Okla-homey
2/4/2009, 06:42 AM
Feb 4, 1945: FDR at Yalta Conference
http://aycu35.webshots.com/image/9914/2005035138640555895_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005035138640555895)
Sixty-four years ago, on this day in 1945, an ailing FDR and his daughter Anna met Winston Churchill and Joe Stalin at the Yalta Conference, to make terms with America's principle WWII allies for the disposition of Europe in the wake of the second world war.
At this meeting, the three leaders committed to form the United Nations to replace the League of Nations. The League, formed after WWI, proved incapable of dealing with transnational disputes -- mostly because it had no provision for the application of force on vote of its membership.
This would be FDR's final international trip. In a few months, he would die of a stroke at his retreat Warm Springs, GA. To observers he appeared already ill and exhausted. Arguably, his most important goal was to ensure the Soviet Union's participation in the United Nations, which he achieved at the price of granting veto power to each permanent member of the Security Council.
http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/9015/2005014271042558759_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005014271042558759)
This very expensive map detaling the meeting site was prepared by SF.com cartographer Howzit
Another of FDR's objectives was to bring the Soviet Union into the fight against Japan, as the effectiveness of the atomic bomb had yet to be proven. As a reward, Stalin was allowed to seize Sakhalin and Kuril Islands, which used to be under Japanese sovereignty, and some other privileges in colonial China remained intact.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/11593/2005003609656124692_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005003609656124692)
Yalta Photo-op. The three leaders remained seated because FDR didn't allow photographs of himself while standing since he was unable to do so without use of his leg braces and canes.
The Red Army had already removed Nazi forces from most of Eastern Europe, so Stalin obtained his goals: a significant sphere of influence as a buffer zone. In this process, the freedom of small nations was sacrificed for the sake of stability, which meant that the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia would continue to be annexed by USSR.
http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/9122/2005027569274001935_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005027569274001935)
Conference site on the Black Sea
Allegations about Yalta would play a significant role in United States politics during the Cold War. American conservatives alleged that decisions reached at Yalta were a betrayal of the Eastern European nations that resulted in their domination by the Soviet Union. During the McCarthy period, Yalta was a centerpiece of accusations that the Democrats were "soft on communism."
http://aycu10.webshots.com/image/10969/2005021052601600174_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005021052601600174)
Room where most of the carving occurred
Key points of the meeting are as follows:
1) There was an agreement that the priority would be the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. After the war, Germany would be split into four occupied zones, with a quadripartite occupation of Berlin as well.
2) Stalin agreed to let France have the fourth occupation zone in Germany and Austria, carved out from the British and American zones. France would also be granted a seat in the Allied Control Council.
3) Germany would undergo demilitarization and denazification.
4) German reparations were partly to be in the form of forced labor.
5) Creation of an allied reparation council with its seat in Moscow.
6) The status of Poland was discussed, but was complicated by the fact that Poland was at this time under the control of the Red Army. It was agreed to reorganize the Provisionary Polish Government that had been set up by the Red Army through the inclusion of other groups such as the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity and to have democratic elections. This effectively excluded the Polish government-in-exile that had evacuated in 1939.
7) The Polish eastern border would follow the Curzon Line, and Poland would receive substantial territorial compensation in the west from Germany, although the exact border was to be determined at a later time.
8) Citizens of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia were to be handed over to their respective countries, regardless of their consent.
9) Roosevelt obtained a commitment by Stalin to participate in the United Nations once it was agreed that each of the five permanent members of the Security Council would have veto power.
8) Stalin agreed to enter the fight against the Empire of Japan within 90 days after the defeat of Germany. The Soviet Union would receive the southern part of Sakhalin and the Kurile islands after the defeat of Japan.
9) A "Committee on Dismemberment of Germany" was to be set up. The purpose was to decide whether Germany was to be divided into several nations, and if so, what borders and inter-relationships the new German states were to have.
10) A new organization, (the United Nations) should be set up to replace the failed League of Nations.
11) It was decided that Czechoslovakia would be freed by the Red Army and that Allies would stop at a demarcation line drawn by the city of Plzeň.
