Who participated in the Potsdam Conference and what were the details of this conference?
The leaders of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union—the Big Three powers who had defeated Nazi Germany—met at the Potsdam Conference near Berlin from July 17 to August 2, 1945, in what was a crucial moment in defining the new, post-World War II balance of power.
Who attended the Potsdam Conference quizlet?
July 26, 1945 – Allied leaders Truman, Stalin and Churchill met in Germany to set up zones of control and to inform the Japanese that if they refused to surrender at once, they would face total destruction.
Who represented the Allies at the Potsdam Conference?
They were represented respectively by General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee, and President Harry S. Truman. They gathered to decide how to administer Germany, which had agreed to an unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier.
Who represented each nation at Potsdam?
The meeting at Potsdam was the third conference between the leaders of the Big Three nations. The Soviet Union was represented by Joseph Stalin, Britain by Winston Churchill, and the United States by President Harry S. Truman.
Why is Potsdam Conference important?
The Potsdam Conference is perhaps best known for President Truman’s July 24, 1945 conversation with Stalin, during which time the President informed the Soviet leader that the United States had successfully detonated the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945.
What was Potsdam Conference quizlet?
The Potsdam Conference resulted in divisions of Germany through reparations of each allied sides occupation zones, and divisions of European countries between the US and the USSR. After the division between the free world and communist camps, Stalin brought down an Iron Curtain to keep invasions from the West out.
Who were the big three?
In World War II, the three great Allied powers—Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union—formed a Grand Alliance that was the key to victory. But the alliance partners did not share common political aims, and did not always agree on how the war should be fought.
Which countries were members of the Allies at the start of the war which country joined the Allies in 1941?
… World War II the chief Allied powers were Great Britain, France (except during the German occupation, 1940–44), the Soviet Union (after its entry in June 1941), the United States (after its entry on December 8, 1941), and China.
How did the Allies divide Germany at the Potsdam Conference?
How did the Allies divide Germany at the Potsdam Conference? They divided it into four zones. One for us, one for Britain, one for France, and one for the Soviet Union.
Who signed the Potsdam Declaration?
On July 26, 1945, United States President Harry S. Truman, United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chairman of China Chiang Kai-shek issued the document, which outlined the terms of surrender for the Empire of Japan, as agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference.
What was disagreed at the Potsdam Conference?
DisagreementsEdit They disagreed over what to do about Germany. They disagreed over Soviet policy in eastern Europe. Truman was unhappy of Russian intentions. Stalin wanted to cripple Germany, Truman did not want to repeat the mistakes of Versailles.
Why did Japan reject the Potsdam Declaration?
But many months after their surrender, Hirohito, Kido, and Foreign Minister Togo Shigenori placed all blame on the military and claimed that they had been forced to reject the Potsdam terms because they feared precipitating a military coup d’etat which would have threatened their lives and brought about a worse …
Overview
Aftermath
Truman had mentioned an unspecified “powerful new weapon” to Stalin during the conference. Towards the end of the conference, on July 26, the Potsdam Declaration gave Japan an ultimatum to surrender unconditionally or meet “prompt and utter destruction”, which did not mention the new bomb but promised that “it was not intended to enslave Japan”. The Soviet Union was not involved in that declaration since it was still neutral in the war against Japan. Japanese Prime M…
Relationships among leaders
A number of changes had taken place in the five months since the Yalta Conference and greatly affected the relationships among the leaders. The Soviets occupied Central and Eastern Europe, and the Red Army effectively controlled the Baltic States, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. Refugees fled from those countries. Stalin had set up a puppet communist government in Poland, insisted that his control of Eastern Europe was a defensive measure agai…
Agreements
At the end of the conference, the three heads of government agreed on the following actions. All other issues were to be resolved by the final peace conference, which was to be called as soon as possible.
• The Allies issued a statement of aims for their occupation of Germany: demilitarization, denazification, democratization, decentralization, dismantling, a…
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
See also
• Diplomatic history of World War II
• Foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration
• List of Soviet Union–United States summits
• Origins of the Cold War
Sources and further reading
• Beschloss, Michael. The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman, and the destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1941–1945 (Simon & Schuster, 2002) ISBN 0684810271
• Cecil, Robert. “Potsdam and its Legends.” International Affairs 46.3 (1970): 455-465. online
• Cook, Bernard A. (2001), Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-8153-4057-5
External links
• Agreements of the Berlin (Potsdam) Conference
• Truman and the Potsdam Conference, lesson plan for secondary schools
• EDSITEment’s lesson Sources of Discord, 1945–1946
• Annotated bibliography for the Potsdam Conference from the Alsos Digital Library