At the Potsdam Conference, the leaders of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union鈥攖he 鈥淏ig Three鈥 powers who had defeated Nazi Germany鈥攎et in the city of Potsdam near Berlin. Their meeting lasted from July 17 to August 2, 1945, during what was a crucial moment in defining the post-World War II balance of power. The summit also gave an early hint of the tensions that would develop between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, which eventually led to a Cold War struggle that lasted for more than four decades.
The conference was attended by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was abruptly replaced on July 26 by his successor Clement Attlee, after results of the British election were announced.
Truman in Europe
The conference came just three months after Truman took over the presidency following the death of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt. As historian recounts in his 1992 biography, Truman, the new president wasn鈥檛 eager to go so soon for his first meeting with the other two leaders of the Big Three that had defeated Nazi Germany.
鈥淚 have a briefcase filled up with information on past conferences and suggestions on what I鈥檓 to do and say,鈥 he wrote in a letter to his mother and sister. Nevertheless, he sailed to Europe on the U.S. cruiser Augusta, his first visit to the continent since he had fought in World War I.
After Truman arrived, he got a chance to tour the conquered city of Berlin, where he was disturbed by hordes of homeless civilians, many of them children, struggling to survive in the bombed-out ruins. Truman later described Berlin as 鈥渁 ghost city鈥 in a to Americans.
Germany's Fate After World War II
Germany鈥檚 fate after the war was an important topic of the conference. According to the U.S. State Department鈥檚, Stalin had pressured FDR at the previous Yalta Conference in February 1945 to force the defeated Germans to pay heavy postwar reparations, half of which would go to the Soviet Union. Roosevelt had agreed to that demand.
But Truman, who was keenly aware that similar economic punishment inflicted upon the Germans after World War I had led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism, was determined not to make the same mistake. Ultimately, the Allies worked out a deal in which the Soviets got to take German industrial machinery from their occupation zone.
Potsdam Agreement
The Big Three worked out many of the details of the postwar order in the, signed on August 1. They confirmed plans to disarm and demilitarize Germany, which would be divided into four Allied occupation zones controlled by the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union.
They also went ahead with plans to drastically remake German society, by repealing laws passed by the Nazi regime and removing Nazis from the German education and court systems, and to arrest and try Germans who had committed war crimes.
They also approved the formation of a Council of Foreign Ministers, which would act on behalf of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China to write peace treaties with former German allies, such as Italy and Bulgaria.
The Potsdam Agreement also called for Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, which wanted to expel the ethnic German populations within their borders, to do so 鈥渋n an orderly and humane manner.鈥
The idea was to head off a massive influx of refugees into a Germany where existing residents already were having difficulty getting by. But the redrawing of Poland鈥檚 border with Germany was left unresolved.
Pressuring Japan to Exit the War
Another important purpose of the Potsdam Conference was to pressure Japan, which was still in the war. To that end, on July 26, the United States and Great Britain, along with China, issued the, which threatened a massive aerial and naval attack and land invasion that would 鈥渟trike the final blows upon Japan,鈥 unless the Japanese agreed to surrender.
The declaration laid out the Allies鈥 non-negotiable terms for peace, which included unconditional surrender and disarming of the Japanese military, occupation of Japan 鈥渦ntil there is convincing proof that Japan鈥檚 war-making power is destroyed鈥 and trials for Japanese war criminals, and creation of a democratic system of government with freedom of speech and other rights for citizens.
In exchange, Japan would be allowed to maintain industries that were unrelated to war and have access to raw materials, and eventually would be permitted to resume international trade.
Atomic Diplomacy
Just before the conference began, Truman got the secret news of the successful Trinity test of the atomic bomb by Manhattan Project scientists, and apparently decided to use that knowledge to give him a negotiating advantage over Stalin.
At the close of an afternoon meeting of July 24, Truman walked over to Stalin and that the U.S. had developed 鈥渁 new weapon of unusual destructive force,鈥 more powerful than any known bomb, and planned to use it soon unless Japan surrendered.
Probably to Truman鈥檚 surprise, Stalin didn鈥檛 seem too interested in the revelation. 鈥淎ll he said was that he was glad to hear it, and hoped we would make 鈥榞ood use of it against the Japanese,鈥欌 Truman later recalled. The reason behind Stalin's mild reaction was that he had and already knew about the U.S. atomic weapons program. The Soviet leader didn鈥檛 budge from his negotiating positions.
Potsdam was the final time that leaders of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union, who had maintained a tense alliance despite their differences during the war, would meet to discuss postwar cooperation.
Sources
鈥淭he Potsdam Conference, 1945.鈥 Office of the Historian, .
Truman, by David McCullough, 1992, June 1992. .
鈥淭he Potsdam Agreement: Protocol of the Proceedings,鈥 August 1, 1945. .
鈥淔oreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, the Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference),鈥 1945, Volume II, .
鈥楬e is honest 鈥 but smart as hell鈥: When Truman met Stalin,鈥 by Kristine Phillips, July 17,2018, .
鈥淩adio Report to the American People on the Potsdam Conference, August 09, 1945.鈥 .
