Yalta conference results briefly. A short course in history

Reading time: 4 minutes

Yalta Conference 1945 - Stalin I.V. Roosevelt F.D. Churchill W.

The Yalta or Crimean Conference was another meeting of the leaders of Great Britain, the USSR, and the USA during the Second World War. The meeting took place in 1945 in February. The city of Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula was chosen as the location. The conference took place over 8 days, which resulted in the signing of a number of acts that predetermined the system of the future world order and in Europe in particular.

Conference participants

The conference participants were representatives of three member states of the anti-Hitler coalition: Winston Churchill from Great Britain, Joseph Stalin from the USSR, Franklin Roosevelt from the USA. Accordingly, all three delegates were leaders and leaders of their states.

Separate palaces were allocated for each representative. So, Stalin and delegates from the USSR were located in a small village near Yalta. The palace was built back in the 19th century.

Roosevelt and representatives of the American delegation were accommodated in 3 km away. from Yalta itself. It is worth noting that it was in the Livadia Palace that all significant meetings of the participants of the Yalta Conference took place.

The British delegation led by Prime Minister Churchill settled in the city located at the foot of the famous.

Conference location

Meeting of Foreign Ministers - Crimean (Yalta) Conference 1945

Some sources indicate that the initiative to hold the conference in Yalta came personally from Stalin, who sought to demonstrate the decisive role of the USSR in the fight against Nazi Germany. Other sources refer to the fact that the American president chose Yalta because of his health. As you know, Crimea is a resort and health resort, and Roosevelt at that time was experiencing serious health problems.

In February 1945, it was 9 months since Crimea was liberated from the occupation of German troops. Yalta itself was not in the best condition. For this purpose, in preparation for the meeting of coalition leaders, about 1,500 carloads of construction materials, equipment, and furniture were delivered to the city over several months.

All meetings of delegations within the framework of the conference were held in the largest hall of the Livadia Palace - the White Hall. For this purpose, a large round negotiating table was equipped in its very center.

Agreements reached during the conference

At the Yalta Conference, many agreements were reached concerning the interests of each of the participating parties.

The leaders decided to divide Germany into occupation zones. It was assumed that each side would receive a certain section of the country's territory on which military bases would be created. A decision was made to completely disarm Germany and completely eliminate the Nazi regime in it.
It was at the Yalta Conference that the first agreements were reached on the creation of the United Nations, which would regulate international problems peacefully. At the same time, the date was set for the first conference within the framework of the creation of the UN.
The parties signed the “Declaration of a Liberated Europe,” which emphasized that the liberated peoples of Eastern Europe would be restored to their rights, but at the same time indicated the possibility of the victorious countries to “help” them in this.
The issue of the structure of Poland was actually resolved. At the initiative of the USSR, an alternative government was formed there, consisting of both communists and democrats. In fact, the USSR secured for itself in the future the opportunity to establish a regime convenient for itself in Poland.
Agreements have been reached regarding future borders between the countries. This question was fundamental and meant the division of spheres of influence in the future Europe.
A compromise was found regarding compensation to the victorious countries for the damage caused by Germany. Thus, the USSR received the right to claim half of all compensation paid by Germany to Great Britain and the USA.
As a result of the Yalta Conference, the USSR expanded its territory by returning the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin in the future. The Soviet military had the opportunity to rent a base in the city of Port Arthur, as well as the Chinese Eastern Railway.
At the conference, the leaders of the three states agreed on the return to the USSR of people liberated or captured in those areas that were captured by US and British troops.
Finally, during the conference, the leaders of the so-called “Big Three” resolved the issue regarding the future structure of Yugoslavia and Greece.

The significance of the Yalta Conference for history

The conference in Yalta became a world-class event. Decisions that were fateful for millions of people were made there. The meeting of the leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition itself showed that states with different ideologies can cooperate with each other and jointly solve common world problems. The Yalta Conference was the last meeting of the leaders of the three countries in such a composition, as well as the last conference of the pre-nuclear world era.

It was the Yalta Conference that predetermined and actually formalized the division of the world into two camps, which in the future will compete with each other for spheres of influence in the world.

Such a system was able to exist for half a century until the collapse of the USSR, but many of the decisions that were made at meetings within the conference are still in effect. Thus, the UN still exists, the borders of European states have remained practically unchanged, the only exception being the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 90s. XX century. The agreements of the conference are still in force regarding the integrity of China and the independence of the two Koreas - South and North.

The agreement between the USSR, USA, and Great Britain, reached at the conference regarding the border between the USSR and Japan, still remains in force and has not changed for 70 years.
The results of the conference are still the subject of political disputes and mutual accusations. The decisions taken by the leaders of the participating states are currently being interpreted and used by the warring parties as propaganda policies.

The code word for all meetings concerning the organization of the conference and meetings at it was the word “Argonaut”. This idea was proposed by British Prime Minister Churchill. The word was not taken by chance, since it is a reference to the ancient Greek myth about the Argonauts who were looking for the Golden Fleece. Churchill associated Crimea with the city of Colchis, which the Argonauts were looking for. Churchill and Roosevelt called themselves Argonauts. Stalin reluctantly agreed to this version of the code word.
It is known that Churchill was the one who did not want to go to Yalta the most, calling the Crimean climate and conditions in the city terrible.

There were no reporters at the conference itself. Churchill took the initiative to make the meeting informal. Only a few military photographers were invited from each side and took a small number of photographs. It is known that the leaders of the USA and the USSR welcomed this initiative.
The Yalta Conference could well have been held in Odessa and called the Odessa Conference. Odessa was considered as a backup option in case there was bad weather in Crimea.

The most recent leader to leave Yalta was Winston Churchill. The conference itself ended on February 11, and the British Prime Minister left Crimea only on February 14, having visited. It was in this place in 1854-1855. As part of the Crimean War, British troops fought on the side of the Ottoman Empire against the troops of the Russian Empire.

Monument dedicated to the conference

The idea of installing a monument dedicated to the Yalta Conference arose many years later. The sculptor Zurab Tsereteli began to implement the idea. In 2005, a monument was prepared depicting the leaders of the USSR, USA and Great Britain sitting on chairs. The weight of the composition was within 10 tons, and bronze was chosen as the material. It was assumed that the monument would be erected in Livadia in the same year, 2005, on the anniversary of the conference. The event did not take place due to protests from a number of Ukrainian parties. Only in 2014 the monument was transferred to Crimea, and on February 5, 2015 it was inaugurated as part of the 70th anniversary of the conference itself.

This most important event in world history of the 20th century took place from February 4 to February 11, 1945. In the famous resort town, the leaders of the USSR, USA and Great Britain discussed the final defeat of Nazi Germany and the fate of liberated Europe.

The conference was of enormous importance for the history of Europe in the 20th century. However, many of our contemporaries often confuse it with the Tehran Conference held in 1943. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in both events the main characters were the same people - the heads of the mentioned powers.

The heads of the countries of the anti-German coalition discussed joint actions in the final stage of the Second World War, as well as the post-war structure of Europe. Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, with the participation of the heads of foreign departments and the top military leadership of the three countries, developed a concept of joint action on all the most important aspects of that time.

Prerequisites

The Second World War was entering its final stage. In June 1944, Soviet troops launched a general offensive on the territory of Belarus, codenamed Operation Bagration. As a result of the fighting, a group of 100,000 German troops in the Minsk region was surrounded. Soon, almost the entire territory of the Soviet Union was liberated from the invaders.

