The following agreements were reached at the Yalta Conference:
- A new world peacekeeping organisation, the United Nations, was to be set up with the "Big Three' (USA, USSR and Britain) all agreeing to join.
- Stalin agreed that the USSR would enter the war against Japan.
- The Big Three agreed that Germany would be divided into four zones: American, French, British and Soviet. The German capital, Berlin, was deep in the Soviet zone, so it was agreed that Berlin itself would be divided into four zones.
- They agreed to hunt down and punish Nazi war criminals.
- They agreed that as countries were liberated from occupation by the German army, they would be allowed to hold free elections to choose the government they wanted.
- The Big Three agreed that eastern Europe should be seen as 'a Soviet sphere of influence'.
However, there were disagreements. - Churchill and Roosevelt could not agree with Stalin on the amount of compensation owed to the USSR as a result of losses during the War.
- Stalin wanted a Communist government in Poland because he wanted to prevent the USSR from being invaded through that country, which had happened twice before. Churchill rejected this, wanting rather to have the same government that had been in power in Poland in 1939.
- Churchill was very worried that Stalin was planning to dominate eastern Europe. Roosevelt seemed less concerned about this, although his failing health might have seen him giving in to Stalin's demands.
Two months after the Yalta Conference, Roosevelt died. He was succeeded by Harry S Truman.
Truman felt that a tougher approach was needed when dealing with Stalin. It became obvious to the president that the Soviets did not share the West's ideas about democracy for the states of eastern Europe. As the Red Army advanced into eastern and central Europe, the Soviets wanted to make sure that the government put in power would be loyal to the Soviet Union. On hearing that the Soviets were trying to force a pro-Soviet government on Poland, Truman sent a strongly worded protest to Stalin.
This was to further strain an already 'cold' relationship!
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