The Grand Alliance

The Grand Alliance

The Soviet Union allied with Britain and the USA during the second world war in what became known as the Grand Alliance. During the war, the Grand Alliance held 2 conferences. The first meeting of the 'Big Three' Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, was in Tehran, November 1943. The second was in Yalta, a Soviet resort on the Black Sea in 1945.

Tehran, 1943

Roosevelt wanted to improve relations between the three and therefore agreed to hold the conference in Tehran, Iran near to the Soviet Union. The meeting was mainly a success for Stalin. Roosevelt was ill during the conference and tended to side with Stalin as oppose to Churchill. Churchill's idea of an allied invasion through the Balkans, thereby preventing the Red Army from taking over all of eastern Europe, was rejected. Tension rose.

The main agreements were:

• Britain and USA agreed to open up a second front by invading France in May 1944.
• The Soviet Union was to wage war against Japan once Germany was defeated.
• A United Nations organisation was to be set up after the war.
• An area of eastern Poland was added to the Soviet Union. At the insistence of Stalin, the borders of post-war Poland were to be along the Oder and Neisse rivers.

Yalta, 1945

In early 1945, Germany was close to defeat. The three met up in Yalta to discuss what was to be done with Germany and Europe once victory had been achieved. This was to be the last meeting of the three as within months, Roosevelt had died and Churchill had lost the general election. Stalin wanted Germany to pay huge reparations whereas Roosevelt and Stalin didn't think it was a good idea to punish Germany too harshly. Roosevelt and Stalin shared a warm relationship and due to this, Churchill felt isolated for most of the conference.

The main agreements were:

• The Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan once Germany had surrendered.
• Germany was to be divided into four zones: US, British, French and Soviet (Trizonia).
• Berlin was to be divided in the same way.
• Nazi war criminals were to be hunted down and tried in an international court of justice.
• Countries that had been liberated from occupation by the German army were to be allowed to have free elections and be…