Yalta and Potsdam conferences

• By early 1945, it was clear that Germany would be defeated. The minds of the Allied leaders turned to the problems that peace would bring. To discuss these matters, they met for conferences at Yalta and Potsdam.
• The aims of these conferences was to discuss the challenges that the defeat of Germany would bring. These were:

-what to do with Germany and its leaders once Germany had surrendered

-what was to happen to the occupied countries after they had been liberated, especially the countries of Eastern Europe

-how to bring the war with Japn to a steady end

-how to create and maintain a peace that would last.

The Yalta Conference, February 1945

At the Yalta conference, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin got on well together despite their differences. The following points were agreed:

• Germany would be divided into four zones. These would run by the USA, France, Britain and the USSR.
• Germany's capital city, Berlin (which was in the Soviet Zone) would also be split into four parts.
•  The countries of Eastern Europe…