Potsdam Conference - wikipedia Potsdam Conference A conference session including Clement Attlee, Ernest Bevin, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, Joseph Stalin, William D. Leahy, Joseph E. Davies, James F. Byrnes, and Harry S. Truman. Joseph Stalin and Harry Truman meeting at the Potsdam Conference on 18 July 1945. From left to right, first row : Premier Joseph Stalin ; President Harry S. Truman, Soviet Ambassador to the United States Andrei Gromyko, Secretary of State James F. Byrnes, and Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. Second row : Brigadier General Harry H. Vaughan, Truman 's confidant and military aide ; Russian interpreter Charles Bohlen, Truman naval aide James K. Vardaman, Jr., and ( partially obscured ) Charles Griffith Ross. Sitting ( from left ) : Clement Attlee, Harry S. Truman, Joseph Stalin, and behind : Fleet Admiral William Daniel Leahy, Ernest Bevin, James F. Byrnes, and Vyacheslav Molotov. Cecilienhof, site of the Potsdam Conference, in 2014. The Potsdam Conference ( German : Potsdamer Konferenz ) was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 17 July to 2 August 1945. ( In some older documents it is also referred to as the Berlin Conference of the Three Heads of Government of the USSR, USA and UK. ) Participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The three powers were represented by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and, later, Clement Attlee, and President Harry S. Truman. Stalin, Churchill, and Truman -- as well as Attlee, who participated alongside Churchill while awaiting the outcome of the 1945 general election, and then replaced Churchill as Prime Minister after the Labour Party 's defeat of the Conservatives -- gathered to decide how to administer the defeated Nazi Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier, on 8 May ( V-E Day ). The goals of the conference also included the establishment of post-war order, peace treaty issues, and countering the effects of the war. Contents 1 Relationships amongst the leaders 2 Agreements made between the leaders at Potsdam 2.1 Potsdam Agreements 2.1. 1 Germany 2.1. 2 Poland 2.2 Potsdam Declaration 3 Aftermath 4 Previous major conferences 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 8 Further reading 8.1 Primary sources 9 External links Relationships amongst the leaders In the five months since the Yalta Conference, a number of changes had taken place which would greatly affect the relationships between the leaders. Firstly, the Soviet Union was occupying Central and Eastern Europe. By July, the Red Army effectively controlled the Baltic states, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, and fearing a Stalinist takeover, refugees were fleeing from these countries. Stalin had set up a puppet communist government in Poland. He insisted that his control of Eastern Europe was a defensive measure against possible future attacks and claimed that it was a legitimate sphere of Soviet influence. Secondly, Britain had a new Prime Minister. Before VE Day, Conservative Party leader Winston Churchill had served as Prime Minister in a coalition government ; his Soviet policy since the early 1940s had differed considerably from former US President Roosevelt 's, with Churchill believing Stalin to be a `` devil '' - like tyrant leading a vile system. A general election was held in the UK on 5 July, the results of which became known during the conference : with a Labour Party majority, Labour leader Clement Attlee became the new Prime Minister. Thirdly, President Roosevelt had died on 12 April 1945, and Vice President Harry Truman assumed the presidency ; his succession saw VE Day ( Victory in Europe ) within a month and VJ Day ( Victory in Japan ) on the horizon. During the war and in the name of Allied unity, Roosevelt had brushed off warnings of a potential domination by a Stalin dictatorship in part of Europe. He explained that `` I just have a hunch that Stalin is not that kind of a man '' and reasoned, `` I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask for nothing from him in return, ' noblesse oblige ', he wo n't try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of democracy and peace. '' While inexperienced in foreign affairs, Truman had closely followed the Allied progress of the war. George Lenczowski notes that `` despite the contrast between his relatively modest background and the international glamour of his aristocratic predecessor, ( Truman ) had the courage and resolution to reverse the policy that appeared to him naive and dangerous '', which was `` in contrast to the immediate, often ad hoc moves and solutions dictated by the demands of the war ''. With the end of the war, the priority of allied unity was replaced with a new challenge, the nature of the relationship between the two emerging superpowers. The two leading powers continued to sustain a cordial relationship to the public