LET’S GET TOGETHER… Yeah, Yeah, Yeah…
“THE BIG THREE” Roosevelt, Churchill, & Stalin - Yalta
YALTA – FEB Stalin wants: - a buffer to protect the Soviet Union from West by establishing pro-Soviet governments in Eastern Europe FDR wants: -“self-determination” – allow liberated countries to hold free elections -Soviet military help against Japan -Creation of the United Nations
AND MORE… All 3 want: -Germany’s unconditional surrender -Germany would be divided into 4 zones – occupied and governed by military forces from the U.S., Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union
OUTCOME… Stalin agrees to free-elections in Poland, but the issue of elections in Eastern Europe cause a split between Soviets & U.S. Stalin’s price for military help in Japan – the Sakhalin & Kuril Islands, plus 2 ports and railroad rights in Manchuria * Creation of United Nations 1 st meeting in San Francisco April 1945
BUT WAIT… Roosevelt dies April 12, 1945 Harry Truman becomes U.S. President
THE POTSDAM CONFERENCE July 1945 Truman demands free elections Stalin declares that free elections in any Eastern Europe country were anti-Soviet and would not be allowed
NUREMBERG TRIALS Nazi political, military, & economic war criminals are put on trial for “crimes against humanity” Only 3 are acquitted 11 of the guilty will be sentenced for execution by hanging The rest will receive 10yrs.- life The bodies of the executed will be cremated in the ovens at Dachau
CREMATION OVENS AT DACHAU
THE IRON CURTAIN West views Soviet policy as part of a global Communist conspiracy Soviets views Western (esp. U.S.) policy as global capitalist expansionism March 1946 – Winston Churchill declared “an iron curtain” had “descended across the continent” – The “Cold War” had begun
The Iron Curtain
The Berlin Wall