![]() ![]() The aim of the conference was to shape a postwar peace that represented not only a collective security order but also a plan to give self-determination to the liberated peoples of Europe. The conference was held near Yalta in Crimea, Soviet Union, within the Livadia, Yusupov, and Vorontsov palaces. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Secretary Joseph Stalin, respectively. The three states were represented by President Franklin D. The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. Kuter, General Aleksei Antonov, Vice Admiral Stepan Kucherov, and Admiral of the Fleet Nikolay Kuznetsov. Leahy, General of the Army George Marshall, Major General Laurence S. Behind them stand, from the left, Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, Fleet Admiral Ernest King, Fleet Admiral William D. This attitude is often exasperating and generally unjustified, but it exists and so long as it continues will incline the Russians to seek their security not in alliance with the West but in the creation of an eastern fortress walled by subject States.The " Big Three" at the Yalta Conference, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Even in Germany they doubt whether we mean business because of our slowness in punishing the Nazi criminals and our refusal to allow the anti-Nazi parties any political activity. In Europe they believe (for they judge from Greece, Italy, and Spain) that we stand for reaction and that our professed devotion to democratic principles is just hypocrisy. They cannot get it out of their heads that sooner or later Britain and the United States will try to build up a coalition against them, and, since they do not understand the workings of our democratic system and the importance of public opinion in the West, they think their suspicions are confirmed by every outburst by some out-of-date politician or by windy leading articles in a local paper. They can be summed up in the words “mutual suspicion.” Though they have abandoned so much of the Marxist dogma the Russians still in their hearts suspect that Marx was right when he said that the great capitalist States would inevitably be hostile to a Socialist State. The obstacles to a common policy are plain enough. It would not follow that if this happened war would be inevitable, for the Powers might carry on uneasily on a basis of zones or spheres of influence but peace would certainly be more difficult and the civilisation of Europe, which in the long run is more important even than peace, would be gravely imperilled. If Germany is divided, so will Europe be divided. If Britain, Russia, the United States, and France (for France cannot be forgotten for long) cannot agree on a common policy for Germany, they will not be able to agree on a common policy anywhere. That is what makes the German problem by far the most urgent and the most difficult of all those on the agenda of the Big Three. Defeated, she remains almost as great a menace as when she was victorious and it is the paradox of our times that if Europe is to find a way to a new and happier life the resurrection must take place in Germany. ![]() Germany to-day is like the corpse of some wretched traitor in the seventeenth century, broken on the wheel of war, disembowelled by bombing, and now quartered by the occupying Powers.īut Germany, who betrayed Europe and brought it to this fearful plight, is also an integral part of Europe. For though they meet as conquerors in the very shrine of Prussian militarism, they meet also in the centre of a ruined country and a shattered continent. If it is true, as is said, that the Big Three are now meeting in the Palace of Sans Souci at Potsdam, no place could be more fitting, no palace less aptly named. A steady stream of planes arrived in Berlin during the day, and the leading men were welcomed by Russian representatives. Lord Leathers, Minister of War Transport, and the three British Chiefs of Staff have arrived, and Field Marshal Montgomery, Field Marshal Alexander, and Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson will also be present. Mr Eden was accompanied by Sir Alexander Cadogan, Permanent Under Secretary of the Foreign Office. Mr Eden, the Foreign Secretary, and Mr Attlee flew to Germany in separate planes from England.
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