The Yalta Conference

Between February 4th-11th, 1945, the Yalta Conference was held in the USSR, with the participation of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Leader, Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the US President. At this time, the Allies were almost certain about winning the war since they had liberated France and Belgium and were fighting Germany on its western border. In the east, the USSR had already pushed the Nazi army back from Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria; Italy had also surrendered, but in the Pacific, Japan was still fighting.

Thus, the main goal of this Conference was to discuss post-war Europe, which had to redefine its own national democratic institutions. The “Big-Three” agreed on the importance of Germany’s surrender. The country and its capital, Berlin, would then be split into four parts, that would be administered by the USSR, the United States, Great Britain, and France. In addition, the four powers had to implement policies for demilitarization and denazification.

However, this conference shaped not only Germany and Europe’s future, but its consequences were felt all over the world for almost five decades after that. It was in Yalta that what would be known one year later, after Churchill’s speech in the USA, as the Iron Curtain, was drawn. It was also decided that the governments of the Eastern European countries closest to the Soviet Union should be under the influence of the Soviet regime. Poland, under control of the communist Provisional Government, was set to hold free elections, but they never took place since Stalin’s armies occupied most of the region and free elections were not in his interest.

 Another major outcome of Yalta was Stalin’s accordance on the participation of the USSR in the United Nations, once it was guaranteed a permanent position on the Security Council.

United Nations

Founded on October 24, 1945, the United Nations is an international organization whose mission is to promote peace, human rights, security, humanitarian relief and more. We can trace the idea for the United Nations back to the end of World War I, when Woodrow Wilson, the US president at that time, proposed the creation of an international forum called League of Nations. Despite his efforts, his proposal was not supported by the US Senate, making it impossible for the country to officially become one of its members. The organization’s primary goal was to prevent wars such as World War I, but unfortunately, as we already saw, it failed.

The conversations for the establishment of the United Nations began in 1941, with the Atlantic Charter, a document signed by both US President Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Churchill.

On August 14, 1941, the document declared the desire for a more peaceful postwar world, pointing to eight principles that would later influence the United Nations Charter. On January 1, 1942, representations from 26 nations met in Washington to sign the Declaration by the United Nations. This document proclaimed the maximum effort by all signatory countries to fight the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, Japan). Between November 28, 1943 and December 1 of the same year, the creation of an international organization and the definition of the United States of America, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the Republic of China as the “four policemen” of the world was proposed.

Finally, on October 24, 1945, the United Nations was officially created, following the signing of the UN Charter on June 26, 1945, by 50 countries.

To learn more about this subject:

https://europe.unc.edu/the-end-of-wwii-and-the-division-of-europe/

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/yalta-conf

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/un

https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-51334970

https://www.dw.com/pt-br/1945-confer%C3%AAncia-de-ialta-selava-ordem-do-p%C3%B3s-guerra-na-europa/a-1478863

https://www.un.org/en/sections/history/history-united-nations/index.html

https://www.federalists.eu/uef

https://www.cvce.eu/en/education/unit-content/-/unit/7b137b71-6010-4621-83b4-b0ca06a6b2cb/2771ddfb-0596-45a4-be9d-b11d4a2b637b

https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1946-1963-elder-statesman/united-states-of-europe/