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Yalta Conference 1945 - Stalin I.V. Roosevelt F.D. Churchill W.

The Yalta or Crimean conference became another meeting of the leaders of Great Britain, the USSR, the USA during the Second World War. The meeting took place in 1945 in February. The city of Yalta on the Crimean peninsula was chosen as the place. The conference was held for 8 days, which resulted in the signing of a number of acts that predetermined the system of the future world order and in Europe in particular.

Conference participants

The conference was attended by representatives of three member states of the anti-Hitler coalition: Winston Churchill from Great Britain, Joseph Stalin from the USSR, Franklin Roosevelt from the USA. Accordingly, all three delegates were leaders and heads of their states.

Separate palaces were allocated for each representative. So, Stalin and the delegates from the USSR settled in, located in a small village near Yalta. The palace was built in the 19th century.

Roosevelt and representatives of the American delegation were stationed at 3 km. from Yalta itself. It is worth noting that it was in the Livadia Palace that all significant meetings of the participants of the Yalta Conference took place.

The British delegation, headed by Prime Minister Churchill, settled in the city, located at the foot of the famous.

Conference Venue

Meeting of Foreign Ministers - Crimean (Yalta) Conference 1945

Some sources indicate that the initiative to hold the conference in Yalta came personally from Stalin, who sought to demonstrate the decisive role of the USSR in the fight against Nazi Germany. Other sources refer to the fact that Yalta was chosen by the American president because of his state of health. As you know, the Crimea is a resort and health resort, and Roosevelt at that time was experiencing serious health problems.

In February 1945, 9 months have passed since the Crimea was liberated from the occupation of German troops. Yalta itself was not in the best condition. To this end, as part of preparations for the meeting of the coalition leaders, over a few months, about 1,500 wagons of building materials, equipment, and furniture were delivered to the city.

All meetings of delegations within the framework of the conference were held in the largest hall of the Livadia Palace - the White Hall. For this, a large round negotiating table was equipped in its very center.

Agreements reached within the framework of the conference

At the Yalta Conference, many agreements were reached regarding the interests of each of the participating parties.

1. The leaders decided to divide Germany into occupation zones. It was assumed that each side would get a certain part of the country's territory, on which military bases would be created. A decision was made on the complete disarmament of Germany, the complete elimination of the Nazi regime in it.
2. It was at the Yalta Conference that the first agreements were reached on the creation of the United Nations Organization, which would regulate international problems by peaceful means. At the same time, the date of the first conference within the framework of the creation of the UN was set.
3. The parties signed the "Declaration on liberated Europe", which emphasized that the liberated peoples of Eastern Europe would be restored in their rights, but at the same time indicated the possibility of the victorious countries to "help" them in this.
4. The issue with the structure of Poland was actually resolved. At the initiative of the USSR, an alternative government was formed there, consisting of both communists and democrats. In fact, the USSR secured for itself in the future the opportunity to establish a regime convenient for itself in Poland.
5. Agreements have been reached on future borders between the countries. This question was fundamental and meant the division of spheres of influence in the future Europe.
6. A compromise was found regarding compensation to the victorious countries for the damage caused by Germany. Thus, the USSR received the right to claim half of all compensation paid by Germany to Great Britain and the USA.
7. According to the results of the Yalta Conference, the USSR expanded its territory by returning the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin in the future. The Soviet military had the opportunity to use the base in the city of Port Arthur as a lease, as well as the Chinese Eastern Railway.
8. At the conference, the leaders of the three states agreed on the return to the USSR of people liberated or captured in those areas that were captured by US and British troops.
9. Finally, during the conference, the leaders of the so-called "Big Three" resolved the question of the future structure of Yugoslavia and Greece.

Significance of the Yalta Conference for History

The conference in Yalta became a world-class event. It was made fateful decisions for millions of people. The very meeting of the leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition showed that states of different ideologies can cooperate with each other and jointly solve common world problems. The Yalta conference was the last meeting of the leaders of the three countries in such a composition, as well as the last conference of the pre-nuclear world era.

It was the Yalta Conference that predetermined and actually formalized the division of the world into two camps, which in the future will compete with each other for spheres of influence in the world.

Such a system was able to exist for half a century until the very moment of the collapse of the USSR, but many decisions that were made at meetings within the framework of the conference are still in effect. So, the UN still exists, the borders of European states have practically remained unchanged, the only exception being the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 90s. XX century. The agreements of the conference are still in force regarding the integrity of China, the independence of the two Koreas - South and North.

The agreement between the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, reached at the conference regarding the border between the USSR and Japan, still remains in force and has not changed for 70 years.
The results of the conference are still the subject of political disputes and mutual accusations. The decisions taken by the leaders of the participating states are currently interpreted and used by the warring parties as a propaganda policy.

The code word for all meetings related to the organization of the conference and meetings at it was the word "Argonaut". This idea was proposed by British Prime Minister Churchill. The word was not taken by chance, as it is a reference to the ancient Greek myth about the Argonauts who were looking for the Golden Fleece. Churchill associated the Crimea with the city of Colchis, which the Argonauts were looking for. Churchill and Roosevelt called themselves Argonauts. Stalin reluctantly agreed to such a variant of the code word.
It is known that it was Churchill who most of all did not want to go to Yalta, calling the Crimean climate and conditions in the city terrible.