but suspicions and distrust lingered between them. As the suspicion grew between the two rising powers, Stalin proposed that America will use their economical advantage and success in order to entice other nations into expanding their U.S. policies. Truman became much more suspicious of communist moves than Roosevelt had been, and he became increasingly suspicious of Soviet intentions under Stalin. Truman and his advisers saw Soviet actions in Eastern Europe as aggressive expansionism which was incompatible with the agreements Stalin had committed to at Yalta the previous February. In addition, it was at the Potsdam Conference that Truman became aware of possible complications elsewhere, when Stalin objected to Churchill 's proposal for an early Allied withdrawal from Iran, ahead of the schedule agreed at the Tehran Conference. However, the Potsdam Conference marks the first and only time Truman would ever meet Stalin in person. Agreements made between the leaders at Potsdam Potsdam agreements Main article : Potsdam Agreement Demographics map used for the border discussions at the conference The Oder -- Neisse line ( click to enlarge ) At the end of the conference, the three Heads of Government agreed on the following actions. All other issues were to be answered by the final peace conference to be called as soon as possible. Germany See also : Flight and expulsion of Germans ( 1944 -- 50 ), Allied plans for German industry after World War II, Oder -- Neisse line, Former eastern territories of Germany, and German reparations for World War II The Allies issued a statement of aims of their occupation of Germany : demilitarization, denazification, democratization, decentralization, dismantling and decartelization. Germany and Austria were to be divided respectively into four occupation zones ( earlier agreed in principle at Yalta ), and similarly each capital, Berlin and Vienna, was to be divided into four zones. It was agreed that the Nazi war criminals would be put to trial. All German annexations in Europe were to be reversed, including Sudetenland, Alsace - Lorraine, Austria, and the westernmost parts of Poland. Germany 's eastern border was to be shifted westwards to the Oder -- Neisse line, effectively reducing Germany in size by approximately 25 % compared to its 1937 borders. The territories east of the new border comprised East Prussia, Silesia, West Prussia, and two thirds of Pomerania. These areas were mainly agricultural, with the exception of Upper Silesia which was the second largest centre of German heavy industry. `` Orderly and humane '' expulsions of the German populations remaining beyond the new eastern borders of Germany were to be carried out ; from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, but not Yugoslavia. War reparations to the Soviet Union from their zone of occupation in Germany were agreed. It was also agreed that 10 % of the industrial capacity of the western zones unnecessary for the German peace economy should be transferred to the Soviet Union within 2 years. Stalin proposed and it was accepted that Poland was to be excluded from division of German compensation, to be later granted 15 % of compensation given to Soviet Union. It was to be ensured that German standards of living did not exceed the European average. The types and amounts of industry to dismantle to achieve this was to be determined later ( see Allied plans for German industry after World War II ). German industrial war - potential was to be destroyed, through the destruction or control of all industry with military potential. To this end, all civilian shipyards and aircraft factories were to be dismantled or otherwise destroyed. All production capacity associated with war potential, such as metals, chemical, machinery etc., were to be reduced to a minimum level which was later determined by the Allied Control Commission. Manufacturing capacity thus made `` surplus '' was to be dismantled as reparations or otherwise destroyed. All research and international trade was to be controlled. The economy was to be decentralized ( decartelization ). The economy was also to be reorganized with primary emphasis on agriculture and peaceful domestic industries. In early 1946 agreement was reached on the details of the latter : Germany was to be converted into an agricultural and light industry economy. German exports were to be coal, beer, toys, textiles, etc. -- to take the place of the heavy industrial products which formed most of Germany 's pre-war exports. Poland Poland 's old and new borders, 1945. Territory previously part of Germany is identified in pink See also : Western betrayal and Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II A Provisional Government of National Unity recognized by all three powers should be created ( known as the Lublin Poles ). When the Big Three recognized the Soviet controlled government, it meant, in effect, the end of recognition