In February 1945, the Allied leaders met at Yalta to discuss post-war Europe. (a) Describe the main agreements reached at the Yalta Conference. [4] (b) Why ...

(a) The main agreements reached at the Yalta Conference [4 marks]

The Yalta Conference took place in February 1945, attended by President Franklin Roosevelt (USA), Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Britain) and Premier Joseph Stalin (USSR). The leaders agreed that Germany would be divided into four zones of occupation, administered by the USA, Britain, France and the USSR (as indicated by the chart showing the resources in each zone). They agreed to establish the United Nations as an international peacekeeping organisation. Free elections were to be held in the countries of liberated Eastern Europe, though this commitment was vaguely worded. The USSR agreed to enter the war against Japan within three months of Germany's surrender, in return for territorial concessions in the Far East. Poland's borders would be shifted westward, losing territory to the USSR in the east and gaining German territory in the west.

(b) Why disagreements emerged between the Allies at Yalta over Poland [6 marks]

Poland was the most contentious issue at Yalta because it touched on fundamental differences between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. Stalin insisted on a pro-Soviet government in Poland as a buffer zone against future invasion from the west: the USSR had been invaded through Polish territory twice, in 1914 and in 1941, suffering catastrophic losses (approximately 27 million Soviet citizens died in the Second World War). Stalin supported the communist Lublin Committee (later the Provisional Government of National Unity) as the legitimate Polish government.

The Western Allies backed the London-based Polish government-in-exile, which had been the legitimate Polish government since 1939 and maintained an army fighting alongside the Allies. Churchill felt particularly strongly because Britain had gone to war in September 1939 specifically to defend Polish independence. The compromise to "broaden" the Lublin government by including members of the London Poles was deliberately vague and open to rival interpretations.

Roosevelt, who was in declining health, prioritised securing Soviet entry into the Pacific war against Japan (where American casualties were expected to be enormous) over a confrontation with Stalin on Poland. This meant the Western Allies lacked the leverage and the will to insist on truly free elections. The Polish question exposed the fundamental reality that the Red Army occupied Eastern Europe and Stalin had the physical power to impose his preferred settlement.

(c) How far was the Yalta Conference a turning point in relations between the USA and the USSR? [10 marks]

Yalta can be seen as a turning point because it exposed the fundamental ideological and strategic differences between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union that would define the Cold War. The vague wording of agreements on free elections in Eastern Europe allowed rival interpretations: the West understood "free elections" to mean genuine multi-party democracy, while Stalin interpreted it as elections that would produce pro-Soviet governments. The Polish dispute revealed irreconcilable visions for post-war Europe: the West wanted independent democratic states, while Stalin wanted a Soviet sphere of influence as a security buffer. The conference demonstrated that the wartime alliance had been held together by the common enemy of Nazi Germany rather than by shared values or goals.

However, there are strong arguments that Yalta was not the decisive turning point. Tensions between the Allies predated Yalta: Stalin resented the Western delay in opening a Second Front in France (D-Day did not occur until June 1944), which he interpreted as a deliberate strategy to let the USSR bear the heaviest burden of fighting Germany. At Yalta itself, the atmosphere was relatively cooperative; the real breakdown came later.

The Potsdam Conference in July-August 1945 showed far greater deterioration in relations: Roosevelt had died and been replaced by the more confrontational Harry Truman, the atomic bomb had been successfully tested (giving the USA a powerful new weapon), and disagreements over reparations, Poland's western border and the treatment of Germany were sharper. Soviet actions in Eastern Europe between 1945 and 1948, including the rigging of elections and the installation of communist governments, were the practical steps that created the Iron Curtain. The Truman Doctrine (March 1947), the Marshall Plan (June 1947) and the Berlin Blockade (1948-49) were the events that formalised the Cold War division.

On balance, Yalta was an important stage in the deterioration of relations between the USA and the USSR, revealing the differences that would drive the Cold War. However, the breakdown was a gradual process rather than the result of a single event, and the decisive rupture came in the period between Potsdam and the Berlin Blockade.