What was going on behind the scenes at Yalta

1
? starter activity
Which picture is more useful to historians in
telling us about East-West relations just after
World War II?
2
What was decided at the conferences of Yalta
Potsdam?
Yalta, Feb. 1945
3
? Your task

• Turn your page so it is landscape and divide it
  into 2 halves. Write the headings shown below.

4
What was agreed at Yalta?
5
Military support

• Russia agreed to enter war against Japan
  following German surrender
• In return Russia would receive territory in
  Manchuria Sakhalin Island

Why did the US request Soviet help in ending the
war in Japan?
6
Division of Germany

• Germany temporarily divided into four zones
• Berlin divided into four zones

7
Eastern Europe

• 'Declaration of Liberated Europe' (to set up
  democracies in East Europe).
• Set up Polish Government of National Unity

8
International organisations

• Setting up of UNO (to replace League of Nations),
  to which Russia was invited
• International War Tribunal to put Nazi war
  criminals on trial

9
What was their disagreement over or tension?
10
Reparations

• Stalin wanted Germany to pay USSR reparations
• Stalin wanted payments in coal, US wanted coal to
  rebuild Europe, Russian demands ignored

11
Poland

• USSR wanted to extend Polish border too far West
  for western allies
• Stalin disregarded calls for free elections and
  arrested non-communists

12
Germany

• USSR forced Germans to sell food raw materials
  to Soviet Union
• Some German factories dismantled moved to USSR

13
? Your task

• Analyse the sources in your pack and decide what
  was really going on behind the scenes at Yalta.
  Complete your notes in a table similar to the one
  below.

14
? Starter activity
Yalta, Feb. 1945
Potsdam, July-August 1945
Study the 2 pictures, and using your own
knowledge, decide what has changed between the
times that the two conference photos were taken.
15
What was agreed at Potsdam?
16
Poland

• New boundaries agreed (Oder-Niesse rivers formed
  border between Germany Poland)

17
Germany

• Germany Berlin divided into separate sectors
  and zones as agreed at Yalta
• Demilitarisation
• Democracy re-established free press freedom
  of speech

18
International organisations

• Nazi Party was to be banned in Germany
• Legal trials at Nuremberg of 21 Nazi leaders for
  war crimes
• Allies agreed to participate fully in UNO

19
What was their disagreement or tension over?
20
International relations

• Stalin denied a naval base in Mediterranean

21
Reparations

• Stalin demanded more in reparations than US or GB
• US didnt want to cripple Germany (as in WWI)
• Stalin suspicious about why West wanted to
  protect Germany help it recover

22
Poland

• Stalin set up Communist govt. in Poland
• GB preferred non-Communist Polish govt. which
  had lived in London
• US USSR suspicious of Stalins intentions in
  setting up Communist govt. in Lublin

23
? Your task

• Divide into groups of 4. Individually decide
  whether you represent the press agencies for each
  of the following countries
• USSR
• USA
• Poland
• Germany
• Write a press release describing the outcome of
  the two conferences bringing in as much of your
  countrys point of view as possible. Mention what
  was achieved to the advantage or disadvantage of
  your country what was achieved to the advantage
  or disadvantages of your opponents what the
  conferences mean for the future of international
  relations.