Three meetings that shaped the post-war world
Between 1943 and 1945 the leaders of the Grand Alliance met three times to plan how to win the war and what to do afterwards. The leaders of the USSR, the USA and Britain were known as the Big Three. Each meeting produced real agreements. But each one also showed cracks, and by the third meeting the cracks were wide open.
Key terms:
- Big Three: the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Britain, the three main Allied powers.
- Reparations: payments in money or goods that a defeated country makes for the damage it caused in a war.
- Zone of occupation: a part of a defeated country that is run by the army of one of the winning powers.
- Denazification: removing Nazis and Nazi ideas from German life.
- Demilitarisation: taking away a country's armed forces and weapons industries.
Tehran, November-December 1943
The Big Three met for the first time at Tehran, the capital of Iran, from 28 November to 1 December 1943. Joseph Stalin led the USSR, Franklin D. Roosevelt was president of the USA and Winston Churchill was prime minister of Britain. Germany was still far from beaten, so most of the talk was about winning the war.
- The second front: Britain and the USA promised to invade France in May 1944. Stalin promised to attack from the east at the same time.
- Japan: Stalin said the USSR would join the war against Japan once Germany was defeated.
- Poland: it was agreed in outline, though not made public, that the USSR would keep the Polish land it had taken in 1939. Poland would be given German land in the west instead.
- Peace: they talked about a new international organisation to keep the peace after the war.
There was one clear disagreement. Churchill wanted to attack through the Mediterranean and the Balkans as well. Stalin was against this and Roosevelt backed Stalin. Churchill left Tehran worried that the two larger powers would settle matters between themselves.
Yalta, February 1945
The same three leaders met again at Yalta, in the Crimea in the USSR, from 4 to 11 February 1945. Germany was now close to defeat. Soviet troops had already driven the Germans out of most of Poland. This gave Stalin a strong hand, because his army was standing on the land being argued over.
✅ What was agreed
Germany: it would be split into four zones of occupation, run by the USSR, the USA, Britain and France. Berlin, deep inside the Soviet zone, would be split in the same way. Germany would be demilitarised and leading Nazis put on trial.
Liberated countries: in the Declaration on Liberated Europe, the Big Three promised that countries freed from Nazi rule could choose their own governments in free elections.
Japan: Stalin would join the war against Japan two to three months after Germany surrendered.
United Nations: a new peacekeeping organisation would be set up.
❌ Where they disagreed
Poland: this took up more time than any other issue. Stalin had already set up a Communist-led government there. Roosevelt and Churchill supported a rival Polish government based in London. In the end Stalin agreed to add some non-Communists to his government and to hold 'free and unfettered elections' (elections with no limits or interference) as soon as possible. No date was fixed.
Reparations: Stalin asked for Germany to pay 20 billion dollars, with half going to the USSR. Churchill thought this was far too much. The decision was put off and passed to a commission.
Yalta looked like a success, and it was the high point of wartime co-operation. But the hardest questions had been covered with vague words. Western leaders and Stalin did not mean the same thing by 'free elections', and nobody could force Stalin to keep his promise.
What changed before Potsdam?
The third conference was only five months later, but a great deal had changed.
👥 New leaders
Roosevelt died on 12 April 1945. His vice-president, Harry Truman, took over. During the conference Churchill lost the British general election and was replaced by Clement Attlee. Only Stalin was left of the original Big Three.
🏁 Germany beaten
Germany surrendered in May 1945. The common enemy was gone. Soviet troops now occupied most of Eastern Europe, and Stalin had still not held free elections in Poland.
💣 The atomic bomb
On 16 July 1945, the day before the conference opened, the USA tested the first atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert. The USA was now the only country with this weapon.
Potsdam, July-August 1945
Stalin, Truman and Churchill (then Attlee) met at Potsdam, just outside Berlin, from 17 July to 2 August 1945.
What was agreed:
- Germany: the four zones were confirmed. Germany would be demilitarised and denazified. The Nazi Party was banned and war criminals would be tried.
- Reparations: each power would take reparations from its own zone. The Soviet zone was mostly farmland, so the USSR would also get some of the industrial equipment that the western zones did not need for a peacetime economy: 10 per cent for free, and a further 15 per cent in exchange for food and raw materials.
- Poland: Poland was allowed to run a large area of German land, as far west as the rivers Oder and Neisse, for the time being. The final border was left for a later peace treaty.
Where they disagreed:
- Reparations: Stalin wanted to take as much as possible, because the USSR had suffered huge destruction. Truman refused. He feared that a ruined Germany would be bitter and unstable, and that the USA would end up paying to feed it.
- Eastern Europe: Truman pressed Stalin to hold the free elections promised at Yalta. Stalin would not give way. This is explained in the lesson Truman, Stalin and Eastern Europe in 1945.
- The atomic bomb: on 24 July Truman told Stalin that the USA had 'a new weapon of unusual destructive force'. Stalin showed little interest, because his spies had already told him about it. In private he ordered Soviet scientists to speed up work on a Soviet bomb.
Days after the conference ended, the USA dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan surrendered. The war was over and so, in practice, was the Grand Alliance. The Big Three never met again.
Common mistakes
Don't mix up the leaders. Roosevelt was at Tehran and Yalta, Truman only at Potsdam. Don't say the atomic bomb was dropped before Potsdam: it was tested just before the conference and used just after it. And remember that the division of Germany into four zones was agreed at Yalta and confirmed at Potsdam.
Exam-style question
Explain two effects of the Potsdam Conference (July-August 1945) on relations between the USA and the Soviet Union. [8 marks]
Model answer
One effect of the Potsdam Conference was that it deepened distrust between the USA and the Soviet Union over the atomic bomb. On 24 July 1945 Truman told Stalin that the USA had 'a new weapon of unusual destructive force', which had been tested eight days earlier. Stalin already knew from his spies that his allies had kept the project secret. He saw the bomb as a threat meant to make the USSR give way, so he ordered Soviet scientists to speed up work on their own bomb. This meant the two countries ended the conference as rivals in weapons, not partners.
A second effect was that the two powers began to treat Germany in different ways. Stalin wanted heavy reparations, but Truman refused because he wanted Germany to recover. As a result it was agreed that each power would take reparations from its own zone, with the USSR receiving extra industrial equipment from the western zones. This meant the Soviet zone was stripped of resources while the western zones were allowed to rebuild. Germany therefore started to split into two parts, which gave the USA and the USSR a lasting quarrel in the centre of Europe.
What lifts this to the top level: it gives two separate effects, supports each with precise facts, and uses linking phrases such as 'this meant' and 'as a result' to show how the conference led to each effect.
Exam tip
You must write about two effects. One effect, however well explained, cannot score more than half marks. An effect is a result, so don't just list what was decided at Potsdam. For each paragraph, say what changed in the relationship between the USA and the USSR because of the conference.