The Yalta Conference: Dividing the World

February 1945. The war in Europe was ending. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at Yalta in the Crimea. They came to decide the future of the post-war world. The mood was optimistic. The Grand Alliance was still functioning. Roosevelt hoped for Soviet cooperation in the United Nations. Stalin wanted a buffer zone in Eastern Europe. Churchill worried about the future of Poland and the balance of power. They agreed on the division of Germany. The country would be split into occupation zones. The Soviet zone in the east, the American, British, and French in the west. Berlin, deep inside the Soviet zone, would also be divided. They agreed that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan, something Stalin had promised at Tehran. In return, he got territorial concessions in the Far East. Poland was the most contentious issue. Stalin wanted a friendly government in Warsaw. Roosevelt and Churchill wanted a democratic government. They compromised on words that Stalin would later ignore. The decisions at Yalta shaped the world for 50 years. Europe was divided. The Cold War was inevitable. Roosevelt died two months later. Churchill lost the election. Stalin got what he wanted. The war was won, but the peace was already contested.