Agreements Reached At Yalta

Agreements Reached At Yalta

At that time, the Soviet army occupied Poland entirely and held much of Eastern Europe with a military power three times greater than the Allied forces of the West. [Citation required] The declaration of the liberated Europe has little to do to dispel the sphere of influence of the agreements that had been incorporated into ceasefire agreements. Since 1945, and particularly during the Cold War, the Yalta agreements have been criticized in hindsight, particularly in the United States. President Roosevelt, who died just two months after the conference, was accused by some of handing Over Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe to Stalin and of allowing the Soviet Union to establish itself in the Far East against the promise of Russian intervention in the war against Japan. At the time, despite some disappointments that were not immediately made public, the results of the conference were generally considered positive. Time magazine said that „all doubts about the ability of the Big Three to work together in peace and war now seem to have disappeared.“ A verdict on which James Byrnes agreed at the time: „That`s how I felt. There is no doubt that the flow of Anglo-Soviet-American friendship has reached a new height. Charles Chip Bohlen of the US State Department, who played the role of Russian interpreter of the FDR, felt that each of the „big three“ had achieved its main objectives in Yalta, but acknowledged that there was „a sense of frustration and bitterness towards Poland“. For U.S. and British professional diplomats such as Bohlen, the Yalta agreements seemed superficial „realistic compromises between the different positions of each country.“ Stalin had made a real concession by finally accepting a French area in Germany, while Churchill and Roosevelt had talked a lot about Poland. But even then, Mr Bohlen thought that the plan, as it was finally agreed, would have led to a truly democratic Polish government if it had been implemented.

The first reaction to the Yalta Accords was solemn. Roosevelt and many other Americans saw this as proof that the spirit of US-Soviet war cooperation would be transmitted until the post-war period. But this feeling was only short-lived. With the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, Harry S. Truman became the 33rd President of the United States. At the end of April, the new government clashed with the Soviets over its influence in Eastern Europe and the United Nations. Concerned about the lack of cooperation felt by the Soviets, many Americans began to criticize the way Roosevelt negotiated the Yalta negotiations.

Back

This is a unique website which will require a more modern browser to work!

Please upgrade today!

Share