Post-WWII Peace: Yalta, Potsdam, and New Borders

The Organization of Peace: Yalta and Potsdam

The Allies had learned from the mistakes of the Versailles Treaty. Therefore, from the beginning of the war, they discussed the mechanisms for achieving a lasting peace. Moreover, the war had made it clear that there were two hegemonic powers, the U.S. and the USSR, and the new world order should reflect that fact. The Allies met at various conferences throughout the war to discuss the strategy to follow and the conditions for peace. The most important took place in Yalta and Potsdam.

The Yalta Conference (February 1945)

At the Yalta Conference, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill discussed the situation in Europe once it was liberated from the Nazis. The context was favorable to Stalin, as the Soviet army had already liberated all of Eastern Europe. In Eastern Europe, Stalin undertook to hold free democratic elections, but he rejected Western supervision, which made this promise exist only on paper.

• Germany would be disarmed and divided into four parts, each managed by a victorious power (U.S., USSR, Britain, and France).
• They planned the establishment of the United Nations Organization (UNO), an international organization whose objective would be maintaining peace.

The Potsdam Conference (July 1945)

At the Potsdam Conference, deep disagreements among the Allies began to surface. The actions of Stalin were tough because his territorial expansion went beyond the initially agreed borders. They only agreed to commence a series of prosecutions against those responsible for Nazi war crimes.

Post-War Territorial Changes

The most sensitive issue was Poland. Finally, Britain and the United States accepted that the Soviet Union would retain the Polish territories it had annexed through the non-aggression pact signed with Hitler in 1939. In return, Poland would receive the southern parts of German East Prussia, Pomerania, and Silesia. Poland's borders were established at the Oder and Neisse rivers.

The Division of Germany and Austria

Germany was divided into four parts, and its territory was separated from Austria. The cities of Berlin and Vienna were also divided among the victors.

The Paris Peace Treaties of 1947

Through the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947, the USSR joined the east of Poland, the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), and the rest of East Prussia. From Finland, it gained Karelia, and from Romania, it gained Bessarabia and Bukovina. Hungary returned to its 1937 borders, and Italy lost its colonies and the Dodecanese islands.