The Potsdam Conference, 1945
The next meeting of the Big Three took place in July 1945 at Potsdam, just outside Berlin.
Objectives:
The main objective of the Potsdam Conference was to finalise a post-war settlement and put into action all the things agreed at Yalta. While the meeting at Yalta had been reasonably friendly, the Potsdam Conference was fraught with disagreements, which were the result of some significant changes that had taken place since the Yalta Conference.
1. A new US President:
The US President, Franklin D Roosevelt, had died and been replaced by his Vice-President, Harry S Truman. While Roosevelt had been willing to work with Stalin, largely because he needed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - collection of states, also known as the Soviet Union. to join the war against Japan, Truman made little secret of his dislike for A classless society where all property is owned publicly. and for Stalin personally. Truman remarked that he was tired of babying the Soviets
and that the only language Stalin understood was how many army divisions do you have?
2. Nuclear threat:
Just before the Conference began, on 16 July 1945, the USA had successfully exploded an A powerful and destructive bomb that gets its power from the energy released when atoms are split. at their test site in the New Mexico desert. When first told about the success of the experiment, Truman is said to have remarked: if it works... I’ll sure have a hammer on those boys.
At Potsdam, Truman chose to inform Stalin that the US possessed a new weapon of unusual destructive force
. Although Stalin already knew details about the Manhattan Project through his spy networks, he was able to complain at this treatment and the fact that there were secrets between supposed Allies.
3. Expansion of communism:
Despite agreeing at Yalta that free elections would be held in Eastern Europe after the defeat of Nazi Germany, there was little evidence at Potsdam that Stalin intended to allow them. In fact the Army of the USSR. was in control of Poland and the USSR was in the process of setting up a A classless society where all property is owned publicly. government.
Focus on Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the USA (1945-53)
- Truman had automatically succeeded to the Presidency as he was Vice President when Franklin D Roosevelt died on 12 April 1945, just weeks before the end of World War Two.
- Truman had served in France during the last five months of World War One and had been a successful officer.
- Truman was a Baptist and, although he did not often speak of religion, this guided his morality and ethics.
- As a politician in the inter-war period, Truman had been a committed ‘Wilsonian’ and had admired Woodrow Wilson’s hopes for American intervention in Europe.
- During the early 1940s, Truman had led committees on fraud and corruption within the military and had emerged a respected political figure.
- However, Truman had not been particularly close to Roosevelt and had even been unaware of the Manhattan Project (the scheme developing the USA’s nuclear weapons).
- Truman remained adamant that choosing to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 had ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides.
Since the 1960s, it has been widely accepted that Truman’s attitude to communism was in part responsible for how the Cold War proceeded at the end of 1945. These views have since been challenged but certainly, Truman found it very difficult to get along with Stalin in the way Roosevelt had.
Outcome:
Little real progress was made at Potsdam beyond an agreement to put into action the commitments made at Yalta.
The main points of the three Conferences are summarised in the table below:
| Tehran | Yalta | Potsdam | |
| People and participants | Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin | Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin | Churchill (replaced midway by Attlee), Truman and Stalin |
| Elections | Military decisions took precedence over anything else | Stalin to have a ‘sphere of influence’ over Eastern Europe but all countries freed from Nazi occupation would be allowed free elections to choose their own governments | There was no sign of Stalin allowing free elections in Eastern Europe and a communist government was being set up in Poland |
| Europe | The USA and Britain agreed to invade France, joining the Russians fighting on land in Europe. The USSR would fight Japan once Germany had been defeated. | Germany to be divided into four zones of occupation - Berlin to also be divided | Arguments over where the boundaries between the zones would be drawn |
| Repayment | The USSR would be allowed to take reparations from defeated Germany | Arguments about how much the USSR should be allowed to take in reparations. It was agreed that the Soviets could take whatever they wanted from the Soviet controlled zone and 10 per cent from the Western zones. This remained a source of disagreement, with the Western Allies worried that they were repeating the mistakes of the Treaty of Versailles after World War One |
| People and participants | |
|---|---|
| Tehran | Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin |
| Yalta | Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin |
| Potsdam | Churchill (replaced midway by Attlee), Truman and Stalin |
| Elections | |
|---|---|
| Tehran | Military decisions took precedence over anything else |
| Yalta | Stalin to have a ‘sphere of influence’ over Eastern Europe but all countries freed from Nazi occupation would be allowed free elections to choose their own governments |
| Potsdam | There was no sign of Stalin allowing free elections in Eastern Europe and a communist government was being set up in Poland |
| Europe | |
|---|---|
| Tehran | The USA and Britain agreed to invade France, joining the Russians fighting on land in Europe. The USSR would fight Japan once Germany had been defeated. |
| Yalta | Germany to be divided into four zones of occupation - Berlin to also be divided |
| Potsdam | Arguments over where the boundaries between the zones would be drawn |
| Repayment | |
|---|---|
| Tehran | |
| Yalta | The USSR would be allowed to take reparations from defeated Germany |
| Potsdam | Arguments about how much the USSR should be allowed to take in reparations. It was agreed that the Soviets could take whatever they wanted from the Soviet controlled zone and 10 per cent from the Western zones. This remained a source of disagreement, with the Western Allies worried that they were repeating the mistakes of the Treaty of Versailles after World War One |
Revision Tip
To remember the things that were discussed at each conference, use the mnemonic PEER
People – who was there
Elections
Europe – what was happening where East met West?
Repayment
Remember – you will still need to learn what was decided (or wasn’t decided!)