How Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin planned to cut up after the war Europe

Today, 80 years since a historic meeting took place that gathered the leaders of three of the Allied powers during World War II – Winston Churchill, Franklin D Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin – hoping for a brighter future for everyone.

The Yalta Conference, held in the Livadia Palace of Modern Ukraine, was a turning point in global diplomacy and would shape the world we know today.

In a joint statement after the meeting, the three leaders did not hold back and said, “Nazi Germany is doomed.

“The German people will only make the cost of their defeat heavier for themselves by trying to continue a hopeless resistance.”

At the Yalta Conference, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Franklin D Roosevelt and Prime Minister of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin – often referred to as the ‘big three’ – forces to discuss the future and world of Hitler and his brutal, totalitarian regime.

However, each leader had their own goals, so the meeting would never be straightforward.

Churchill was concerned with the balance of power in Europe, especially in Central and Eastern Europe and the preservation of British influence in the region.

A few weeks after the conference, Churchill delivered an update to MPs in the Lower House about what was being discussed in Yalta, such as plans for a new international organization aimed at ensuring peace and security after World War II – the United Nations.

He said: “Together with other states, both large and small, we may have found a world organization that, armed with abundant power, will protect the rights of all states, large or small, from aggression or from the collection of the funds to aggression .

“I am sure that a fairer choice is open to humanity than they have known at registered ages.

“The lights burn brighter and shine more wide than before.

“Let’s go forward together.”

Despite being ill, Roosevelt traveled to Yalta to secure the creation of the United Nations.

Of Roosevelt’s health during the meeting, Churchill’s doctor wrote: “The president looked old and thin and drawn out.

“He was sitting straight forward with his mouth open, as if he didn’t take things in.”

Mr. Roosevelt died two months later.

A month before his death, Roosevelt talked about the success of the Yalta conference to the American Congress and said, “We know, of course, that it was Hitler’s hope … that we would not agree – that a slight crack could appear in the regular wall of the Allied Unity, a crack that would give him and his colleagues gangsters a last hope of escaping their bare downfall.

“That’s the goal that his propaganda machine has been working for many months. But Hitler has failed.

“Never before have the great allies been closer united – not only in their war goals, but also in their peace goals.”

Stalin’s goal was to expand Soviet control in Eastern Europe and ensure that the country would be a dominant force to be counted.

In response to Roosevelt’s talk of unity against Hitler, Stalin said: “It is not that difficult to keep unity in wartime as there is a common goal to defeat the common enemy, which is clear to everyone.

“The difficult task comes after the war, where different interests will tend to divide the Allies.

“It is our duty to see that our relationship in peacetime is as strong as they have been at war.”

At the conference in Yalta, the leaders made several key decisions that would shape the future.

The Department of Germany

It was agreed that the country’s surrender by Germany’s surrender would be divided into four occupation zones, controlled by Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and France.

It was also important to free the world of Nazism, and the common statement made it very clear and said, “It is our inflexible purpose of destroying German militarism and Nazism and ensuring that Germany will never be able to disturb the world’s peace in the world ”

But to reassure German civilians who, like the rest of the world, were just as horrified by Hitler’s actions, another line was added.

It said: “It is not our purpose to destroy the population of Germany, but only when Nazism and militarism have been eradicated will there be hope of a decent life for Germans and a place for them in the Nations Committee.”

The creation of the United Nations

The leaders are obliged to establish the United Nations (UN), which is designed, among other things, to maintain international security by removing threats to peace.

The UN should have a security council with permanent members, including the UK, USA, Soviet Union, China and France, each of which has veto power.

Eight years later, the UN consists of 193 Member States.

The war against Japan

Stalin promised that the Soviet Union would join the war against Japan within three months of Germany’s defeat.

In contrast, Stalin got soil in East Asia, including the return of territories lost in the Russo-Japanese war 1904-1905.

Poland and Eastern Europe

One of the most controversial issues was the fate of Poland and Eastern Europe.

Stalin pressed on Soviet-backed communist governments in the region, while Churchill and Roosevelt tried to secure free elections and democratic governments.

In the end, leaders agreed that Poland would have a government that included both communist and non-communist elements.

This scheme would eventually prove to be unsatisfactory for the West as Stalin’s control over the region went from strength to strength.

What went wrong?

Although the leaders agreed on free elections, Stalin’s actions revealed that he would not keep this promise.

The Soviet Union solidified its control over Eastern Europe and established lasting communist regimes.

Critics claim that Churchill and Roosevelt gave too much to Stalin, allowing an unnecessary expansion of Soviet influence.

This section of Europe marked the beginning of the Cold War that formed international relations for decades.

Eight years later

While some of the agreements concluded in Yalta were short -lived, others survived as the creation of the United Nations.

However, despite Churchill and Roosevelt’s positive speeches after the conference, Yalta was a starting point, not the right to the world’s future problems.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Yalta conference, then-President Ronald Reagan released a statement and said, “The reason Yalta remains important is that Europe’s freedom is unfinished.

“Those who claim the question are boundaries or territory hope that the real questions – democracy and independence – will somehow disappear. They will not.”

When the three leaders drafted their plans to reorganize Europe, at that time, could probably have imagined what would be of Yalta even 80 years on.

While Yalta is on the southern tip of Crimea, it has not been hit by any of the country matches taking place in neither Ukraine nor Russia.

But the city is about 50 miles from Sevastopol, which has been hit several times, including some major strikes of British storm shadow missiles.

Yalta itself was apparently struck by a precision missile last May, so it has been targeted, albeit fairly easy.