Yalta Conference Flashcards
What did the USA and USSR emerge from WWII as?
Superpowers
What is a superpower?
A country dominant in international relations, able to influence events
What foreign policy did the USA follow in the 1920s and 1930s?
Isolationism
What is isolationism?
A policy of not interfering in world affairs; isolating yourself from everyone else
Who was FDR?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States
Complete the quote from a 1945 speech FDR gave to Congress: America “will have to take responsibility for __________ _____________ or we shall have to bear the responsibilities for another __________ _______”
World collaboration, world conflict
When was the Yalta Conference held?
February 1945
What was agreed about Japan at Yalta?
That the USSR would fight Japan once Germany was defeated
What was agreed about German territory at Yalta?
Germany would be divided into four between USA, USSR, Britain, France. The same would be done to Berlin.
What was agreed about war criminals at Yalta?
The Big Three would hunt down war criminals and punish them
Who were the Big Three?
Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
What did the Big Three agree to establish and join?
A United Nations Organisation (UNO) which would aim to keep peace
Why was the establishment of the UN significant?
It showed the Big Three wanted to continue working together after the war
What was agreed about eastern Europe?
That it would be a Soviet ‘sphere of influence’
What is meant by ‘sphere of influence’?
A geographic area where a country has political and economic influence
What did FDR and Churchill understand by the ‘sphere of influence’?
That the USSR would ensure there were governments friendly to Moscow in eastern Europe. They did not think he would install ‘puppet governments’.
What is meant by a ‘puppet government’?
A government with a leader, but who actually takes his orders from someone else (e.g. Stalin)
What was the main disagreement at Yalta?
Poland
Why did Poland matter so much to Stalin?
He believed it was key to Russia’s security - Germany had invaded Russia twice through Poland, in 1914 and 1941
What did Stalin want to do with Poland?
Move the USSR’s border westwards into Poland. He argued that Poland could move its borders westwards into Germany.
Why was there little Churchill or FDR could do about Stalin’s demands over Poland?
The Red Army were in Poland - Britain and USSR were not willing to start yet another war to protect Poland
What was Churchill and FDR’s reaction to Stalin’s demands over Poland?
They were unhappy, but could do little
How did Churchill persuade FDR to accept Stalin’s demands over Poland?
Churchill and FDR would accept it providing Stalin did not interfere in Greece. Stalin agreed.
Who did Stalin get on better with: Churchill or FDR?
FDR - the president and Stalin, despite their ideological differences, struck up a good relationship
Why did Churchill press for a French zone in Germany?
He feared FDR was too pro-Russian and wanted another anti-Russian voice in the mix.
Churchill wrote to FDR shortly after the Yalta conference. Complete the quote: “The Soviet Union has become a __________ to the __________ ___________”
danger, free world
How did Stalin describe Poland?
It was a matter of “life and death of the Soviet Union”
How did former president Herbert Hoover describe the agreements made at Yalta?
As a “great hope for the world”
How did FDR’s advisor, Harry Hopkins, describe Yalta?
“We really believed… this was the dawn of the new day”
Overall, what was the significance of the Yalta Conference?
It was broadly positive.
- Agreements far outweighed disagreements
- The Big Three - despite being ideologically opposed - showed through the UN and their actions over war criminals that they would work together after the war
- They agreed to meet again at Potsdam, again showing further appetite for co-operation