At the same time, a colossal Allied landing operation was carried out in Normandy (France). They managed to seize a bridgehead on the European shore of the English Channel, from which their offensive began. A second front in Europe was opened.

As a result of these and some other events, the question of who will win this war has become practically decided. The heads of state of the Allies were faced with the issues of coordinating military actions in subsequent periods of the war and resolving disagreements regarding the future of Europe.

Facts about the conference

In Crimea, the delegations were located separately from each other: the British - , the Soviet - in Yusupovsky, and the American - . There were rumors that Stalin deliberately placed Western delegations at some distance from each other in order to make it impossible to conduct secret negotiations.

The history of the Livadia Palace is full of interesting episodes associated with significant historical events and influential persons. After the war it was restored. Now a museum is located within its walls.

Formal meetings and informal dinners were held at all of the above residences. The foreign ministers met in the Vorontsov Palace. And the main negotiations, taking place with the participation of the heads of delegations, were held in the Livadia Palace. This was due to the illness of US President Franklin Roosevelt. During the conference, 8 meetings were held here.

Decisions and results

During the conference, many important decisions were made. Eg:
The USSR committed itself to entering the war with Japan;
it was decided that the Soviet Union would receive 50% of all reparations;
a decision was made on the unconditional surrender of Germany;
the territories of Austria and Germany should be occupied by the Allies;
the borders of Poland were settled and the composition of its post-war government was agreed upon;
transfer to the Soviet Union of the Kuril Islands and the southern part of Sakhalin, lost in the Russo-Japanese War;
The Declaration of a Liberated Europe was adopted and much more.

One of the results of the work was the convening of a conference in San Francisco, at which the Charter of the United Nations was adopted.

The agreements reached in Yalta were implemented for another 40 years after the conference. This was not prevented by the Cold War that did not begin soon, nor by the change of leaders and governments in the participating countries.

From February 4 to February 12, 1945, a conference of the leaders of the three allied powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain - took place in Crimea. The Soviet delegation was headed by I.V. Stalin, American - F. Roosevelt, English - W. Churchill. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.M. took part. Molotov, US Secretary of State E. Stettinius, British Foreign Secretary A. Eden, as well as the chiefs of general staff and advisers of the countries participating in the conference.

The question of a summit meeting was first raised by F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill in July 1944. The final date and place of the meeting were determined in further correspondence between the leaders of the three powers. F. Roosevelt's nomination of his candidacy for a new presidential term, his participation in the election campaign and taking office made it impossible to open the conference before the beginning of February 1945.

The US President suggested Northern Scotland, Cyprus, Athens or Malta as a meeting place, the British Prime Minister - Alexandria or Jerusalem. I.V. Stalin vigorously defended his proposal: the southern coast of Crimea, and in the end he managed to convince the allies that the Soviet government was able to ensure complete security for the conference.

The meeting of the “Big Three” took place at the final stage of the Second World War. As a result of the successful offensive actions of the Red Army, the territory of our country, most of Poland, was completely liberated, our divisions entered German territory. On June 6, 1944, Allied troops landed in northern France, the long-awaited second front opened, the anti-fascist movement in the occupied countries was gaining strength, and the situation in the Pacific theater of military operations changed for the better.

At the Crimean Conference, the Allied powers agreed on joint military measures for the final defeat of the armed forces of Nazi Germany, determined their attitude towards Germany after its unconditional surrender and outlined the basic principles of a common policy regarding the post-war organization of the world.

The leaders of the Allied Powers solemnly declared: “It is our unyielding goal to destroy German militarism and Nazism and to ensure that Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world. We are determined to disarm and disband all German armed forces, to destroy once and for all the German General Staff, which has repeatedly contributed to the revival of German militarism, to confiscate or destroy all German military equipment, to liquidate or take control of all German industry that could be used for military purposes. production; to subject all war criminals to just and speedy punishment... to wipe out the Nazi Party, Nazi laws, organizations and institutions from the face of the earth; eliminate all Nazi and militaristic influence from public institutions, from the cultural and economic life of the German people...”

It was emphasized that after the eradication of Nazism and militarism, the German people would be able to take their rightful place in the community of nations.

The most important issue at the Crimean Conference was the creation of the United Nations. The agreement on the voting procedure in the Security Council (the “Yalta Formula”) took into account the principle of unanimity of the permanent members of the Council, defended by the Soviet delegation, when making decisions on all issues related to ensuring peace and security. The communiqué adopted at Yalta emphasized that the United Nations would play an important role “both in preventing aggression and in eliminating the political, economic and social causes of war through close and constant cooperation of all peace-loving peoples.”

In the context of discussing UN issues, the Soviet delegation obtained the consent of the United States and Great Britain for the Ukrainian SSR and the Belarusian SSR to become founding members of the international organization being created.

The “Declaration of a Liberated Europe” emphasized the desire of the Allied powers to coordinate their actions in solving the political and economic problems of a liberated Europe. The declaration stated: “The establishment of order in Europe and the reconstruction of national economic life must be achieved in such a way as will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last traces of Nazism and fascism and to create democratic institutions of their own choice.” It was stated that, in accordance with the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they would live, the restoration of sovereign rights and self-government should be ensured to those peoples who had been deprived of this by aggressive states through violence. The determination, together with other peace-loving countries, to create an international legal order consistent with peace, security, freedom and the general welfare of mankind was confirmed.

At Yalta, the Allied Powers reaffirmed their desire to see Poland strong, free, independent and democratic and to guarantee its security. As a result of decisions taken in Yalta and later in Potsdam, Poland received a significant increase in its territory in the north and west.

At the Crimea Conference, the Soviet Union committed itself to entering the war against Japan two to three months after the end of the war in Europe. At the same time, the following conditions were set: maintaining the status of Outer Mongolia (Mongolian People's Republic); restoration of Russian rights violated by the treacherous attack of Japan in 1904, including the return to the Soviet Union of the southern part of Sakhalin Island and all adjacent islands; transfer of the Kuril Islands to the Soviet Union. The leaders of the three great powers agreed that these conditions of the Soviet Union "must be unconditionally satisfied after the victory over Japan."

The conference communique noted “the determination to preserve and strengthen in the coming period of peace that unity of purpose and action which has made victory in modern war possible and certain for the United Nations.”

The Crimean Conference, along with the Potsdam Conference, marked the end of the largest historical geopolitical conflict and determined the political appearance of the world in the second half of the 20th century. A system of international relations emerged, which, based on a new balance of forces, predetermined the need to take into account the interests of the two superpowers, which, in turn, gave international processes a high degree of controllability.

The decisions of the Crimean Conference reflected the reasonable and realistic policy of statesmen of the three powers. They showed high negotiability, made compromises without hiding political differences, agreed on rules of conduct and achieved a relative balance that kept the world in relative stability for almost fifty years.

The Yalta agreements are an invaluable methodological experience from the point of view of harmonizing the current and future international order. The decisions adopted in Yalta in concentrated form embodied the many years of experience of peoples in their struggle against fascism and militarism. The success of the conference was greatly facilitated by the measures taken by the Soviet leadership aimed at intensifying international relations, which contributed to the strengthening of the anti-Hitler coalition, the growth of trust in the Soviet Union and its international authority.

