Potsdam Conference

• 1. Leadership And Election Chaos

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  The Potsdam Conference opened on the 17th of July 1945 at Cecilienhof in Potsdam, near Berlin. Harry S. Truman had just assumed the presidency after Franklin D. Roosevelt died on the 12th of April 1945. Winston Churchill led the British delegation when the first session began. A general election held in the United Kingdom on the 5th of July 1945 changed everything before the conference even started. The results remained hidden until the voting of armed forces personnel could be counted in their home constituencies. On the 28th of July, Clement Attlee defeated Churchill and replaced him as Britain's representative. Ernest Bevin took over as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to replace Anthony Eden. This sudden shift occurred while the three heads of government were already meeting daily. Nine meetings had been held from the 17th to the 25th of July before the interruption. Four days of further discussion followed the leadership change. George Lenczowski noted that Truman possessed the courage to reverse policies he viewed as naive compared to his predecessor. Truman later wrote that Stalin was honest but smart as hell. He also stated that he could deal with Stalin directly.

• 2. Atomic Secrets And Espionage

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  Truman received secret information about the Trinity test on the 16th of July 1945. The test proved successful just one day before the Potsdam Conference officially opened. Harry S. Truman hinted to Joseph Stalin that the U.S. was about to use a new kind of weapon against Japan. This marked the first time the Soviets had been officially given information about the atomic bomb. Stalin responded by saying he hoped Truman would make good use of it against the Japanese. Soviet spy networks inside the Manhattan Project had provided full knowledge of the bomb's development long before this conversation. The Soviet Union converted several countries of Eastern Europe into communist satellite states within the Eastern Bloc after the war. These included Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Albania. Truman mentioned an unspecified powerful new weapon during their private meeting. The Potsdam Declaration issued on the 26th of July gave Japan an ultimatum to surrender unconditionally or meet prompt and utter destruction. It did not mention the new bomb explicitly. Japanese Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki ignored the ultimatum. The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima on the 6th of August and on Nagasaki on the 9th of August 1945.

• 3. German Borders And Occupation Zones

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  Germany would be divided into four occupation zones among the three powers plus France. Each capital including Berlin and Vienna would also be split into four zones. Germany's eastern border shifted westwards to the Oder-Neisse line. This change reduced Germany in size by approximately 25% from its 1937 borders. Territories east of the new border included East Prussia, almost all of Silesia, West Prussia, and two thirds of Pomerania. Upper Silesia remained as the second-largest center of German heavy industry. The city of Konigsberg and the area next to it were transferred to the Soviet Union. A provisional western border was defined by the Oder and Neisse Rivers for Poland. Silesia, Pomerania, the southern part of East Prussia, and Danzig came under Polish administration. The final delimitation of Poland's western frontier awaited a peace settlement that would only take place 45 years later in 1990. Truman reported that Stalin presented the occupation of Eastern Poland as a fait accompli. Western Allies had been forced to abandon principles of the Atlantic Charter due to this pressure. France resisted implementing Potsdam agreements within its own zone because Charles de Gaulle felt diplomatically slighted.

• 4. Expulsions And War Crimes Trials

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  Allied leaders confirmed their commitment to removing German populations from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. These transfers began before the conference even started. Leaders agreed that civilian transfers should proceed in an orderly and humane manner. Modern estimates suggest between 600,000 and 2.2 million Germans died during the flight and expulsions. The Allied Control Council decided how to distribute Germans among various zones of occupation equally. Representatives on the Control Council reported numbers of people entering Germany from eastern countries. They formed estimates about future transfer pace and capacity to process new arrivals. Provisional governments of Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia temporarily suspended expulsions until reports were filed. Nazi war criminals faced trial procedures established at Moscow Declaration of October 1943. The first list of defendants was scheduled for publication before September 1st. An agreement signed in London on the 8th of August 1945 validated these negotiations. All Nazi laws establishing discrimination based on race, creed, or political opinion would be abolished. The SS, SA, SD, Gestapo, air forces, land forces, and naval forces were all to be abolished. Organizations keeping alive military traditions in Germany also faced destruction.

• 5. Eastern Bloc And Satellite States

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  The Soviet Union converted several countries into communist satellite states within the Eastern Bloc after the war. These included the People's Republic of Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Albania. Many of those nations had seen failed Socialist revolutions prior to World War II. Stalin insisted his control of Eastern Europe served as a defensive measure against possible future attacks. He claimed it represented a legitimate sphere of Soviet influence. A puppet communist government existed in Poland under Soviet direction. Refugees fled from countries occupied by the Red Army including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. The Baltic states were forcibly reincorporated into the USSR. Truman and his advisers viewed Soviet actions in Eastern Europe as aggressive expansionism incompatible with Yalta agreements. Relations among the three governments deteriorated within 18 months despite initial collaboration. The Cold War emerged shortly after the conference concluded. The Big Three took notice that Soviet representatives on Allied Control Commissions communicated proposals for refining work since the European war ended. They agreed on revised procedures for commissions in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary.

• 6. Reparations And Economic Demands

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  War reparations to the Soviet Union came from its zone of occupation in Germany. The Soviet Union also received reparations from western zones but gave up claims on German industries there. Fifteen percent of usable industrial capital equipment was removed from western zones. This included metallurgical, chemical, and machine manufacturing industries. In exchange, food, coal, potash, zinc, timber, clay, and petroleum products arrived from eastern zones. The Soviet Union bore responsibility for transferring these products within five years. Ten percent of western zone industrial capacity unnecessary for peace economy transferred to the Soviet Union within two years. No further payment obligations existed for this transfer. Stalin successfully proposed excluding Poland from division of German compensation. Poland later received 15% of compensation given to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union made no claims on gold captured by Allied troops in Germany. The German standard of living could not exceed the European average. All civilian shipyards and aircraft factories were dismantled or destroyed. Metal, chemicals, and machinery factories reduced to minimum levels determined by Allied Control Commission. Manufacturing capacity surplus became dismantled as reparations or otherwise destroyed. Research and international trade faced strict control. Economy decentralized through decartelization with emphasis on agriculture and peaceful domestic industries. By early 1946 an agreement converted Germany into having agricultural and light industrial economy. Exports shifted to coal, beer, toys, textiles replacing heavy industrial products.