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/637/insane7zoao4.jpg
http://aycu35.webshots.com/image/9914/2005035138640555895_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005035138640555895)
Sixty-four years ago, on this day in 1945, an ailing FDR and his daughter Anna met Winston Churchill and Joe Stalin at the Yalta Conference, to make terms with America's principle WWII allies for the disposition of Europe in the wake of the second world war.
At this meeting, the three leaders committed to form the United Nations to replace the League of Nations. The League, formed after WWI, proved incapable of dealing with transnational disputes -- mostly because it had no provision for the application of force on vote of its membership.
This would be FDR's final international trip. In a few months, he would die of a stroke at his retreat Warm Springs, GA. To observers he appeared already ill and exhausted. Arguably, his most important goal was to ensure the Soviet Union's participation in the United Nations, which he achieved at the price of granting veto power to each permanent member of the Security Council.
http://aycu16.webshots.com/image/9015/2005014271042558759_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005014271042558759)
This very expensive map detaling the meeting site was prepared by SF.com cartographer Howzit
Another of FDR's objectives was to bring the Soviet Union into the fight against Japan, as the effectiveness of the atomic bomb had yet to be proven. As a reward, Stalin was allowed to seize Sakhalin and Kuril Islands, which used to be under Japanese sovereignty, and some other privileges in colonial China remained intact.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/11593/2005003609656124692_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005003609656124692)
Yalta Photo-op. The three leaders remained seated because FDR didn't allow photographs of himself while standing since he was unable to do so without use of his leg braces and canes.
The Red Army had already removed Nazi forces from most of Eastern Europe, so Stalin obtained his goals: a significant sphere of influence as a buffer zone. In this process, the freedom of small nations was sacrificed for the sake of stability, which meant that the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia would continue to be annexed by USSR.
http://aycu03.webshots.com/image/9122/2005027569274001935_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005027569274001935)
Conference site on the Black Sea
Allegations about Yalta would play a significant role in United States politics during the Cold War. American conservatives alleged that decisions reached at Yalta were a betrayal of the Eastern European nations that resulted in their domination by the Soviet Union. During the McCarthy period, Yalta was a centerpiece of accusations that the Democrats were "soft on communism."
http://aycu10.webshots.com/image/10969/2005021052601600174_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005021052601600174)
Room where most of the carving occurred
Key points of the meeting are as follows:
1) There was an agreement that the priority would be the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. After the war, Germany would be split into four occupied zones, with a quadripartite occupation of Berlin as well.
2) Stalin agreed to let France have the fourth occupation zone in Germany and Austria, carved out from the British and American zones. France would also be granted a seat in the Allied Control Council.
3) Germany would undergo demilitarization and denazification.
4) German reparations were partly to be in the form of forced labor.
5) Creation of an allied reparation council with its seat in Moscow.
6) The status of Poland was discussed, but was complicated by the fact that Poland was at this time under the control of the Red Army. It was agreed to reorganize the Provisionary Polish Government that had been set up by the Red Army through the inclusion of other groups such as the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity and to have democratic elections. This effectively excluded the Polish government-in-exile that had evacuated in 1939.
7) The Polish eastern border would follow the Curzon Line, and Poland would receive substantial territorial compensation in the west from Germany, although the exact border was to be determined at a later time.
8) Citizens of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia were to be handed over to their respective countries, regardless of their consent.
9) Roosevelt obtained a commitment by Stalin to participate in the United Nations once it was agreed that each of the five permanent members of the Security Council would have veto power.
8) Stalin agreed to enter the fight against the Empire of Japan within 90 days after the defeat of Germany. The Soviet Union would receive the southern part of Sakhalin and the Kurile islands after the defeat of Japan.
9) A "Committee on Dismemberment of Germany" was to be set up. The purpose was to decide whether Germany was to be divided into several nations, and if so, what borders and inter-relationships the new German states were to have.
10) A new organization, (the United Nations) should be set up to replace the failed League of Nations.
11) It was decided that Czechoslovakia would be freed by the Red Army and that Allies would stop at a demarcation line drawn by the city of Plzeň.
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/637/insane7zoao4.jpg