A major role in this process was played by the Soviet diplomatic service, whose activities during the war, according to the well-known expression of I.V. Stalin, was equal to the efforts of 20 divisions at the front. The struggle for the comprehensive and complete implementation of the decisions of the Crimean Conference became one of the main tasks of Soviet diplomacy not only in wartime, but also in the post-war years.

In conditions when the controversy surrounding the Yalta agreements remains part of the modern political struggle on the cardinal problems of war and peace, Russian diplomacy makes full use of its resources, repelling fabrications about alleged Soviet and Russian “violations” of the Yalta agreements or about the “unilateral benefit” of the Yalta decisions for our country. It actively promotes a course towards strengthening international peace, general security and stability in order to establish a fair and democratic international system based on collective principles in solving international problems, on the supremacy of international law, primarily on the provisions of the UN Charter, as well as on equal rights and partnerships relations between states with the central coordinating role of the UN as the main organization regulating international relations.

Letter from the US Ambassador to the USSR W.A. Harriman to the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.M. Molotov with a proposal to J.V. Stalin to designate the upcoming meeting of the leaders of the three allied powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain in Yalta with the code name "Argonaut".
January 8, 1945

Letter from the USSR People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov to the US Ambassador to the USSR W.A. Harriman about J.V. Stalin's agreement with the choice of the code name "Argonaut" for the upcoming meeting of the leaders of the three allied powers.
January 10, 1945

List of persons accompanying I.V. Stalin at the Crimean Conference.
January 1945

List of people who attended dinner with I.V. Stalin in the Yusupov Palace.
February 8, 1945

Lunch menu at the Vorontsov Palace with autographs of J.V. Stalin, W. Churchill and F.D. Roosevelt.
February 10, 1945

Protocol of the Crimean Conference" with signatures - E.R. Stettinius, V.M. Molotov and A. Eden (first and last pages).
February 11, 1945

The spirit and letter of the Yalta Conference ensured peace for the peoples of the earth for many decades. The foundations of the world order, laid by the leaders of the governments of the powers - the heads of the anti-Hitler coalition, have undergone significant changes today. But the leaders of the Big Three demonstrated something more: they showed that the desire for peace must come before personal ambitions and the interests of individual states. The responsibility of politicians for the fate of humanity, which determines the spirit of the Yalta conference of the winners of fascism, is a necessary condition for maintaining peace in the new political situation.

Yalta Conference: difficult agreement

During the Second World War, the leaders of the “Big Three” of the anti-Hitler coalition - I. V. Stalin, F.D. Roosevelt and W.S. Churchill met in full force 2 times. At the Tehran Conference of 1943, the burning issue was the opening of a 2nd front. After the landing of Anglo-American troops in Normandy on June 6, 1944, the Allies began moving east to Berlin. The pace of the offensive in the west was significantly inferior to the rapid advance of Soviet troops to the east. Concerned about the successes of the USSR, Western leaders in the summer of 1944 suggested that Stalin organize a new meeting and discuss the conditions for organizing peace after the victory over Germany. When the Allied leaders decided on the date for the meeting of the “Big Three” - February 4, 1945, Soviet troops stood 60 km from Berlin, Anglo-American divisions at a distance of 450–500 km. This circumstance forced the delegations of Great Britain and the USA to take into account the interests of the Soviet Union and find compromise solutions.

Participants of the meeting in Crimea

The main participants of the Yalta Conference in wartime conditions had full state power in their countries.

At that time, J.V. Stalin held the posts of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the USSR, and Chairman of the State Defense Committee.
Franklin Roosevelt, elected President of the United States for the 4th time, had enormous authority and influence in the country in the military, political circles and public opinion.
During the war, British Prime Minister W. Churchill was endowed with almost dictatorial powers, combining the posts of head of government, minister of defense and supreme commander in chief.

At the conference, all three demonstrated the ability to make compromises to achieve a common goal - to ensure peace on earth.

The need for compromises was revealed already when determining the meeting place. Churchill suggested meeting in Scotland, but Stalin laughed it off: he couldn’t stand fog and didn’t like men in skirts. The Soviet leader also refused other places proposed by Roosevelt: Malta, Alexandria, Cairo, Jerusalem, Athens, Rome. The commander-in-chief does not have the opportunity to leave the country when Soviet troops are advancing in Europe along a wide front. As a result, the location of the delegations at the conference was Crimea, liberated from the Germans 8 months ago. Stalin’s calculation turned out to be accurate: the ruins of Sevastopol, Simferopol, Yalta, and other cities in the Crimea, without further ado, demonstrated to the allies how great the damage suffered by the USSR in the war with Germany, they became a compelling argument for the Soviet delegation when the issue of reparations was being decided.

In addition to the leaders of the Soviet delegation I.V. Stalin and the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov, it included military leaders (N.G. Kuznetsov, A.I. Antonov, S.A. Khudyakov), USSR ambassadors to England and the USA (F. T. Gusev, A. A. Gromyko). Stalin not only headed the Soviet delegation, he was the informal leader of the negotiations at the conference. British Prime Minister W. Churchill recalled that when the Soviet leader entered the hall of the Livadia Palace, everyone, without saying a word, stood up and “for some reason kept their hands at their sides.”

The main goals of the Soviet side:

To consolidate the results of military victories in Europe and create a security belt of friendly states on the border of the USSR.
Gain real weight in the post-war international organization that determines world politics.
To return the lands lost in the Russian-Japanese War in the Far East.

All goals were successfully achieved within the framework of the conference - and this was not due to Stalin alone: behind him stood the 10-million-strong Soviet Army, which actually liberated Eastern Europe from fascism.

Franklin Roosevelt came to the conference with his own plans: first, he wanted to secure a promise from the USSR to start a war with Japan. The American military calculated that without the help of the Soviet Army, this war could last another 2 years and claim the lives of 200 thousand American soldiers. The President wanted to reduce the losses of his army at the expense of the Russians. Roosevelt considered the second task of his mission in Crimea to be the creation of the United Nations as an institution to prevent a new world war. He stated that he did not believe in eternal peace, but hoped that a major war could be avoided for at least another 50 years. In making decisions at the Yalta Conference on this issue, the American president had to make concessions and take into account the position of the USSR. Roosevelt’s ability to find a “golden mean” in conflict issues was highly valued by Stalin and often invited the American president to chair the negotiations.

Sick of polio and unable to move independently, Franklin Roosevelt agreed with great trepidation to travel to Crimea, destroyed by the Germans. But his fears were soon dispelled. The American delegation was placed in the Livadia Palace, 3–4 km from Yalta. Most of the Big Three meetings took place here. Stalin violated the protocol of such meetings in order to make it easier for Roosevelt to participate in the negotiations. The location of the negotiations was kept secret. The Crimean Conference began to be called the Yalta Conference only after its last participant left the peninsula. The Livadia Palace was overhauled in a short time and furnished with all the luxury available in wartime. The president's apartment delighted him; even the drapery was made in his favorite color - blue. The clear, sunny weather throughout the meeting was later called “Roosevelt weather.” The President expressed a desire to once again come to the warm, welcoming Crimea, and received an invitation from Stalin to vacation in Yalta in the summer of 1945. F.D. Roosevelt did not live to see this time; he died on April 12, 1945, 2 months after the meeting in Crimea.

