt letter on lack of progress.
What do we learn about Stalin from the Yalta conference?
- He saw Poland as a communist state not a buffer-zone.
- He was insecure about another German invasion
- he was determined and stubborn
- He is paranoid about controlling Europe. he wants control.
When was the Yalta Conference?
Feb 1945
to sum up what was the conference?
February 1945: Germany was not yet defeated, so, although there were tensions about Poland, the big three - Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill - managed to agree to split Germany into four zones of occupation, and to allow free elections in Eastern European countries. Russia was invited to join the United Nations, and Russia promised to join the war against Japan when Germany was defeated.
