How the Yalta Agreement Affected the Shape of Postwar Europe

The Yalta Conference was held during World War II from February 4 to 11, 1945 in a Russian resort in Crimea. In Yalta, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Prime Minister Joseph Stalin made important decisions about the future course of the war and the post-war world. Each power also ratified an agreement on the division of post-war Germany into zones. The USSR, the United States and the United Kingdom all had zones, with the United Kingdom and the United States agreeing to further subdivide their zones to create a French zone. Germany`s defeat was narrow: Japan`s, much less so. Nevertheless, post-war planning was in full swing. In early 1945, all three majors recognized the urgent need to reach agreement on how the war in Europe and the Far East would end and what peace would look like. They all wanted to continue the practice of war of solving global problems among themselves. But their priorities were different and did not necessarily coincide. With regard to Poland, the Yalta report goes on to state that the Provisional Government “should be obliged to hold free and unhindered elections as soon as possible on the basis of universal suffrage and secret ballots”. [18] The agreement could not hide the importance of joining the short-term pro-Soviet control of the Lublin government and eliminating language calling for supervised elections. [19] Churchill had some success at Yalta.

One of them was the agreement that France should be invited to occupy an area in Germany and participate in the Control Commission, a crucial outcome given Roosevelt`s determination to limit the length of stay of American troops in Europe. Less specific, but nevertheless important, was Churchill`s tough stance in defending freedom and the rule of law, for example in drafting the Declaration on Liberated Europe, which obliged the three powers to introduce free elections and democratic governments. The fact that the Soviet Union did not honour its commitments did not diminish Churchill`s efforts to obtain them. But he played a weak hand compared to that of Stalin and even more so of Roosevelt. Roosevelt was a sick man and died two months after Yalta. His main priority was to ensure the Entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan. U.S. military advisers warned that victory could last another 18 months, and at that time, it was by no means certain that the atomic bomb would work or force Japan to submit. Roosevelt needed Soviet help to defeat Japan and was willing to pay for it by admitting Stalin`s demands, whether for independent UN membership for the Soviet republics of Ukraine and Belarus, for a veto system in the Security Council, or for the Kurils and southern Sakhalin Islands, independent of other regional powers such as China. Roosevelt, of course, wanted the final victory over Germany, but could afford to wait a bit if necessary. After the war, he envisaged only short-term American involvement in Europe and was more interested in formulating principles than in the details that concerned individual countries.

Roosevelt`s other favorite project, the United Nations, he was determined to ensure a peaceful environment that would allow the United States to withdraw. At a meeting in the City of Yalta in Russian Crimea from February 4 to 11, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin each arrived with their own conference agendas. For Stalin, post-war economic aid to Russia and the United States, and British recognition of a Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe were the main objectives. Churchill had the protection of the British Empire in the first place, but also wanted to clarify Germany`s post-war status. Roosevelt`s goals included a consensus on the creation of the United Nations and Soviet approval to go to war with Japan after Hitler`s defeat. None of them left Yalta completely satisfied. There was no final determination of financial assistance to Russia. Many questions concerning Germany have been postponed for further discussion. As for the United Nations, Stalin wanted the 16 Soviet republics to be represented in the General Assembly, but settled for three (the Soviet Union as a whole, Belarus and Ukraine).

However, the Soviets agreed to participate in the war against Japan 90 days after the defeat of Hitler`s Germany. Allied leaders came to Yalta knowing that an Allied victory in Europe was virtually inevitable, but less convinced that the Pacific War was coming to an end. Recognizing that victory over Japan might require a protracted struggle, the United States and Britain saw a great strategic advantage for Soviet involvement in the Pacific theater of war. At Yalta, Roosevelt and Churchill discussed with Stalin the conditions under which the Soviet Union would go to war with Japan, and all three agreed that the Soviets would be granted a sphere of influence in Manchuria in exchange for potentially decisive Soviet participation in the Pacific theater of war after Japan`s surrender. These included the southern part of Sakhalin, a lease at Port Arthur (now Lüshunkou), the operation of the Manchu Railways and the Kuril Islands. This agreement was the most important concrete achievement of the Yalta Conference. On the question of Poland`s status after the war, however, the hostility and mistrust between the United States and the Soviet Union that would characterize the Cold War was most evident. Soviet troops already controlled Poland, a pro-communist provisional government had already been installed, and Stalin insisted that Russia`s interests be recognized in that nation. The United States and Britain believed that the London-based non-communist Polish government-in-exile was the most representative of the Polish people. The final agreement simply stipulated that a “broader” government should be established in Poland.

Free elections to determine Poland`s future were called at some point in the future. Many U.S. officials were disgusted by the deal, which they said condemned Poland to a communist future. However, Roosevelt felt that he could not do more at a time when the Soviet army was occupying Poland. The first reaction to the Yalta Agreements was solemn. .