Winston Churchill represented the interests of Great Britain at the conference. He was more concerned about European issues than the American president: the borders of Poland, influence in the Balkans, the orientation of new governments in the liberated countries. The British Prime Minister would like to create a “cordon sanitaire” of European states that would contain the influence of communism in Europe. But he understood perfectly well that in 1945 it would not be possible to redraw the map of Europe without the Soviet Union. He owns the code name for the operation to convene a new conference - “Argonauts”. In a message to Roosevelt, Churchill wrote that they, like the ancient Greek Argonauts, were going to the Black Sea for the Golden Fleece. First of all, this is the participation of the USSR in the defeat of Germany and Japan. The Golden Fleece also includes lands that will fall under the control of the victorious countries. Stalin liked this name, but he did not come to meet F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill at the airfield in Saki, leaving this to the second person of the Soviet delegation - V.M. Molotov.

How agreements were reached in Yalta

Negotiations in Yalta lasted 8 days - from February 4 to 11, 1945, they were held in three palaces on the South Bank. So, on February 10, negotiations were held between Churchill and Stalin in the Yusupov Palace (the residence of the Soviet delegation) on the repatriation of Soviet citizens who found themselves abroad during the war. The result of the meeting was an agreement on the extradition of displaced persons to the Soviet government, regardless of the wishes of these people. In total, more than 4 million people were extradited under these agreements, many of whom ended up in Soviet camps and were shot as traitors to the Motherland. In the Vorontsov Palace (the residence of the British), Foreign Minister Eden received his colleagues - V. M. Molotov and Stettinius (USA).

8 plenary sessions were held at the Livadia Palace. At the first meeting on the evening of February 4, reports were heard from representatives of the headquarters of the three allied nations. The balance of power on the fronts of World War II also determined the “weight” of each delegation in the negotiations. At that time, the USSR had a 10-million-strong army, the main forces of which were stationed in Europe. The US army in Italy and on the Western Front numbered 3 million people, the British had 1 million soldiers in Europe. An agreement was adopted to coordinate military plans at the final stage of the war. But the main issues of the negotiations were the new borders of Europe and the creation of conditions guaranteeing the preservation of these borders.

Polish question

25% of all words spoken at the Yalta conference were devoted to the Polish question - a fact indicating the complexity of compromises. Stalin conducted negotiations on Poland while standing, often taking breaks for meetings among the members of his delegation. The question of Poland fell into two parts:

border line of the Polish state;
composition of his government.

The Soviet point of view was that western Ukraine and western Belarus, which became part of the USSR in 1939, should remain Soviet. Poland's eastern border will correspond to the Curzon line recommended back in 1920, and Poland will receive land compensation in the west at the expense of Germany.

The Allies tried to defend the borders of Poland that it had at the beginning of the 2nd World War. Churchill said that the Polish issue was a matter of honor for England, because it entered the war with Hitler in defense of Poland. Stalin was adamant: for Russia, Poland’s position is a matter of “life and death,” national security; Germany had already twice attacked the country along the Polish corridor, taking advantage of its weakness. Roosevelt, trying to defend Poland's right to Lviv, noted that this city had never been part of the Russian Empire, to which Stalin retorted: “But Warsaw was,” hinting that history is not always an argument for current politics. In the end, a compromise on the issue of borders took place: the Anglo-American delegation recognized the eastern borders of Poland along the “Curzon Line”, the USSR ceded the Bialystok region to the Poles.

The Allies also raised the issue of the government of Poland, demanding the inclusion of democratic figures from emigrant circles into its composition. To monitor the progress of democratic elections, the American side proposed signing the “Declaration of a Liberated Europe.” In it, the allied states would take on the responsibility of conferring with each other on solving internal problems in the territory of the peoples they liberated. Stalin recommended that Molotov sign the document, intending to act at his own discretion in the territories occupied by the Soviet Union. The British and Americans did the same.

Spheres of influence in Europe

At the conference, questions were discussed about the spheres of influence of the victorious countries in Southern Europe.

The USSR recognized England and the United States to control the situation in Italy, where they were conducting active military operations.
Greece remained a zone of British interest; the USSR confirmed its non-interference in the civil war that took place there.
In Yugoslavia, it was planned to create a parity government from the leaders of the communist (Broz Tito) pro-Western (Subasic) orientation.

The situation in other European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Romania) was supposed to be resolved in the usual diplomatic manner.

The heads of the three delegations to the Crimean Conference were unanimous that Germany should be divided into zones of occupation. The USSR's objections were raised by England's proposal to provide such a zone to French troops. For the Soviet Union, this formulation of the question was incomprehensible: after all, France carried out almost no military operations against Nazi Germany and had a very small army. But Great Britain was concerned by the American president's statement about the withdrawal of his troops from Europe after 2 years. England was frightened by the prospect of single-handedly containing two forces hostile to it: Germany, which personified fascism and the communist threat from the USSR. The Soviet side made concessions and agreed to provide France with a zone of occupation by introducing it into the Control Council for Germany.

The Yalta agreements did not provide for the split of Germany; the victorious countries only declared their determination:

liquidate the German war machine;
destroy the Nazi party;
sentence German war criminals.

Reparations

The issue of compensation for war losses was raised at the conference by the Soviet delegation. Considering that the conference took place on land destroyed by the Nazis, this issue did not cause much controversy. It was decided to set the total amount of reparations at $20 billion. Half of this amount was due to the USSR, payments were to be made in kind: machinery, industrial equipment, vehicles. This form provided for the demilitarization of Nazi Germany. Specific measures for the denationalization and demilitarization of Germany were decided at the next conference in Potsdam.

End of the war with Japan

Stalin and Roosevelt were equally interested in the state of affairs in the Far East. They reached an agreement in personal meetings, Churchill signed their agreement on the last day of the conference. In exchange for the participation of the Soviet Army in the defeat of Japan, the allies agreed:

consider South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to be the territory of the Soviet state;
grant independence to Mongolia;
transfer Port Arthur and the Chinese Eastern Railway to the USSR.

As a result, the position and influence of the USSR in this region strengthened significantly, but this was achieved at the cost of additional sacrifices on the part of the Soviet people.

UN

The idea of creating the United Nations belonged to US President F. D. Roosevelt. He saw it not so much as a peacekeeping body, but as an instrument of US influence. Therefore, the voting procedure in the Security Council, which included 5 states, at the conference in Yalta became the subject of controversy. Roosevelt insisted that all issues be adopted by the Security Council by a majority vote. The USSR saw in such a vote the danger of isolation in the face of the United States, England, France, and China, which could act as a united front. As a result, the principle of unanimity was adopted: the issue was resolved if all members of the Security Council voted for it. The conference participants agreed with another proposal of the USSR - Ukraine and Belarus were included in the UN Assembly as those most affected by the fascist occupation.

Significance of the Crimean Conference

The results of the 1945 Yalta Conference were mixed. The meeting in Crimea was a peak in relations between the countries that won fascism, but did not become the foundation for their cooperation. Its decisions were based not on mutual agreement, but on the balance of power, primarily military. The interest of Western countries in the USSR as a military ally forced them to make many compromises in 1945. The Crimean agreements did not prevent the split of Europe and the world, nor did they stop the Cold War and the arms race. But the Yalta and then the Potsdam conferences laid the foundation for a new world order. Thanks to the mechanism laid down in the UN, humanity again and again overcomes the danger of world war. The geopolitical situation in Europe has changed a lot. Russia lost the “security belt” created by Stalin’s diplomacy, and itself ceased to be a source of the communist threat. The letter of the Yalta agreements is losing its meaning, but the spirit of Yalta gives hope for the preservation of peace on Earth.

