Yalta Conference
February 8, 1945
In the final days of the European was the Big 3 met for the last time at Yalta in the Soviet Union
The most important meeting of the war...it set up many of the conditions for the Cold War which followed World War II
*** The following are statements from Andrew Sawchuk who was at the conference as an interpreter and were printed in the L.A. Times March 6, 1990.
- Alleged strong body odor of Joseph Stalin - hard to tell because of the conditions who had the problem
- Churchill called Yalta "the worst choice in the world - good for typhus and lice, which thrive in those parts."
- President Roosevelt was assigned the only private bathroom at Yalta. All the others had to go down to one of the mine sweepers docked at the port to take a shower
- No comments were made regarding body odor, as that would have been most impolite and inappropriate in the diplomatic process.
FDR was very ill...he would be dead in 2 months
The war with Germany was nearly over...at Yalta the Big 3 Discussed what to do in post-war Europe
The leaders also talked about the continuing war against Japan
Results of Yalta
- Germany would be divide in four zones of occupation - American, British, Soviet, French - at some point in time the zones would be reunited.
- The Soviets were to have "influence" in eastern Europe - "the ambiguity" of the term will cause many problems
- The Soviet Union would join the war against Japan - exactly 3 months after the surrender of Germany (V-E Day - May 8, 1945) - FDR's idea
- The Big 3 agreed on the formation of a new world body to replace the League of Nations (The United Nations) - the U.N. will be created at the San Francisco Conference in June 1945
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