Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference
04 - 11 February 1945
The Yalta Conference was the meeting of the three main allied leaders: Winston Churchill (Great Britain), Franklin Roosevelt (U.S), and Joseph Stalin (U.S.S.R). The main purpose of this conference was to discuss the disposition of European nations after Germany was defeated. It took place in a Southern Russian Resort located in a city called Yalta, which is along the coast of the Black Sea. It was the second of three conferences (including the Potsdam Conference) that took place between the allied superpowers in World War II. Each leader of the three nations came into the conference with distinct goals that they wanted to achieve. Because these goals were incompatible, the conference did not achieve many of it’s set goals. For example, Franklin Roosevelt was interested in having allied assistance with the Pacific warfare against Japan. Unfortunately for the US, Stalin would only agree to help under certain circumstances that included taking wanted land from the Japanese. Another major discussion point between the three leaders was the spread of communism or the spread of democracy across Europe. Winston Churchill, with the support of Roosevelt, wanted democratic governments in the Eastern European Countries that had been controlled by Germany. These include Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, and Bulgaria. Joseph Stalin was more interested in creating communist governments for these same Eastern European Countries. After the conference had ended, Churchill and Roosevelt realized Stalin would be unfaithful with the agreements he made and would have an army in the Eastern European countries ready to enforce what he wanted out of the conference. The significance of this conference was the distrust of the Russians and their leader, which ultimately lead to the Cold War.