| Disagreements, Compromises During Yalta Conference |
|---|
| Stalin wanted → Soviet border → to move westward → into Poland + argued → Poland in turn could move its border westward into German territory |
| Both Churchill and Roosevelt → unhappy about Stalin’s plan |
| Churchill → persuaded Roosevelt → to accept it → as long as USSR did not interfere in Greece → where British were trying to prevent communist takeover |
| Churchill’s condition was also accepted by Stalin |
On surface → seemed to be agreement among Allies at Yalta conference
- However Stalin | Churchill → had numerous issues → their relations remained tense
- Comparison → Roosevelt seemed more willing and able to work with Stalin.
- As conference closed→ leaders careful to put up a united front
- posed for publicity photographs → showing how friendly they were.
- also issued declarations stressing their unity
Shortly after Yalta conference → Churchill → wrote to Roosevelt + expressed his concerns that USSR might jeopardise → free world May 1945 → Churchill ordered → his top military commanders → to make plans for a possible future war against USSR.
- fortunately → that never happened.
- but fact that Churchill → ordered plan → shows how tense situation was.
- tensions could not be completely hidden from world
- clear that there were unresolved issues