In 1943, a meeting took place between FDR, Churchill, and Stalin in Tehran, Iran. These three discussed the end of the war and plans for post-war and how to handle the world’s delicate state. One of their most important discussions was that of Operation Overlord, the plan for Britain and the US to invade Northern France and begin to move in on Germany. Stalin agreed to help them by continuing his efforts on the eastern front to keep the Germans fighting and splitting their attention. In addition, Roosevelt and Stalin made a deal that Stalin would declare war on Japan following the defeat of Germany, and Roosevelt would give Stalin land in northern China. These proceedings were confirmed by all sides, but not finalized until the Yalta Conference in 1945.
One of Stalin’s most important issues at this conference was the fate of Eastern Europe. He desired it to become under Russian control as he had gone through liberating most of these countries with that expectation in mind. It was decided that Eastern Poland would become part of the Soviet Union, Poland’s borders would be expanded into Germany, and the Baltic States would hold a referendum to decide their fate of joining the Soviet Union or not. The three leaders also decided to split post-war Germany up into allied zones for them to each control a part of.
Just like Wilson had his goals of the League of Nations, Roosevelt had hopes of instituting an organization to keep world peace and prevent another world war. He brought up the United Nations to Stalin, saying that US, Britain, China, and the Soviet Union would be the main four in control and the ultimate peacekeepers with the ability to deal with any emergency situation.
At the end of the conference, the world leaders left Tehran feeling confident. Unlike the peace negotiations after World War 1, each of them felt like they made significant gains. For the US, Roosevelt felt like he gained Stalin’s trust by dealing with him directly and also received promise of Russia’s back up in the war in the Pacific. For Britain, they received guarantee of inclusion in the post-war negotiations and a powerful position in the UN, in addition to confirmation of the long-awaited help in the war against Nazi-Germany. For the Soviet Union, Stalin made important gains towards his goal of making Eastern Europe under his control, and he started to lay the groundwork for the future expansion of the Soviet Union.
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Interesting! There are alot of similar aspects from before in WW1. I find it really find it interesting how the past comes back and repeats itself.It seems that the outcomes of this conference were much better and all the countries involved seemed to happy with the gains they would get from this. Why do you think the had the conference so early even with the war lasting for two more years? What would have happen to the meaning of the conference if the war lasted for longer and the great powers get into more of a conflict?
ReplyDeleteI really love how you give extra emotional context after the Tehran meeting. I like how you say they left "feeling confident" and use other adjectives to describe how all the leaders were feeling. Which leader do you think had the greatest gains/success with the conference (in terms of getting what they wanted)?
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