POTSDAM CONFERENCE: BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVES AND AGREEMENTS - HISTORY - 2025

The Potsdam conference was the meeting held between the leaders of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union to discuss the content and procedures to be followed in the peace accords in Europe, after the end of the Second World War.

This meeting took place in the Berlin suburb of Potsdam, in Germany, between July 17 and August 2, 1945. The US President, Harry S. Truman; British Prime Minister Winston Churchill; and the Soviet premier, Josef Stalin.

With the meeting underway, the newly elected Prime Minister of Great Britain, Clement Attlee, replaced Churchill. The three leaders did not attempt to sign peace treaties, since that task was delegated to a Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, which was carried out for that purpose.

During the Potsdam conference the way in which the defeated Germany would be administered and the determination of reparations were agreed. In addition, they spoke about the drawing of the borders of Poland, the occupation of Austria, the role of the USSR in Eastern Europe and the prosecution of Japan.

The main objective of the Potsdam meeting was to achieve the implementation of the agreements reached a few months earlier at the Yalta conference.

Background

Unlike the friendly and relaxed atmosphere that reigned in the two previous conferences (Tehran and Yalta), in Potsdam there was tension. The atmosphere of compromise between the allied leaders did not exist and the negotiating conditions changed. There was very little optimism and kindness.

Each of the three powers was more concerned with its interests than with the common good. Friendship and goodwill, which characterized previous meetings, were absent in Potsdam. The concerns of the three leaders were centered on the administration of Germany and the delimitation of Europe.

For example, by the Yalta conference held in February 1945, Germany had not yet been defeated. On the other hand, the English Prime Minister Winston Churchill was suspicious of the Soviet Premier Josef Stalin and his unshakable position.

The United States and Great Britain were still at war with Japan. The absence of a common enemy in Europe was an element that caused many difficulties to reach agreements in Potsdam.

It was necessary to reach a consensus on the territorial and political reconstruction of Europe during the post-war period.

Changes that made negotiations difficult

Both the United States and Great Britain changed leadership. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who attended the Yalta conference, died suddenly in April 1945. He was succeeded by President Harry S. Truman and his Secretary of State, James Byrnes.

In the English case, right in the middle of the conference the results of the general elections in Great Britain, held on July 5, were announced. Churchill lost and was replaced at the conference by the Labor Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, and by Ernest Bevin, his foreign secretary.

The leadership of Roosevelt and Churchill could not be overcome by the new American and English delegates. Instead, the two Soviet negotiators, Josef Stalin and Vyacheslav Molotov, were the same ones who were at the Yalta conference.

goals

The main objective of the Potsdam conference was to achieve the implementation of the agreements reached at the Yalta meeting. These were that Germany will pay war reparations to the Soviet Union after Hitler's invasion.

Although there were tensions over the boundaries of Poland, at the Yalta Stalin conference, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to divide Germany into four major occupation zones. Likewise, the commitment was made to allow free elections in the countries of Eastern Europe.

The Soviet Union was invited by the Allies to join the United Nations. Once Germany was defeated, the USSR promised that it would join the war against Japan, since until then it had remained neutral.

Occupied Germany

At Yalta it was decided that Germany should remain occupied by American, British, French and Soviet troops.

The entire country had to be demilitarized and disarmed. German industry would be dismantled to avoid military use. Education and the judicial system would be purged of Nazi influence, along with racial laws.

Stalin was determined to profit enormously from Germany's economic reparations, stipulated as a compensatory measure for the destruction caused by the Nazis in Soviet territory after Hitler's invasion.

Churchill and Roosevelt accepted Stalin's demands at Yalta, to get the USSR to join the war against Japan.

However, in Potsdam both Harry S. Truman and his secretary of state, James Byrnes, wanted to diminish the Soviet appetite. They insisted that the reparations demanded by the occupying forces should only be in their own zone of occupation.

Main agreements

The most important agreements reached at the Potsdam conference were:

Germany

-It was agreed that Germany should be demilitarized, this included destroying part of the industrial war infrastructure; they wanted to prevent the German war industry from recovering. In addition, it was stipulated that free elections should be held for the nation to democratize.

-Processing of Nazi war criminals and return of all territories captured and occupied by Germany.

-Military occupation of Germany by American, Soviet, French and English troops.

-Division of German territory into four occupation zones, like Berlin, the capital city; however, Stalin had other plans for the eastern part of Germany that were occupied by the Soviets.

Other nations

In addition to Germany, issues from other countries were discussed at the Potsdam conference:

-The problem of Indochina (present-day Vietnam), which served as an active theater of war, was discussed. Invading Japanese troops and Indochinese forces were fighting for independence from French imperial control.

-Truman, Stalin and Churchill (and Attlee in Churchill's absence) agreed that Indochina would also be divided into two occupation zones after the war. The south would be occupied by the western powers under British command, and the northern half would be occupied by China as an allied nation.

-Various territories claimed by Germany were assigned to Poland, which increased its territorial extension to the west. As Poland was liberated by the Soviets, Stalin imposed a communist government there.

Japan

The war against Japan had not ended, so finally in Potsdam the subject of the Japanese Empire was addressed. It was feared that the war against that country would last for years, because he was willing to fight "to the last man." The three powers then decided to issue an ultimatum to Japan of total destruction, if it did not surrender.

Truman mentioned in the meeting that the United States had a very powerful weapon to use against Japan in case it was necessary but did not reveal details; he was referring to the atomic bomb. However, Stalin already knew from his spy ring in the United States.

The creation of a Council of Foreign Ministers to act on behalf of the governments of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China was approved. It had the mission of drafting the peace treaties to be signed with the former allies of Germany.

References

1. The Potsdam Conference. Retrieved March 27, 2018 from history.state.gov
2. Potsdam Conference: Definition, Results & Agreements. study.com
3. The Potsdam Conference. Consulted from iwm.org.uk
4. Conference Potsdam. Consulted of encyclopedia.com
5. The Yalta and Potsdam conferences. Consulted from bbc.co.uk
6. Potsdam Conference - World War II. Consulted from britannica.com