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Authors: Thomas R. Flagel
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peace talks. No negotiating.
At Casablanca, Roosevelt and Churchill also tried to unite French forces under Henri Giraud (far left) with Charles de Gaulle (second from right).
A popular myth emerged that the president’s statement was a slip of the tongue, that he neither desired it as a war aim nor discussed the idea with others. In reality, Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s cabinets had already debated the issue and agreed to it. But Roosevelt gave the prime minister no warning that he was going to unveil the policy at that time. 18
From that day forward, a full fifteen months after the United States had joined in the war, the Allies had a finite, definable, and shared goal. 19
For unknown reasons, both Roosevelt and Churchill were extremely ill for a month after Casablanca.
8. THE TEHRAN CONFERENCE (NOVEMBER 28–DECEMBER 1, 1943)
It was the first conference of “the Big Three” and the first ever meeting between an American president and a Soviet leader. Topics were kept at a high level, with specifics to be laid out in future meetings. Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan sometime after the war in Europe reached a favorable end. Roosevelt outlined an intent to retake Burma.
On points of contention, the odd man out was routinely Churchill. He failed to convince his associates of pulling Turkey into the war. He also argued unsuccessfully for a greater commitment to a Balkan campaign (similar to a plan he had espoused during World War I) or a renewed effort to reach Germany through Italy. On several occasions he recommended delaying the invasion of France beyond the target of mid-1944, fearing a replay of Dunkirk and D IEPPE . Roosevelt and Stalin were jointly opposed. And so went most of the meetings. 20
At Tehran, the Big Three—Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin—finalized plans for a two-front assault on Germany and the Soviet Union’s later commitment against Japan in the Pacific.
On his impression of Stalin, Roosevelt optimistically observed, “I believe that we are going to get along very well with him and the Russian people—very well indeed.” Churchill, sensing his less-than-equal status at the conference, equated the situation with being a “poor little English donkey” stuck between a Russian bear and an American buffalo. 21
Churchill hosted a lavish dinner on the third night of the conference, which happened to be his sixty-ninth birthday. When Stalin arrived, Churchill welcomed his guest with a warm greeting and an outstretched hand. Stalin ignored him.
9. THE YALTA CONFERENCE (FEBRUARY 4–11, 1945)
Roosevelt came to the Crimea with two goals in mind: to ensure the defeat of Japan and to create the foundation of a United Nations. Both objectives, he believed, required the Soviet Union.
Stalin again pledged to fight the Japanese Empire, committing the Red Army to attack Manchuria three months after peace in Europe. In exchange, the Soviet leader demanded the Kurile Islands and the southern half of Sakhalin Island. On the United Nations, Stalin agreed to Soviet participation, provided the Soviet Union had sixteen seats, one for each Soviet state plus the USSR as a whole. Roosevelt and Churchill talked him down to three.
All agreed that Germany and Austria would be divided, demilitarized, and de-Nazified. Stalin suggested taking cash reparations from Germany, which would be split among the Big Three. Remembering how reparations had ruined the Treaty of Versailles, Churchill rejected the idea.
Most of the conference was spent on Poland, its borders, and its government. Stalin had already installed a provisional government, one very sympathetic to Soviet interests. Yet he promised to uphold the Declaration of Liberated Europe, forged earlier at the Yalta conference, which guaranteed “the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live.” 22
Historians commonly consider the conference to be “Year Zero” of the cold war, when a visibly dying
At Casablanca, Roosevelt and Churchill also tried to unite French forces under Henri Giraud (far left) with Charles de Gaulle (second from right).
A popular myth emerged that the president’s statement was a slip of the tongue, that he neither desired it as a war aim nor discussed the idea with others. In reality, Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s cabinets had already debated the issue and agreed to it. But Roosevelt gave the prime minister no warning that he was going to unveil the policy at that time. 18
From that day forward, a full fifteen months after the United States had joined in the war, the Allies had a finite, definable, and shared goal. 19
For unknown reasons, both Roosevelt and Churchill were extremely ill for a month after Casablanca.
8. THE TEHRAN CONFERENCE (NOVEMBER 28–DECEMBER 1, 1943)
It was the first conference of “the Big Three” and the first ever meeting between an American president and a Soviet leader. Topics were kept at a high level, with specifics to be laid out in future meetings. Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan sometime after the war in Europe reached a favorable end. Roosevelt outlined an intent to retake Burma.
On points of contention, the odd man out was routinely Churchill. He failed to convince his associates of pulling Turkey into the war. He also argued unsuccessfully for a greater commitment to a Balkan campaign (similar to a plan he had espoused during World War I) or a renewed effort to reach Germany through Italy. On several occasions he recommended delaying the invasion of France beyond the target of mid-1944, fearing a replay of Dunkirk and D IEPPE . Roosevelt and Stalin were jointly opposed. And so went most of the meetings. 20
At Tehran, the Big Three—Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin—finalized plans for a two-front assault on Germany and the Soviet Union’s later commitment against Japan in the Pacific.
On his impression of Stalin, Roosevelt optimistically observed, “I believe that we are going to get along very well with him and the Russian people—very well indeed.” Churchill, sensing his less-than-equal status at the conference, equated the situation with being a “poor little English donkey” stuck between a Russian bear and an American buffalo. 21
Churchill hosted a lavish dinner on the third night of the conference, which happened to be his sixty-ninth birthday. When Stalin arrived, Churchill welcomed his guest with a warm greeting and an outstretched hand. Stalin ignored him.
9. THE YALTA CONFERENCE (FEBRUARY 4–11, 1945)
Roosevelt came to the Crimea with two goals in mind: to ensure the defeat of Japan and to create the foundation of a United Nations. Both objectives, he believed, required the Soviet Union.
Stalin again pledged to fight the Japanese Empire, committing the Red Army to attack Manchuria three months after peace in Europe. In exchange, the Soviet leader demanded the Kurile Islands and the southern half of Sakhalin Island. On the United Nations, Stalin agreed to Soviet participation, provided the Soviet Union had sixteen seats, one for each Soviet state plus the USSR as a whole. Roosevelt and Churchill talked him down to three.
All agreed that Germany and Austria would be divided, demilitarized, and de-Nazified. Stalin suggested taking cash reparations from Germany, which would be split among the Big Three. Remembering how reparations had ruined the Treaty of Versailles, Churchill rejected the idea.
Most of the conference was spent on Poland, its borders, and its government. Stalin had already installed a provisional government, one very sympathetic to Soviet interests. Yet he promised to uphold the Declaration of Liberated Europe, forged earlier at the Yalta conference, which guaranteed “the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live.” 22
Historians commonly consider the conference to be “Year Zero” of the cold war, when a visibly dying
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