During the conference, an incident occurred with F. Roosevelt that almost cost him his life. One day, during a walk, the bodyguards transferred the sick president from a wheelchair to the front seat of a car, but forgot to tightly fasten the supporting railings. On the serpentine road the car tilted sharply, the door swung open, and Roosevelt began to fall out of the car. The American bodyguards were numb. The situation was saved by the driver - GB Lieutenant F. Khodakov. Continuing to drive the car with one hand, he grabbed the clothes of the fallen president and pulled him into the seat. After the death of her husband, Eleanor Roosevelt came to the USSR to find F. Khodakov and thank him for saving her husband.

W. Churchill was very reluctant to go to the meeting in Crimea; in a telephone conversation with Roosevelt, he grumbled: cholera and lice are everywhere there... After the meeting at the airfield in Saki, he was pleasantly surprised by the treat that the Russians offered the guests: black caviar, Armenian cognac . He would also be fascinated by the Vorontsov Palace, where he had to live. Many years later, Churchill's daughter Mary recalled that what Sir Winston remembered most after his Crimean trip were the marble lions and the Tudor castle.

Georgian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli sculpted a 10-ton sculpture of its participants for the 60th anniversary of the Crimean Conference. It stood in his workshop for ten years, because the Ukrainian authorities did not allow the monument to be erected at the meeting place of the leaders. The sculpture appeared in the park of the Livadia Palace on the 70th anniversary of the event when Crimea became part of Russia.

The Crimean (Yalta) Conference of the Allied Powers (February 4 - 11, 1945) is one of the meetings of the leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, dedicated to the establishment of the post-war world order. The conference took place at the Livadia Palace in Yalta, Crimea.

Livadia Palace

In 1943, in Tehran, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill discussed mainly the problem of achieving victory over the Third Reich, in Potsdam in July - August 1945, the Allies resolved issues of peaceful settlement and division of Germany, and in Yalta, major decisions were made on the future division of the world between the winning countries.

By that time, the collapse of Nazism was no longer in doubt, and victory over Germany was only a matter of time - as a result of powerful offensive strikes by Soviet troops, military operations were transferred to German territory, and the war entered its final stage. The fate of Japan also did not raise any special questions, since the United States already controlled almost the entire Pacific Ocean. The Allies understood that they had a unique chance to manage the history of Europe in their own way, since for the first time in history almost all of Europe was in the hands of just three states.

All decisions of Yalta, in general, related to two problems. Firstly, it was necessary to draw new state borders on the territory recently occupied by the Third Reich. At the same time, it was necessary to establish unofficial, but generally recognized by all sides, demarcation lines between the spheres of influence of the allies - a task that had begun in Tehran.

Secondly, the allies understood perfectly well that after the disappearance of the common enemy, the forced unification of the West and the USSR would lose all meaning, and therefore it was necessary to create procedures to guarantee the invariability of the dividing lines drawn on the world map.

In February 1945, the Crimean (Yalta) conference of the leaders of the USSR, USA and Great Britain took place, which considered issues of the post-war world order and the participation of the USSR in the war with Japan. On February 11, 1945, an agreement was signed at the conference, which provided for the USSR to enter the war against Japan on the side of the Allies two to three months after the surrender of Germany under certain conditions.

Choosing a venue for the Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945

The first message about the meeting read by the Crimeans: “The President of the United States, the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, accompanied by their chiefs of staff, as well as three foreign ministers and other advisers, are currently conferring in the Black Sea region.” Only a few of those who ensure the meeting are aware that the “Black Sea region” is the South Coast. Crimea has been cleared of fascists for almost a year now, but continues to be in the zone of action of German aviation based in Northern Italy, and it is not customary to talk about the places of such meetings in advance. The world started talking about Yalta after February 15, when the last planes of high-ranking guests left the peninsula.

However, initially there was no talk of a meeting in Crimea. The US President suggested Northern Scotland, Cyprus, Athens or Malta, the British Prime Minister - Alexandria or Jerusalem. But the leader of the USSR was adamant: “On the Soviet Black Sea coast.” Stalin had the right to insist: after the Vistula-Oder operation, Soviet troops were sixty kilometers from Berlin, the allies, who had barely recovered from the fascist counterattack in the Ardennes (Belgium), were five hundred kilometers away. But Stalin agreed with Churchill’s proposal to call the conference the code name “Argonaut”. The Briton wrote to the American: “We are the direct descendants of the Argonauts, who, according to Greek mythology, sailed to the Black Sea for the Golden Fleece.”

Medea and Jason with the Golden Fleece on the Argo

The “Golden Fleece” was the USSR, according to the Americans: “We need to have the support of the Soviet Union to defeat Germany. We desperately need the Soviet Union for the war with Japan after the war in Europe is over."

The USSR had two months to prepare the conference, and there was a lot to be done: the peninsula was badly damaged by the Nazis, the south-bank palaces - Livadia, Vorontsov (Alupka) and Yusupov (Koreiz), where the delegations were supposed to be housed - were looted. Equipment, furniture, and food were brought to Crimea from all over the country; specialists from construction organizations and the service sector arrived (for Churchill’s fireplace in the Vorontsov Palace, birch firewood was specially prepared from Crimean trees now listed in the Red Book). In Livadia, Koreiz and Alupka, several power plants were installed, and metro builders made bomb shelters. Security was provided by the Soviet Union: aviation and artillery special groups, "covered" from the sea - the cruiser "Voroshilov", destroyers, submarines that entered the Black Sea and several allied warships.

cruiser “Voroshilov” in the South Bay of Sevastopol

The parks, palaces on the southern coast of Crimea and other places where delegations stopped even briefly were spruced up, but they did not have time to remove traces of war along the entire route of the motorcades. And there was no need to “camouflage” them: destroyed houses, mangled military equipment, which the US President saw from the windows of the executive ZIS-101 (there is a photo where the American president in Crimea is captured not in a ZiS, but in an open army Willys) ) and the British Prime Minister, made the “right” impression.

Roosevelt, for example, was “horrified by the extent of the destruction caused by the Germans in the Crimea.” But other than that, the guests were satisfied with the reception. Everything was chosen to their taste, even the curtains on the windows in the American president’s apartment were his favorite color, blue, and the English prime minister was accommodated in a palace designed by an English architect. Franklin Roosevelt said that when he was no longer president, he would like to ask to sell Livadia to him in order to plant many trees near it. Winston Churchill asked Joseph Stalin what his feelings would be if an international organization came up with a proposal to transfer Crimea as an international resort, and Stalin replied that he would willingly provide Crimea for conferences of the three powers. But the February 1945 conference remained the only one held in Crimea.

It began on February 4 at 17:00 with a meeting in the Great Hall of the Livadia Palace. But the peninsula began welcoming participants earlier: on February 1, Stalin arrived at the Simferopol railway station by train from Moscow. Koreiz (an urban-type settlement in Crimea) was already waiting for him, where the Soviet delegation was housed in the Yusupov Palace.

