On July 17, 1945, in the German city of Potsdam, not far from Berlin, a conference of the heads of the victorious powers began. It discussed the future of Germany, ending the war with Japan, changing borders in Europe, reparations, as well as many other controversial issues that arose in relations between the Allies in the Anti-Hitler Coalition.
Discussion of the future
“Before the Second World War, relations between future allies in the Anti-Hitler coalition could not be called warm. England and France, with the tacit consent of the United States during the Munich agreement, allowed Adolf Hitler to commit aggression against Czechoslovakia. In 1939, Western countries dragged on negotiations on the creation of an anti-Nazi coalition to the limit, forcing the USSR to sign a non-aggression agreement with Germany in order to at least delay the war, ”Andrei Koshkin, full member of the Academy of Military Sciences, told RT in an interview.
However, in 1941, he said, a rapid rapprochement began between Moscow, London and Washington, associated with their common participation in hostilities against the Axis countries. Nevertheless, despite the presence of a common enemy, the Western powers for some time provided the USSR only with military-technical assistance, and ignored any requests for the opening of a second front.
According to Koshkin, the position of the Western countries changed as the Red Army won. In 1942, the process of providing material and technical assistance to the USSR was intensified, and in 1943, against the backdrop of the Battle of Kursk, discussion of the prospects of opening a second front went on more actively. The corresponding decision was made in principle by representatives of the United States and Great Britain in August 1943 at the Quebec Conference. According to experts, the Western Allies feared that Sovietization would occur throughout Europe.
Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States discussed the decision to open a second front with the USSR at a conference in Tehran. There, substantive negotiations began regarding a post-war world order.
In February 1945, discussion of the future of Europe and the world continued at the Yalta Conference. There it was decided to create an international organization with broad powers. It was brought to life in the spring - summer of 1945 at a conference in San Francisco.
- Berlin offensive operation
- © Bundesarchiv
On June 26, the United Nations Charter was solemnly signed. However, the leaders of the victorious powers still had a number of unresolved issues related to the future of Germany, borders, the war against Japan and other international problems.
Potsdam Conference
To discuss the accumulated problems, the Allies decided to hold a new conference in the summer of 1945. Germany was chosen as the venue for it. Berlin was too badly damaged by bombing and spring battles. Therefore, the conference was decided to be held in the city located in the immediate vicinity of the German capital - Potsdam, in the premises of the Cecilienhof Palace that survived after the Berlin operation.
The Potsdam Conference began on July 17, 1945. The Soviet delegation was led by the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and the State Defense Committee of the USSR Joseph Stalin, the American - by President Harry Truman, the British - first by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and from July 28, after the change of the conservative government in the UK to Labor, by Clement Attlee.
“The very composition of the participants in the Potsdam Conference contributed to the fact that the tone of conversations became more intense than at previous meetings of the Big Three. Stalin had a good working relationship with Roosevelt, but not with Truman, who replaced him. The new US president did not behave so diplomatically, more sharply, tried to impose his conditions, ”military historian Yuri Knutov said in an interview with RT.
According to him, the main issue of the conference was the future of Germany.
“It was about a single country. It was emphasized that no one plans to humiliate the German people. A clear administration system for the German territories was introduced. Nazi organizations were forbidden, including the NSDAP itself, Nazi law enforcement agencies, and discriminatory Hitler’s laws were repealed, ”Andrei Koshkin said.
In addition, according to him, the format of the international court on war crimes committed by the Nazis was determined in Potsdam.
- Cecilienhof Palace in the New Garden - Venue of the Potsdam Conference
- © Wikimedia Commons
“In Germany, the principle of the four Ds was embodied: denazification, demilitarization, demonopolization, democratization,” said Koshkin.
As historians noted, in addition to German, a whole series of issues were discussed. So, Stalin reaffirmed the obligations of the USSR to enter the war with Japan.
“At the conference, the final transfer of the territory of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus to the Soviet Union was confirmed. However, in return, Poland received even more - East Prussian and East German territories, ”said Yuri Knutov.
Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad) and the surrounding land, it was decided to transfer the USSR.
Long discussions have caused a question of reparations. Each power was to receive them at the expense of its zones of occupation, and the Soviet Union - also at the expense of the zones of the Western Allies. In addition, the leaders of the "Big Three" divided the German fleet.
The delegation of the USSR raised the issue of the return of the Soviet territories previously occupied by Turkey in the Caucasus, as well as the possibility of deploying a Soviet base in the Black Sea straits, but did not find understanding from the Western allies. As in the issue of custody of Moscow over part of the former Italian colonies in North Africa.
However, according to Knutov, the conference participants were able to reach a consensus in principle on issues such as the expansion of the UN at the expense of Germany’s former allies and the functioning of the UN Security Council.
- Potsdam Conference participants
- © Wikimedia Commons
“Despite the already felt strong ideological contradictions, the participants of the Potsdam Conference demonstrated the ability to compromise for the sake of peace,” said Yuri Knutov.
According to Andrei Koshkin, while in Potsdam, Truman learned about the successful tests of a nuclear bomb in the United States and informed Churchill and then Stalin about them. The British prime minister was very happy because the new weapon, in his opinion, shifted the balance of power in the world in favor of the West. Stalin, on the other hand, took the news indifferently, which confused Western leaders.
“The head of the USSR was well informed by intelligence about the progress of the Anglo-American nuclear project, so he took Truman’s information simply as an attempt to increase the political weight of Western delegations. Instead of being anxious, he gave instructions to hurry up to the Soviet nuclear experts, ”said Koshkin.
At the same time, the expert emphasized that all participants in the conference were perfectly aware that the Red Army played a key role in the victory over Nazism, and the Soviet Union suffered the greatest losses in the fight against Germany. And this fact, obvious to everyone, imposed certain moral and political restrictions on Western delegations.
“The Yalta, San Francisco and Potsdam accords were written in blood, and primarily in the blood of Soviet people. Thanks to the courage of the soldiers of the Anti-Hitler coalition in 1945, it was possible to form a new system of world order and international relations, much more perfect than all the previous ones. Although the Western Allies did not behave in the best way, having launched a new confrontation, global conflicts after 1945 were avoided. For 75 years this system has been working, and not bad enough, ”summed up Andrei Koshkin.