for the existing Polish government - in - exile ( known as the London Poles ). Poles who were serving in the British Army should be free to return to Poland, with no security upon their return to the communist country guaranteed. The provisional western border should be the Oder -- Neisse line, defined by the Oder and Neisse rivers. Silesia, Pomerania, the southern part of East Prussia and the former Free City of Danzig should be under Polish administration. However the final delimitation of the western frontier of Poland should await the peace settlement ( which would take place 45 years later at the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany in 1990 ) The Soviet Union declared it would settle the reparation claims of Poland from its own share of the overall reparation payments. Potsdam declaration Main article : Potsdam Declaration At the beginning : Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman, and Joseph Stalin The Foreign Ministers : Vyacheslav Molotov, James F. Byrnes, and Anthony Eden, July 1945 In addition to the Potsdam Agreement, on 26 July, Churchill, Truman, and Chiang Kai - shek, Chairman of the Nationalist Government of China ( the Soviet Union was not at war with Japan ) issued the Potsdam Declaration which outlined the terms of surrender for Japan during World War II in Asia. Aftermath Further information : Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Eastern Bloc, and Cold War Truman had mentioned an unspecified `` powerful new weapon '' to Stalin during the conference. Towards the end of the conference, Japan was given an ultimatum to surrender ( in the name of the United States, Great Britain and China ) or meet `` prompt and utter destruction '', which did not mention the new bomb. Prime minister Kantarō Suzuki did not respond ( mokusatsu, which was interpreted as a declaration that the Empire of Japan should ignore the ultimatum ). Therefore, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The justification was that both cities were legitimate military targets, to end the war swiftly, and preserve American lives. However, to some the timing has suggested that Truman did not want Stalin involved in the terms of Japan 's surrender. It is important to note that Truman delayed the Potsdam Conference in order to be sure of the functionality of this `` powerful new weapon ''. Notably, when Truman informed Stalin of the atomic bomb, he did not explicitly mention its atomic nature, just vaguely saying that the United States `` had a new weapon of unusual destructive force '' ; Stalin, though, had full knowledge of the atomic bomb 's development due to Soviet spy networks inside the Manhattan Project, and told Truman at the conference to `` make good use of this new addition to the Allied arsenal ''. The Soviet Union converted the other countries of eastern Europe into satellite states within the Eastern Bloc, such as the People 's Republic of Poland, the People 's Republic of Bulgaria, the People 's Republic of Hungary, the Czechoslovak Republic, the People 's Republic of Romania, and the People 's Republic of Albania. The Soviets later formed the puppet state of East Germany ( officially the German Democratic Republic ) from the Soviet zone of German occupation. Previous major conferences Yalta Conference, 4 to 11 February 1945 Second Quebec Conference, 12 to 16 September 1944 Tehran Conference, 28 November to 1 December 1943 Cairo Conference, 22 to 26 November 1943 Casablanca Conference, 14 to 24 January 1943 See also Diplomatic history of World War II List of Soviet Union -- United States summits Notes Jump up ^ Description of photograph, Truman Library. Jump up ^ `` Avalon Project - A Decade of American Foreign Policy 1941 - 1949 - Potsdam Conference ''. Avalon.law.yale.edu. Retrieved 20 March 2013. Jump up ^ Russia ( USSR ) / Poland Treaty ( with annexed maps ) concerning the Demarcation of the Existing Soviet - Polish State Frontier in the Sector Adjoining the Baltic Sea 5 March 1957 ( retrieved from the UN Delimitation Treaties Infobase, accessed on 18 March 2002 ) Jump up ^ `` Potsdam - Conference '' Encyclopædia Britannica Jump up ^ `` BBC Fact File : Potsdam Conference ''. Bbc.co.uk. 2 August 1945. Retrieved 20 March 2013. Jump up ^ Leffler, Melvyn P., `` For the South of Mankind : The United States, the Soviet Union and the Cold War, First Edition, ( New York, 2007 ) pg 31 Jump up ^ Miscamble 2007, p. 51 Jump up ^ Miscamble 2007, p. 52 ^ Jump up to : George Lenczowski, American Presidents and the Middle East, ( 1990 ), pp7 - 13 Jump up ^ Hunt, Michael ( 2013 ). The World Transformed. Oxford University Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780199371020. Jump up ^ Hunt, Michael ( 2013 ). The World Transformed : 1945 to the Present. Oxford University Press. p. 35. Jump up ^ Harry S. Truman, Memoirs, Vol. 1 : Year of Decisions ( 1955 ), p. 380, cited in Lenczowski, American Presidents, p. 10 Jump up ^ Nash, Gary B. `` The Troublesome Polish Question. '' The American People : Creating a Nation and a Society. New York : Pearson Longman, 2008. Print. Jump up ^ Alfred de Zayas Nemesis at Potsdam, Routledge, London 1977. See also conference on `` Potsdamer Konferenz 60 Jahre danach '' hosted by the Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Berlin on 19. August 2005 PDF Seite 37 et seq. Jump up ^ James Stewart Martin. All Honorable Men ( 1950 ) p. 191. Jump up ^ `` Mokusatsu : One Word, Two Lessons '' ( PDF ). Retrieved 20 March 2013. Jump up ^ Putz, Catherine ( 18 May 2016 ). `` What If the United States Had Told the Soviet Union About the Bomb ? ''. The Diplomat. Retrieved 8 July 2016. Jump up ^ Nichols, Tom ( 12 April 2016 ). `` Simply No Other Choice : Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan ''. National Interest.org. Retrieved 21 April 2016. Jump up ^ Granville, Johanna, The First Domino : International Decision Making during the Hungarian Crisis of 1956, Texas A&M University Press, 2004. ISBN 1 - 58544 - 298 - 4 Jump up ^ Grenville 2005, pp. 370 -- 71 Jump up ^ The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. Jump up ^ Cook 2001, p. 17 Jump up ^ Wettig 2008, pp. 96 -- 100 References Cook, Bernard A. ( 2001 ), Europe Since 1945 : An Encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0 - 8153 - 4057 - 5 Crampton, R.J. ( 1997 ), Eastern Europe in the twentieth century and after, Routledge, ISBN 0 - 415 - 16422 - 2 Miscamble, Wilson D. ( 2007 ), From Roosevelt to Truman : Potsdam, Hiroshima, and the Cold War, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0 - 521 - 86244 - 2 Roberts, Geoffrey ( 2002 ), Stalin, the Pact with Nazi Germany, and the Origins of Postwar Soviet Diplomatic Historiography, 4 ( 4 ) Wettig, Gerhard ( 2008 ), Stalin and the Cold War in Europe, Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 0 - 7425 - 5542 - 9 Further reading Michael Beschloss. The Conquerors : Roosevelt, Truman, and the destruction of Hitler 's Germany, 1941 - 1945 ( Simon & Schuster, 2002 ) ISBN 0684810271 Farquharson, J.E. `` Anglo - American Policy on German Reparations from Yalta to Potsdam. '' English Historical Review 1997 112 ( 448 ) : 904 -- 926. in JSTOR Feis, Herbert. Between War and Peace : The Potsdam Conference ( Princeton University Press, 1960 ) OCLC 259319 Pulitzer Prize ; online Gimbel, John. `` On the Implementation of the Potsdam Agreement : an Essay on U.S. Postwar German Policy. '' Political Science Quarterly 1972 87 ( 2 ) : 242 -- 269. in JSTOR Gormly, James L. From Potsdam to the Cold War : Big Three Diplomacy, 1945 -- 1947. ( Scholarly Resources, 1990 ) Mee, Charles L., Jr. Meeting at Potsdam. M. Evans & Company, 1975. ISBN 0871311674 Naimark, Norman. Fires of Hatred. Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth - Century Europe ( Harvard University Press, 2001 ) ISBN 0674003136 Neiberg, Michael. Potsdam : the End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe ( Basic Books, 2015 ) ISBN 9780465075256 Thackrah, J.R. `` Aspects of American and British Policy Towards Poland from the Yalta to the Potsdam Conferences, 1945. '' Polish Review 1976 21 ( 4 ) : 3 -- 34. in JSTOR Zayas, Alfred M. de. Nemesis at Potsdam : The Anglo - Americans and the Expulsion of the Germans, Background, Execution, Consequences. Routledge, 1977. ISBN 0710004583 Primary sources Foreign Relations of the United States : Diplomatic Papers. The Conference of Berlin ( Potsdam Conference, 1945 ) 2 vols. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1960 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Potsdam Conference. Agreements of the Berlin ( Potsdam ) Conference Truman and the Potsdam Conference Annotated bibliography for the Potsdam Conference from the Alsos Digital Library The Potsdam Conference, July -- August 1945 on navy.mil United States Department of State Foreign relations of the United States : diplomatic papers : the Conference of Berlin ( the Potsdam Conference ) 1945 Volume I Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1945 United States Department of State Foreign relations of the United States : diplomatic papers : the Conference of Berlin ( the Potsdam Conference ) 1945 Volume II Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1945 European Advisory Commission, Austria, Germany Foreign relations of the United States : diplomatic papers, 1945. Harry Truman Revisionist Analysis of Potsdam Conference Shapell Manuscript Foundation Cornerstone of Steel, Time magazine, 21 January 1946 Cost of Defeat, Time magazine, 8 April 1946 Pas de Pagaille ! Time magazine, 28 July 1947 Interview with James W. Riddleberger Chief, Division of Central European Affairs, U.S. Dept. of State, 1944 -- 47 `` The Myth of Potsdam, '' in B. Heuser et al., eds., Myths in History ( Providence, Rhode Island and Oxford : Berghahn, 1998 ) `` The United States, France, and the Question of German Power, 1945 -- 1960, '' in Stephen Schuker, ed., Deutschland und Frankreich vom Konflikt zur Aussöhnung : Die Gestaltung der westeuropäischen Sicherheit 1914 -- 1963, Schriften des Historischen Kollegs, Kolloquien 46 ( Munich : Oldenbourg, 2000 ). U.S. Economic Policy Towards defeated countries April 1946. 