Yalta Conference

Question 1

What did the USA and USSR emerge from WWII as?

Answer 1

Superpowers

Question 2

What is a superpower?

Answer 2

A country dominant in international relations, able to influence events

Question 3

What foreign policy did the USA follow in the 1920s and 1930s?

Answer 3

Isolationism

Question 4

What is isolationism?

Answer 4

A policy of not interfering in world affairs; isolating yourself from everyone else

Question 5

Who was FDR?

Answer 5

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States

Question 6

When was the Yalta Conference held?

Answer 6

February 1945

Question 7

What was agreed about Japan at Yalta?

Answer 7

That the USSR would fight Japan once Germany was defeated

Question 8

What was agreed about German territory at Yalta?

Answer 8

Germany would be divided into four between USA, USSR, Britain, France. The same would be done to Berlin.

Question 9

What was agreed about war criminals at Yalta?

Answer 9

The Big Three would hunt down war criminals and punish them

Question 10

Who were the Big Three?

Answer 10

Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt

Question 11

What did the Big Three agree to establish and join?

Answer 11

A United Nations Organisation (UNO) which would aim to keep peace

Question 12

Why was the establishment of the UN significant?

Answer 12

It showed the Big Three wanted to continue working together after the war

Question 13

What was agreed about eastern Europe?

Answer 13

That it would be a Soviet ‘sphere of influence’

Question 14

What is meant by ‘sphere of influence’?

Answer 14

A geographic area where a country has political and economic influence

Question 15

What did FDR and Churchill understand by the ‘sphere of influence’?

Answer 15

That the USSR would ensure there were governments friendly to Moscow in eastern Europe. They did not think he would install ‘puppet governments’.

Question 16

What is meant by a ‘puppet government’?

Answer 16

A government with a leader, but who actually takes his orders from someone else (e.g. Stalin)

Question 17

What was the main disagreement at Yalta?

Answer 17

Poland

Question 18

Why did Poland matter so much to Stalin?

Answer 18

He believed it was key to Russia’s security - Germany had invaded Russia twice through Poland, in 1914 and 1941

Question 19

What did Stalin want to do with Poland?

Answer 19

Move the USSR’s border westwards into Poland. He argued that Poland could move its borders westwards into Germany.

Question 20

Why was there only a little Churchill or FDR could do about Stalin’s demands over Poland?

Answer 20

The Red Army were in Poland - Britain and USSR were not willing to start yet another war to protect Poland

Question 21

What was Churchill and FDR’s reaction to Stalin’s demands over Poland?

Answer 21

They were unhappy, but could do little

Question 22

How did Churchill persuade FDR to accept Stalin’s demands over Poland?

Answer 22

Churchill persuaded him, as long as Stalin didn’t interfere in Greece, where the British were attempting to prevent the communists taking over.

Question 23

Who did Stalin get on better with: Churchill or FDR?

Answer 23

FDR - the president and Stalin, despite their ideological differences, struck up a good relationship

Question 24

Overall, what was the significance of the Yalta Conference?

Answer 24

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