THE YALTA CONFERENCE

Webquest review

1. What rights were restored to the countries of Europe and what were the signers of the agreement guaranteed?

Each country had their sovereign rights returned and had the right to self-government in place. They agreed the signers would assist in guarantee free elections if necessary. (The Americans and the British generally agreed that future governments of the Eastern European nations bordering the Soviet Union should be “friendly” to the Soviet regime while the Soviets pledged to allow free elections in all territories liberated from Nazi Germany.)

2. HOW WAS GERMANY DIVIDED AND HOW WERE THE ZONES TO BE GOVERNED?

GERMANY WAS DIVIDED INTO 4 OCCUPATION ZONES WITH EACH GOVERNED BY GREAT BRITAIN, THE UNITED STATES, FRANCE, AND THE SOVIET UNION.

3. WHAT PUNITIVE DAMAGES DID GERMANY HAVE TO PAY?

DAMAGES HAD TO BE PAID ACCORDING TO THE LOSSES SUFFERED BY ALLIED COUNTRIES AND RUSSIA WOULD RECEIVE 50%, OR 10 BILLION DOLLARS. AFTER YALTA, TRUMAN TOOK A DIFFERENT STAND ON GERMAN REPARATIONS. HE AND BYRNES WANTED TO HAVE EACH OF THE ZONES PAY TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OCCUPANTS. (TRUMAN AND BYRNES ENCOURAGED THIS POSITION BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO AVOID A REPETITION OF THE SITUATION CREATED BY THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES, WHICH HAD EXACTED HIGH REPARATIONS PAYMENTS FROM GERMANY FOLLOWING WORLD WAR ONE. MANY EXPERTS AGREED THAT THE HARSH REPARATIONS IMPOSED BY THE VERSAILLES TREATY HAD HANDICAPPED THE GERMAN ECONOMY AND FUELED THE RISE OF THE NAZIS.)

4. How was Poland dealt with?Poland would establish a new government, it also got East Germany, and Eastern Poland was awarded to Russia. (Poland was the main debating point. Stalin explained that throughout history Poland had either attacked Russia or had been used as a corridor through which other hostile countries invaded her. Only a strong, pro-Communist government in Poland would be able to guarantee the security of the Soviet Union.)

5. With regard to Russia, what were they granted before the end of the war?

Russia got the Kurile Islands, the southern half of Sakhalin Island, an occupation zone in Korea, and privileges in Manchuria, Port Arthur, and Dairen, if Russia entered the Pacific war within three months of the end of the European war.

6. How about Outer Mongolia, and why?Outer Mongolia was recognized as autonomous from China. It was seen as seized

The Japanese had threatened Outer Mongolia and Russia helped defend them, and the Russian saw Outer Mongolia as a “True Communist” country.

7. What role did the UN Security Council gain?The UN Security Council gained permanent membership with veto power by any of the permanent members. It was given the role to help become a peace-keeping body of the UN.

8. What about the Ukraine and Belorussia (Byelorussia)? The Ukraine and Belorussia were to become separate members in the United Nations.

9. April 25, 1945?The organizational meeting was called on this date in San Francisco for the establishment of the United Nations. Also - Soldiers from the Soviet Union and United States Meet at the River Elbe

POTSDAM CONFERENCERoosevelt’s gone, enter Truman.

FOCUS IS ON GERMANY AND POLAND1. The negotiators confirmed a disarmament and demilitarization of Germany.

a. All aspects of German industry that could be utilized for military purposes were to be dismantled;

b. German military and paramilitary (militia, SS, etc.) forces were to be eliminated;

c. The production of all military hardware in Germany was forbidden.

2. Furthermore, German society was to be remade along democratic lines by repeal of all discriminatory laws from the Nazi era and by the arrest and trial of those Germans deemed to be “war criminals.”

3. The German educational and judicial systems were to be purged of any authoritarian influences, and democratic political parties were promoted.

4. The reconstitution of a national German Government was, however, postponed indefinitely, and the Allied Control Commission (which was comprised of four occupying powers, the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union) would run the country.

POLAND One of the most controversial matters addressed at the Potsdam Conference dealt with the

revision of the German-Soviet-Polish borders and the expulsion of several million Germans from the disputed territories.

1. In exchange for the territory it lost to the Soviet Union following the readjustment of the Soviet-Polish border, Poland received a large swath of German territory and began to deport the German residents of the territories in question, as did other nations that were host to large German minority populations.

2. The negotiators at Potsdam were well-aware of the situation, and even though the British and Americans feared that a mass exodus of Germans into the western occupation zones would destabilize them, they took no action other than to declare that “any transfers that take place should be effected in an orderly and humane manner” and to request that the Poles, Czechoslovaks and Hungarians temporarily suspend additional deportations.

JAPAN The United States, Great Britain, and China released the “Potsdam Declaration,” which threatened Japan with “prompt and utter destruction” if it did not immediately surrender (the Soviet Union did not sign the declaration because it had yet to declare war on Japan).

The Potsdam Conference is perhaps best known for President Truman’s July 24, 1945 conversation with Stalin, during which time the President informed the Soviet leader that the United States had successfully detonated the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945. Stalin probably already knew and although allies during the war, they never met again collectively to discuss cooperation in postwar reconstruction.

THE BERLIN BLOCKADE/AIRLIFTAPRIL 1, 1948 – MAY 12, 1949

The beginning of the Cold War competition.

THE BERLIN BLOCKADE & AIRLIFT

One of the first incidents of the Cold War, the blockade & airlift set the tone for the Cold War.

The Western Allies withdrew the Reichsmark, and introduced Deutschmark in West Berlin.

During the multinational occupation of a post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control.

In a June 1945 meeting, Stalin informed German communist leaders that he expected to slowly undermine the British position within their occupation zone, that the United States would withdraw within a year or two and that nothing would then stand in the way of a united Germany under communist control within the Soviet orbit.

The Trigger Creation of an economically stable western Germany required reform of the

unstable Reichsmark German currency introduced after the 1920s German inflation. The Soviets had devalued the Reichsmark by excessive printing, resulting in Germans using cigarettes as a de facto currency or for bartering.

In February 1948, the Americans and British had proposed that a new German currency be created, replacing the over-circulated and devalued Reichsmark. The Soviets refused to accept this proposal.

The Allies had already transported 250,000,000 Deutsche marks into the city and it quickly became the standard currency in all four sectors. This new currency, along with the Marshall Plan that backed it, appeared to have the potential to revitalize Germany, even against the wishes of the Soviets

Soviet guards halted all passenger trains and traffic on the autobahn to Berlin, delayed Western and German freight shipments and required that all water transport secure special Soviet permission