The Yalta Conference: Moving Forward From WWII

The Yalta Conference, also known as the Crimean Conference, was a wartime meeting of the leaders of the Allied Powers—the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. It took place from February 4 to 11, 1945, at Yalta, a resort town in the Soviet Union’s Crimea (today a part of Ukraine). Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt led the delegations from their respective nations. The key outcome of the conference was demilitarizing and establishing Germany as a democratic state after the war, outlawing the Nazi Party, and establishing an international organization, the United Nations.

By the time the Yalta Conference was held from February 4 to February 11, 1945, the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II was already apparent. The Red Army of the Soviet Union succeeded in pushing back Nazi forces from Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria in March 1945, as well as breaking through the Eastern Front and taking control of the Silesian regions in Germany. American and British soldiers managed to liberate France and Belgium by February 1945 and continued to succeed on the Western Front. For the most part, the military confrontation was redirected to German territory, and the Allied forces would soon reach Berlin.

As World War II was coming to an end, a number of controversial political, economic, military, ethnic, and other concerns emerged. The immediate concerns were what to do with Germany after the war to prevent another recurrence of its fascist and imperialist ambitions, as happened after World War I; negotiating the conditions under which the Soviet Union would attack Japan; the fate of Poland after the war; and the establishment of the United Nations.

But while the success of the Allies over Nazi Germany appeared all but certain, the Pacific War against Japan was far from over. The Soviet Union’s involvement against Japan was seen by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt as being crucial for winning World War II.

The idea of holding a high-level meeting to address these challenges was born in the late summer of 1944. It would be the second conference among the Big Three, the first held in Tehran from November 28 to December 1, 1943, at the Soviet Union’s Embassy in Tehran, Iran.

However, President Roosevelt requested that the meeting be postponed twice: once due to his presidential election campaigns and again in January 1945 due to his inauguration ceremony. The strategic climate and extended time frame of holding the meeting were effectively exploited by Joseph Stalin, and by February 1945—when the Yalta Conference was set to take place—the Red Army had taken control of most of Eastern Europe. Stalin became more confident in his power and influence.

Each of the three leaders had their own agendas and priorities for the next Big Three meeting at Yalta.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president of the United States, anticipated persuading the Soviet Union’s leader to support the United States against Japan and join the works to establish the UN. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, envisioned free elections and democratic governments being established throughout Eastern and Central Europe following World War II.

Joseph Stalin envisioned Poland as a buffer zone between East and West, which would require the installation of a pro-Soviet government.

Hopes for coming up with a new, peaceful international order were high at Yalta. As Roosevelt outlined,

“Yalta ought to spell the end of the system of unilateral action, the exclusive alliances, the spheres of influence, the balances of power, and all the other expedients that had been tried for centuries and had always failed.”

Initially, the meeting was supposed to take place in Scotland. However, Joseph Stalin refused to leave the territory of the Soviet Union, claiming to be in poor health. As an alternative, he suggested the meeting be held at the Soviet Black Sea resort, Yalta, located in Crimea. Besides acquiring psychological leverage, the Soviet Union would have the possibility to bug the meeting venues with surveillance equipment. In this way, Joseph Stalin would remain informed about the discussions behind closed doors.

The situation’s urgency forced the Western leaders to eventually accept Yalta as a conference venue.  Heavily ill Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, aged 70, traveled the long distance to Crimea. This marked Stalin’s first gain during the negotiating process, symbolizing the shift in the balance of power in Stalin’s favor. Former British prime minister Anthony Eden described Stalin’s position at Yalta as “a bear who would certainly know his own mind.”

The United States delegation was accommodated in the Russian tsar’s former palace, President Roosevelt stayed at the Livadia Palace, where the conference took place, and the British delegation was in Prince Vorontsov’s castle of Alupka. The atmosphere was tense but full of optimism about establishing a new order that would affect millions of people in Europe and Asia.

The Agenda of the Yalta Conference

The agenda of the conference was strictly predetermined:

• On February 4, the initial discussions began, and the meeting formally started. The participants outlined the structure, objectives, and issues to be discussed during the following days.
• February 5 was dedicated to the question of Poland and other Eastern European countries. The focus was on the countries considered to fall under the influence of the Soviet Union: Czechoslovakia (split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia after the collapse of the Soviet Union), Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary.
• From February 6 to February 10, the three leaders would actively discuss the future shape of post-World War II Germany and its administration, the structure and framework of the new international organization, the United Nations, and how the Soviet Union could participate in the war against Japan.
• On February 11, the three leaders would finalize their discussions and sign the Yalta Agreement.

The Question of Poland 

The participants decided that the Soviet Union would acquire Eastern Poland, which comprised 70,000 square miles of territory, almost a third of the pre-1945 Polish state. Poland would be compensated by gaining parts of German territories: Pomerania, Upper Silesia, part of eastern Brandenburg, and a small area of Saxony. The decision caused massive population exchange and socio-cultural challenges in the Polish-German populations from respective territories and cemented population-wide resentment towards the Yalta Conference.