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Truman 33rd President of the United States ( 1945 -- 1953 ) 34th Vice President of the United States ( 1945 ) U.S. Senator from Missouri ( 1935 -- 1945 ) Presidency 1945 inauguration 1949 inauguration Potsdam Conference Agreement on Europe Declaration to Japan Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Fair Deal Mental Health Act National Institute of Mental Health National School Lunch Act Employment Act of 1946 Council of Economic Advisers Truman Doctrine Marshall Plan Loyalty Order National Security Act of 1947 Joint Chiefs of Staff National Security Council Department of the Air Force Central Intelligence Agency Key West Agreement Joint Long Range Proving Grounds Revolt of the Admirals Committee on Civil Rights Integration of the Armed Forces Housing Act of 1949 North Atlantic Treaty NATO Assassination attempt Korean War U.N. 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Eisenhower → Category Winston Churchill Life Winston Churchill as historian Winston Churchill as painter Winston Churchill as writer Winston Churchill in politics, 1900 -- 1939 Timeline War Rooms conferences Percentages agreement Statement on Atrocities European Advisory Commission Honours of Winston Churchill Later life of Winston Churchill The Other Club Blenheim Palace Chartwell St Martin 's Church, Bladon Writings The Story of the Malakand Field Force ( 1898 ) Savrola ( 1899 novel ) The River War ( 1899 ) London to Ladysmith via Pretoria ( 1900 ) Ian Hamilton 's March ( 1900 ) Lord Randolph Churchill ( 1906 ) The World Crisis ( 1923 -- 1931, five volumes ) My Early Life ( 1930 ) Marlborough : His Life and Times ( 1933 -- 1938, four volumes ) Great Contemporaries ( 1937 ) Arms and the Covenant ( 1938 ) The Second World War ( 1948 -- 1963, six volumes ) A History of the English - Speaking Peoples ( 1956 -- 1958, four volumes ) Speeches `` Blood, toil, tears, and sweat '' `` Be ye men of valour '' `` We shall fight on the beaches '' `` This was their finest hour '' `` Never was so much owed by so many to so few '' `` Iron Curtain '' Legacy and depictions Palace of Westminster statue Parliament Square statue Washington, DC, statue Epstein bust Memorial Trusts Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Centre US Churchill Museum Cultural depictions Churchillian Drift Related Norway Debate Terminological inexactitude Siege of Sidney Street Tonypandy Riots Sword of Stalingrad Operation Unthinkable Family Lord Randolph Churchill ( father ) Jennie Jerome, Lady Randolph Churchill ( mother ) John Strange Spencer - Churchill ( brother ) Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer - Churchill ( wife ) Diana Churchill ( daughter ) Randolph Churchill ( son ) Sarah Churchill ( daughter ) Marigold Churchill ( daughter ) Mary Soames, Baroness Soames ( daughter ) Descendants John Spencer - Churchill ( grandfather ) Frances Anne Spencer - Churchill ( grandmother ) Leonard Jerome ( grandfather ) Clarissa Eden ( niece ) GND : 4076285 - 3 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Potsdam_Conference&oldid=801424763 '' Categories : Aftermath of World War II World War II conferences Germany -- Soviet Union relations Poland -- Soviet Union relations Foreign relations of the Soviet Union Diplomatic conferences in Germany Soviet Union -- United States diplomatic conferences Poland -- United Kingdom relations History of Potsdam 1945 conferences 1945 in Germany 1945 in international relations British Empire in World War II July 1945 events August 1945 events Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from August 2013 Articles containing German - language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from February 2007 Articles with unsourced statements from March 2008 Articles with unsourced statements from January 2016 Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Aragonés Azərbaycanca Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Български Català Čeština Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Frysk Galego 한국어 Հայերեն Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית ქართული Қазақша Latviešu Lietuvių Magyar Bahasa Melayu Монгол Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча Polski Português Română Русский Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska ไทย Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 吴语 粵語 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 19 September 2017, at 16 : 03. 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Question: where did the allied leaders meet in july of 1945 to discuss how germany was to be punished
Answer: Potsdam, occupied Germany