Yusupov Palace in Koreiz

“Among the historical places of the conference is the building on Lenin Street, 20, in Alushta, this is the former dacha of General Golubov,” says the author of the book “Crimean Conference of 1945. Memorable places" Vladimir Gurkovich. - The dacha was one of two road houses prepared for the delegations to relax - Stalin stayed here. The leader of the USSR stayed in Alushta for about an hour, then left for Koreiz, from where he “personally and strictly secretly” notified Churchill that he was already at the meeting place. But the Soviet leader did not go to the airfield to meet, as well as see off, the guests, instructing Foreign Minister Molotov to do this.

The heads of the allied countries flew to the Saki military airfield (the current airfield in Novofedorovka), where there was a runway convenient for their aircraft, built in the 30s. Churchill's plane landed first, followed by Roosevelt's an hour later.

The guard of honor, the orchestra performs the anthems of the three countries, and the president especially thanked for the excellent performance of the American anthem, a small “snack” in the military tents installed at the airfield and “the long journey from Saki to Yalta.”

“The Americans covered the distance from the airfield to Livadia (where their residence was) in six hours,” continues Gurkovich, “and the British took eight, although from Livadia to Alupka (where the British residence was) the car then took about thirty minutes.

Vorontsov Palace in Alupka

Official meetings of members of delegations and informal dinners of heads of state were held in all three palaces of the South Coast. In Yusupovsky, for example, Stalin and Churchill discussed the issue of transferring people liberated from fascist camps. Foreign ministers met at the Vorontsov Palace: Molotov, Stettinius (USA) and Eden (Great Britain). But the main meetings still took place at the Livadia Palace, the residence of the American delegation. Diplomatic protocol did not allow this, but Roosevelt could not move without assistance. Official meetings of the Big Three took place here eight times (from February 4 to February 11). It was in Livadia that the “Communiqué on the Crimean Conference” was signed.

hall for signing the “Communiqué on the Crimean Conference”

Then Roosevelt and Churchill went to Sevastopol, Stalin left the Simferopol station in the evening for Moscow. The American president, having spent the night on board a US ship stationed in Sevastopol Bay, left for the Saki airfield on February 12, from where he flew to Egypt. Churchill stayed in Crimea for two more days: he visited Sapun Mountain, Balaklava, where the British fought in 1854-55, visited the cruiser Voroshilov, and only on February 14 he flew from the Saki airfield to Greece. From the plane, Roosevelt sent thanks to Stalin for his hospitality; Churchill said at the farewell ceremony: “Leaving the resurrected Crimea, cleared of the Huns thanks to Russian valor, leaving Soviet territory, I express to everyone my gratitude and admiration for the valiant people and their army.”

“Probably,” argues Vladimir Gurkovich, “the main lesson of the Crimean Conference is that in difficult times, in the face of a common enemy, people of different political views, sometimes even hostile to each other, can and should unite to save their peoples and civilization.”

In the year of the 60th anniversary of the conference, they were going to erect a monument to the “Big Three”, created by Zurab Tsereteli, near the Livadia Palace. But the idea caused a stormy protest from a number of nationalist organizations in Crimea. Now the monument is waiting in the wings in the sculptor’s art gallery in Moscow. Volgograd and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk expressed their readiness to install a monument in their own country.

Redistribution of borders

Exactly 70 years ago, from February 4 to 11, 1945, Crimea found itself at the epicenter of an event of international significance - on those days, a conference of the heads of powers - allies of the anti-Hitler coalition in the Second World War - was held here - the Chairman of the Government of the USSR.V. Stalin, US President F.D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister W. Churchill.

Commission meeting room in the Livadia Palace

By the time the Yalta Conference was held, the war had already entered its final stage - as a result of the offensive of the Red Army and the landing of allied troops in Normandy, military operations were transferred to German territory. And it was precisely this circumstance - the already obvious defeat of Nazism - that dictated the issues discussed at the meeting of state leaders.

Behind the outward respectability of the leaders of the Big Three countries, who proclaimed their adamant goal the destruction of German militarism and Nazism, the tough and pragmatic approaches of the parties in solving two main problems were practically not hidden.

Firstly, it was necessary to draw new state borders between countries that had recently been occupied by the Third Reich. At the same time, it was necessary to establish unofficial, but generally recognized by all sides, demarcation lines between the spheres of influence of the allies - a task that had begun in Tehran.

Secondly, the allies understood perfectly well that after the disappearance of the common enemy, the forced unification of the West and the USSR would lose all meaning, and therefore it was necessary to create procedures to guarantee the immutability of the new dividing lines drawn on the world map.

In this regard, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin managed to find a common language.

Poland

The situation with Poland was very difficult. Its outlines changed dramatically after World War II. Poland, which before the war was the largest country in Central Europe, sharply shrank and moved west and north. Until 1939, its eastern border was practically under Kiev and Minsk, and besides, the Poles owned the Vilna region, which now became part of Lithuania. The western border with Germany was located east of the Oder, while most of the Baltic coast also belonged to Germany. In the east of the pre-war territory, the Poles were a national minority among Ukrainians and Belarusians, while part of the territories in the west and north inhabited by Poles was under German jurisdiction.

The USSR received the western border with Poland along the so-called “Curzon Line”, established back in 1920, with a deviation from it in some areas of 5 to 8 km in favor of Poland. In fact, the border returned to the position at the time of the division of Poland between Germany and the USSR in 1939 under a secret additional protocol on the division of spheres of interest to the Non-Aggression Treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union, the main difference from which was the transfer of the Bialystok region to Poland.

Although Poland had been under German rule for six years by that time, there was a provisional government of this country in exile in London, which was recognized by the USSR and therefore could well lay claim to power in its country after the end of the war. However, Stalin in Crimea managed to obtain from the allies agreement to create a new government in Poland itself “with the inclusion of democratic figures from Poland itself and Poles from abroad.” This decision, implemented in the presence of Soviet troops, allowed the USSR to later, without much difficulty, form a political regime that suited it in Warsaw.

Germany

A fundamental decision was made on the occupation and division of Germany into occupation zones (one of the zones was allocated to France). It was decided that France should be given a zone in Germany to be occupied by French troops. This zone would be formed from the British and American zones, and its dimensions would be determined by the British and Americans in consultation with the French provisional government.

It was also decided that the French provisional government should be invited to join as a member of the Control Council for Germany.

Actually, a settlement of the issue regarding the zones of occupation of Germany was reached even before the Yalta Conference, in September 1944 in the “Protocol of the Agreement between the governments of the USSR, the USA and the United Kingdom on the zones of occupation of Germany and on the management of Greater Berlin”.

This decision predetermined the split of the country for many decades. On May 23, 1949, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, previously signed by representatives of the three Western powers, was put into effect. On September 7, 1949, the first session of the West German parliament proclaimed the creation of a new state. In response, on October 7, 1949, the German Democratic Republic was formed on the territory of the Soviet occupation zone.

There was also talk about the separation of East Prussia (later, after Potsdam, the current Kaliningrad region was created on 1/3 of this territory).

The participants of the Yalta Conference stated that their adamant goal was to destroy German militarism and Nazism and create guarantees that “Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace,” “disarm and disband all German armed forces and destroy the German General Staff forever,” “ seize or destroy all German military equipment, liquidate or take control of all German industry that could be used for war production; to subject all war criminals to fair and speedy punishment; wipe out the Nazi Party, Nazi laws, organizations and institutions from the face of the earth; eliminate all Nazi and militaristic influence from public institutions, from the cultural and economic life of the German people." At the same time, the conference communiqué emphasized that after the eradication of Nazism and militarism, the German people will be able to take their rightful place in the community of nations.