The Soviet Union also acquired the northern part of East Prussia, around the city of Königsberg, which it later renamed Kaliningrad. Neither Roosevelt nor Churchill were in a position to oppose Stalin. The Red Army was already stationed in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria and was moving toward Berlin. Joseph Stalin believed that these nations belonged to the Soviet sphere of influence.

Stalin stated, “Whoever occupies a territory imposes on it his own social system,” and the Soviet Union was simply too powerful to resist. Roosevelt and Churchill had no other choice but to actively bargain for including Western democratic values in a re-ordered Eastern European order.

Recognizing the difficult destiny that Yalta had just assigned the Polish people, Winston Churchill enquired of his British military commanders how much it would cost to use force to convince Joseph Stalin to free Poland from Soviet control. The response was 45 Anglo-American divisions, several Polish divisions, and 100,000 rearmed German troops. The idea of entering the war against the Soviet Union was referred to as “Operation Unthinkable.” However, the operation never materialized.

The Declaration on Poland, created as part of the Yalta Agreement, outlined:

“A new situation has been created in Poland as a result of her complete liberation by the Red Army. This calls for the establishment of a Polish Provisional Government, which can be more broadly based than was possible before the recent liberation of the Western part of Poland. The Provisional Government, which is now functioning in Poland, should therefore be reorganized on a broader democratic basis with the inclusion of democratic leaders from Poland itself and from Poles abroad. This Polish Provisional Government of National Unity shall pledge to hold free and unfettered elections as soon as possible on the basis of universal suffrage and a secret ballot. In these elections, all democratic and anti-Nazi parties shall have the right to take part and to put forward candidates.”

On the other hand, Franklin Delano Roosevelt managed to secure a Declaration on Liberated Europe as part of his aspiration to spread Western democratic values in post-World War II Europe. The declaration dictated free elections and freedom of choice in the form of government in formerly Nazi-occupied territories.

The American president also obtained consent from the international organization, the United Nations. The United Nations would act as a platform among members of international society to maintain peace and support the economic, cultural, and social development of nations through cooperation. It was to be created on April 25, 1945.

The Question of Post-World War II Germany 

The Big Three also outlined the framework for administering post-war Germany. Germany would be fully disarmed and demilitarized, minimizing the risk of future military confrontation and expansionism.

The leaders decided to divide German territories into four occupation zones: British, American, French, and Soviet zones. The capital city of Berlin, located within the Soviet zone, would also be divided into four zones accordingly. France was not present at the Yalta Conference because the Allied Powers liberated France from the Nazi invasion in August 1944. Thus, France was no longer seen as a major power.

However, during the Yalta Conference, Winston Churchill stated that France was acknowledged as the “fourth liberating power.” He believed this would ensure the stability and balance of power in Europe following World War II. Joseph Stalin was reluctant, but an agreement was eventually achieved. The right to administer post-war Germany was then awarded to France by receiving the fourth occupation zone from American and British territory. France also would become a provisional member of the United Nations.

Upon the conference’s completion, the three leaders publicly announced the achievement of “closer coordination of the military effort of the three allies than ever before,” while Winston Churchill confidently concluded that “Nazi Germany is doomed,” calling for its complete surrender.

However, the public statement of the Big Three did not mention their decisions regarding the situation in the Pacific region. In reality, the Soviet Union’s pledge to enter the war against Japan was a key motivating factor for Roosevelt and Churchill to make concessions on other issues, particularly in agreeing to cement Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. Stalin secured the promise to allow the Soviet Union to annex Manchuria, which was held by Japan at the time; in exchange, the Soviet troops would fight against Japan.

At first glance, the decisions reached at Yalta instilled hope for peace and stability in the war-torn society, but in reality, they set the stage for a much longer Cold War.

Results & Legacy of the Yalta Conference

Just three months later, soon after Roosevelt’s death, Churchill spoke to the new American president, Harry Truman, about “an iron curtain” descending on Europe, signaling the growing influence of the Soviet Union and the confrontation between East and West. The outcomes of Yalta marked the Soviet Union’s emergence as a global superpower, and he successfully secured Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe. For these societies, Yalta represents the western nations’ weakness and their willingness to compromise democratic principles in order to achieve political gains.

The outcomes of the Yalta Conference continued to cast a shadow over Franklin D. Roosevelt’s political career. He himself was aware of its shortcomings. Admiral William Leahy, Chief of Staff, expressed unease to Franklin Roosevelt about Yalta’s results, stating:

“This [agreement on Poland] is so elastic that the Russians can stretch it all the way from Yalta to Washington without ever technically breaking it,”

“I know, Bill, but it is the best I can do for Poland at this time,” Roosevelt responded.

Because the Cold War began so soon after, Yalta was widely associated with the Western failure to safeguard peace and security. In 2005, President George W. Bush referred to Yalta as “one of the greatest wrongs of history… Once again, when powerful governments negotiated, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable.”