Nuremberg Nazi trials 1946

The upcoming Moscow trial of 201.

Balkans

The eternal Balkan issue was also discussed - in particular, the situation in Yugoslavia and Greece. It is believed that Stalin allowed Great Britain to decide the fate of the Greeks, as a result of which later clashes between communist and pro-Western forces in this country were decided in favor of the latter. On the other hand, it was actually recognized that power in Yugoslavia would be given to Josip Broz Tito's NOLA (People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia), who, however, was recommended to take “democrats” into the government.

Josip Broz Tito

...It was then that Churchill touched upon the topic that interested him most. “Let's settle our affairs in the Balkans,” he said. - Your armies are in Romania and Bulgaria. We have interests there, our missions and agents. Let's avoid clashes over petty matters. Since we are talking about England and Russia, what do you think if you had 90% of the influence in Romania, and we, say, 90% of the influence in Greece? And 50% to 50% in Yugoslavia? While his words were being translated into Russian, Churchill jotted down these percentages on a piece of paper and pushed the paper across the table to Stalin. He glanced at it and handed it back to Churchill. There was a pause. The piece of paper was lying on the table. Churchill did not touch him. Finally he said: “Wouldn’t it be considered too cynical that we have so easily solved issues that affect millions of people?” Let’s better burn this paper... “No, keep it with you,” said Stalin. Churchill folded the paper in half and put it in his pocket.

Far East

The fate of the Far East was fundamentally decided by a separate document. In exchange for the participation of Soviet troops in the war against Japan, Stalin received significant concessions from the United States and Great Britain. Firstly, the USSR received the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin, which had been lost in the Russo-Japanese War. In addition, Mongolia was recognized as an independent state. The Soviet side was also promised Port Arthur and the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER).

The leaders of the Three Great Powers - the Soviet Union, the United States of America and Great Britain - agreed that two to three months after the surrender of Germany and the end of the war in Europe, the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan on the side of the Allies, subject to:

1. Preservation of the status quo of Outer Mongolia (Mongolian People's Republic);

2. Restoration of the rights belonging to Russia violated by the treacherous attack of Japan in 1904, namely:

a) the return of the southern part of the island to the Soviet Union. Sakhalin and all adjacent islands;

b) the internationalization of the commercial port of Dairen, ensuring the priority interests of the Soviet Union in this port and the restoration of the lease on Port Arthur as a naval base of the USSR;

c) joint operation of the Chinese Eastern Railway and the South Manchurian Railway, giving access to Dairen, on the basis of organizing a mixed Soviet-Chinese Society, ensuring the primary interests of the Soviet Union, it being understood that China retains full sovereignty in Manchuria.

3. Transfer of the Kuril Islands to the Soviet Union.

The Heads of Government of the Three Great Powers agreed that these claims of the Soviet Union should be unconditionally satisfied after the victory over Japan.

For its part, the Soviet Union expressed its readiness to conclude a pact of friendship and alliance between the USSR and China with the National Chinese Government in order to assist it with its armed forces in order to liberate China from the Japanese yoke.

Declaration of a Liberated Europe

The Declaration of a Liberated Europe was also signed in Yalta, which determined the principles of the policy of the victors in the territories conquered from the enemy. It assumed, in particular, the restoration of the sovereign rights of the peoples of these territories, as well as the right of the allies to jointly “help” these peoples “improve conditions” for the exercise of these same rights. The declaration stated: “The establishment of order in Europe and the reorganization of national economic life must be achieved in such a way as to enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last traces of Nazism and fascism and to create democratic institutions of their own choice.”

The idea of joint assistance, as expected, later did not become a reality: each victorious power had power only in those territories where its troops were stationed. As a result, each of the former allies in the war began to diligently support their own ideological allies after it ended. Within a few years, Europe was divided into the socialist camp and Western Europe, where Washington, London and Paris tried to resist communist sentiments.

Major war criminals

The conference decided that the question of the main criminals of the war should, after the adjournment of the conference, be subject to consideration by the three foreign ministers for a report in due course.

At the Crimea Conference, negotiations took place between the British, American and Soviet delegations to conclude a comprehensive agreement regarding arrangements for the protection, maintenance and repatriation (repatriation) of prisoners of war and civilians of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States of America released by the Allied armed forces entering the Germany. The texts of the Agreements signed on February 11 between the USSR and Great Britain and between the USSR and the United States of America are identical. The agreement between the Soviet Union and Great Britain was signed by V.M. Molotov and Eden. The agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States of America was signed by Lieutenant General Gryzlov and General Dean.

Under these Agreements, until transport facilities are made available for the repatriation of Allied citizens, each Ally will provide food, clothing, medical care and other needs for the citizens of the other Allies. The Soviet officers would assist the British and American authorities in their task of serving Soviet citizens released by the British and American military forces during the period of time they would be on the continent of Europe or in the United Kingdom awaiting transport to take them home.

The Soviet Government will be assisted by British and American officers in serving British subjects and American citizens.

Since agreement has now been reached, the three Governments undertake to provide all assistance consistent with the requirements of military operations to ensure the prompt repatriation of all such prisoners of war and civilians.

The results of the Crimean Conference of 1945, in principle, are quite well covered in historiography. But it touched on an issue that for a long time was actually not known to the general public.

On February 10, 1945, in Koreiz, in the Yusupov Palace, where Stalin’s residence was located, he met with British Prime Minister Churchill and Foreign Minister Eden, who accompanied him.

The discussion at the meeting was about the repatriation of Soviet citizens who found themselves outside the USSR as a result of the war (prisoners of war, ostarbeiter (from German Ostarbeiter - worker from the East) - a definition adopted in the Third Reich to designate people taken from the countries of Eastern Europe for the purpose of use in as free or low-paid labor, soldiers of the Wehrmacht volunteer forces). According to the Yalta agreements, all of them, regardless of their wishes, were subject to extradition to the USSR; a significant part of them subsequently ended up in camps and were shot.

Consideration of the issue of reparations

Once again the issue of reparations was raised. However, the Allies were never able to finally determine the amount of compensation. It was only decided that the United States and Great Britain would give Moscow 50 percent of all reparations.

The following protocol was signed: Protocol on negotiations between the heads of three governments at the Crimean Conference on the issue of reparations in kind from Germany.

The heads of the three governments agreed on the following:

1. Germany is obliged to compensate in kind for the damage it caused to the Allied nations during the war.

Reparations should be received primarily by those countries that bore the brunt of the war, suffered the greatest losses and organized victory over the enemy.

2. Reparations must be collected from Germany in three forms:

a) one-time withdrawals within two years upon the surrender of Germany or the cessation of organized resistance from the national wealth of Germany, located both on the territory of Germany itself and outside it (equipment, machines, ships, rolling stock, German investments abroad, shares in industrial, transport , shipping and other enterprises in Germany, etc.), and these seizures should be carried out mainly with the aim of destroying the military potential of Germany;

b) annual commodity supplies from current products during a period the duration of which must be established;

c) the use of German labor.

3. To develop a detailed reparations plan based on the above principles, an inter-union reparations commission consisting of representatives from the USSR, USA and Great Britain is established in Moscow.

4. With regard to determining the total amount of reparations, as well as its distribution between the countries affected by the German aggression, the Soviet and American delegations agreed on the following: “The Moscow Reparations Commission in the initial stage of its work will accept as a basis for discussion the proposal of the Soviet government that the total amount of reparations in accordance with paragraphs “a” and “b” of paragraph 2 should be 20 billion dollars and that 50% of this amount goes to the Soviet Union.” The British delegation believed that, pending consideration of the issue of reparations by the Moscow Reparations Commission, no reparations figures could be named.

2.5 Issues relating to the international security organization

In Yalta, it was decided to hold the founding conference of the UN in the USA in April 1945. The Soviet proposal for the membership of Soviet republics in the future UN was accepted, but their number was limited to two - Ukraine and Belarus. At the Yalta Conference, an agreement was concluded on the USSR's entry into the war against Japan two to three months after the end of the war in Europe. During separate negotiations between Stalin and Roosevelt and Churchill, agreements were reached to strengthen the position of the USSR in the Far East. The main burden of military efforts against Japan fell on the United States; they were interested in the speedy entry of the USSR into the war in the Far East.

In Yalta, the implementation of the idea of a new League of Nations began. The Allies needed an interstate organization capable of preventing attempts to change the established boundaries of their spheres of influence. It was at the victors' conferences in Tehran and Yalta and at the intermediate negotiations at Dumbarton Oaks that the ideology of the United Nations was formed.

It was decided:

1) that a United Nations conference on the proposed world organization should be convened on Wednesday, April 25, 1945, and should be held in the United States of America;

2) that the following states should be invited to this conference:

b) those of the acceding nations that had declared war on the common enemy by March 1, 1945 (In this case, the term “aligned nations” means the eight acceding nations and Turkey). When the conference on world organization takes place, the delegates of the United Kingdom and the United States of America will support the proposal for admission to initial membership of the two Soviet Socialist Republics, namely Ukraine and Belarus;

3) That the Government of the United States, on behalf of the Three Powers, will consult with the Government of China and with the French Provisional Government on the decisions taken at this conference concerning the proposed world organization;

4) that the text of the invitations that will be sent to all states participating in the conference should be as follows:

Invitation

“The Government of the United States of America, on its own behalf and on behalf of the Governments of the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Republic of China, and on behalf of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, invites the Government of ……… representatives to the United Nations Conference to be held on April 25, 1945 or shortly after this date in San Francisco, in the United States of America, to prepare a charter for a general international organization for the maintenance of international peace and security.

The above-named Governments propose that the Conference consider as a basis for such a Charter the proposals for the establishment of a general international organization which were published in October last year as a result of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference and which were supplemented by the following conditions for Section C of Chapter VI:

1. Each member of the Security Council has one vote.

2. Decisions of the Security Council on matters of procedure are taken by a majority of seven members.

3. Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters shall be taken by a majority of seven members, including the concurring votes of the permanent members, the party to the dispute abstaining from voting in decisions pursuant to Section A of Chapter VIII and pursuant to the second sentence of Paragraph I of Section C of Chapter VIII "

Additional information about relevant events will be communicated in the future.

In the event that the Government of ……… wishes to express views and comments concerning the proposals in advance of the conference, the Government of the United States of America will be pleased to convey such views and comments to the other participating Governments.”

Territorial guardianship

It was decided that the five states that would have permanent seats on the Security Council should consult among themselves before the United Nations conference on the question of territorial trusteeship.

This recommendation was accepted on the condition that territorial trusteeship would apply only: a) to existing mandates of the League of Nations; b) to territories seized from enemy states as a result of a real war; c) to any other territory which may be voluntarily placed under trusteeship, and d) no discussion on specific territories is contemplated at the forthcoming United Nations conference or during preliminary consultations, and the question of which territories falling within the above categories will be decided , will be placed under guardianship, will be the subject of a later agreement.

It was agreed that the UN's activities in resolving fundamental issues of ensuring peace would be based on the principle of unanimity of the great powers - permanent members of the Security Council with the right of veto.

Stalin achieved the agreement of his partners that among the founders and members of the UN would be not only the USSR, but also the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR. And it was in the Yalta documents that the date “April 25, 1945” appeared - the date of the beginning of the San Francisco Conference, which was intended to develop the UN Charter.

The UN became a symbol and formal guarantor of the post-war world order, an authoritative and sometimes even quite effective organization in resolving interstate problems. At the same time, the victorious countries continued to prefer to resolve truly serious issues in their relations through bilateral negotiations, rather than within the UN framework. The UN also failed to prevent the wars that both the US and the USSR fought over the past decades.

Conclusion

The Crimean conference of the leaders of the USA, USSR and Great Britain was of great historical significance. It was one of the largest international meetings of wartime, an important milestone in the cooperation of the powers of the anti-Hitler coalition in waging war against a common enemy. The adoption of agreed decisions on important issues at the conference once again showed the possibility of international cooperation between states with different social systems.

The bipolar world created in Yalta and the rigid division of Europe into East and West survived for half a century, until the 1990s, which indicates the stability of this system.

The Yalta system collapsed only with the fall of one of the centers that ensured the balance of power. In just two or three years at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, the “East” that personified the USSR disappeared from the world map. Since then, the boundaries of spheres of influence in Europe have been determined only by the current balance of power. At the same time, most of Central and Eastern Europe quite calmly survived the disappearance of the previous demarcation lines, and Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Baltic countries were even able to integrate into the new picture of the world in Europe.

The conference, which was attended by I. Stalin (USSR), F. Roosevelt (USA), W. Churchill (Great Britain), began its work at a time when, thanks to the powerful attacks of the Red Army on the Eastern Front and the active actions of the Anglo-American troops in western Europe, the Second World War entered its final stage. This explained the agenda of the conference - the post-war structure of Germany and other states that took part in the war, the creation of an international system of collective security that would exclude the emergence of world military conflicts in the future.

The conference adopted a number of documents that determined the development of international relations for many years.

It was stated, in particular, that the goal of the conference participants was “to disarm and disband all German armed forces and permanently destroy the German General Staff; seize or destroy all German military equipment, liquidate or take control of all German industry that could be used for war production; to subject all war criminals to fair and speedy punishment; wipe out the Nazi Party, Nazi laws, organizations and institutions from the face of the earth; eliminate all Nazi and militaristic influence from public institutions, from the cultural and economic life of the German people,” i.e. to destroy German militarism and Nazism so that Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace.

It was decided to create the United Nations as a system of collective security, and the basic principles of its charter were determined.

In addition, with the goal of ending World War II as quickly as possible, an agreement was reached on the Far East, which provided for the USSR's entry into the war with Japan. The fact is that Japan - one of the three main states that started the Second World War (Germany, Italy, Japan) - has been at war with the USA and England since 1941, and the allies turned to the USSR with a request to help them eliminate this the last source of war.

The conference communiqué recorded the desire of the Allied powers “to preserve and strengthen in the coming period of peace that unity of purpose and action which has made victory in modern war possible and certain for the United Nations.”

Unfortunately, it was not possible to achieve unity of goals and actions of the allied powers in the post-war period: the world entered the era of the Cold War.

The Yalta Conference of 1945 predetermined the structure of the world for almost half a century, dividing it into East and West. This bipolar world lasted until the early 1990s and collapsed along with the USSR, thereby confirming the fragility of the world order based on the right of the victors over the vanquished.