There were no reporters at the conference itself. Churchill took the initiative to make the meeting informal. Only a few war photographers were invited from each side and took a small number of pictures. It is known that the leaders of the USA and the USSR welcomed this initiative.
The Yalta Conference could well have been held in Odessa and called the Odessa Conference. Odessa was considered as a fallback in case there was bad weather in the Crimea.

The most recent leader to leave Yalta was Winston Churchill. The conference itself ended on February 11, and the British prime minister flew out of Crimea only on February 14, having visited. It was in this place in 1854-1855. In the framework of the Crimean War, British troops fought on the side of the Ottoman Empire against the troops of the Russian Empire.

Monument dedicated to the conference

The idea of ​​erecting a monument dedicated to the Yalta Conference arose many years later. The sculptor Zurab Tsereteli set about implementing the idea. In 2005, a monument was prepared depicting the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain sitting on chairs. The weight of the composition was within 10 tons, and bronze was chosen as the material. It was assumed that the monument would be installed in Livadia in the same 2005 on the anniversary of the conference. The event did not take place due to the protests of a number of Ukrainian parties. Only in 2014, the monument was transferred to the Crimea, and on February 5, 2015, it was solemnly opened as part of the 70th anniversary of the conference itself.

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The presented work is devoted to the topic "Yalta Conference of 1945". The problem of this study has relevance in the modern world. This is evidenced by the frequent study of the issues raised. The topic "Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945" is being studied at the junction of several interrelated disciplines at once. Many works have been devoted to research questions. Basically, the material presented in the educational literature is of a general nature, and in monographs on this topic, narrower issues of the “Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945” are considered. However, it is required to take into account modern conditions in the study of the problems of the designated topic.

The high significance and insufficient practical development of the "Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945" determine the undoubted novelty of this study. Further attention to the issue of the "Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945" is necessary in order to more deeply and substantiate the resolution of particular topical problems of the subject of this study.

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The Crimean (Yalta) Conference of the Allied Powers (February 4 - 11, 1945) is one of the meetings of the leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, dedicated to the establishment of a post-war world order. The conference was held at the Livadia Palace in Yalta, Crimea.

In 1943, in Tehran, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill discussed mainly the problem of achieving victory over the Third Reich; between the winning countries.

By that time, the collapse of Nazism was no longer in doubt, and victory over Germany was only a matter of time - as a result of powerful offensive strikes by the Soviet troops, hostilities were transferred to German territory, and the war entered its final stage. The fate of Japan also did not raise any special questions, since the United States already controlled almost the entire Pacific Ocean. The Allies understood that they had a unique chance to manage the history of Europe in their own way, since for the first time in history, almost all of Europe was in the hands of only three states.

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All decisions of Yalta, in general, concerned two problems. Firstly, it was required to draw new state borders on the territory that had recently been occupied by the Third Reich. At the same time, it was necessary to establish unofficial, but generally recognized by all parties, demarcation lines between the spheres of influence of the allies - a matter that had already begun in Tehran.

Secondly, the allies were well aware that after the disappearance of a common enemy, the forced unification of the West and the USSR would lose all meaning, and therefore it was necessary to create procedures to guarantee the immutability of the dividing lines drawn on the world map.

The relevance of this work is due, on the one hand, to the great interest in the topic "Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945" in modern science, on the other hand, its insufficient development. Consideration of issues related to this topic has both theoretical and practical significance.

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The object of this study is the analysis of the conditions of the "Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945". At the same time, the subject of the study is the consideration of individual issues formulated as the objectives of this study. The aim of the study is to study the topic "Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945" from the point of view of the latest domestic and foreign studies on similar issues.

As part of achieving this goal, the following tasks were set: to study the role of decisions taken by the "Big Three" at the Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945; consider the historical significance of the Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945.

The work has a traditional structure and includes an introduction, the main part, consisting of 2 chapters, a conclusion and a bibliographic list, as well as an appendix.

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Based on the results of the study, a number of problems related to the topic under consideration were revealed, and conclusions were drawn about the need for further study of the state of the issue. Thus, the relevance of this problem determined the choice of topic term paper"Crimean (Yalta) conference of 1945", the range of issues and the logical scheme of its construction.

The sources of information for writing a paper on the topic “Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945” were the basic educational literature, theoretical works of the largest representatives in the field under consideration, the results of practical research by prominent domestic and foreign authors, articles and reviews in specialized and periodicals devoted to the topic “ Crimean (Yalta) conference of 1945”, reference literature, other relevant sources of information.

The Second World War

General information

World War II 1939 - 1945 - the largest war in history, unleashed to redistribute the world. It was unleashed by Germany, Italy and Japan in order to revise the results of the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919, according to which Germany capitulated to the allies in the First World War and Washington Conference on the limitation of naval armaments and the problems of the Far East in 1921-1922, which fixed a new balance of power between states in China and in the Pacific Ocean, unfavorable for Japan. 61 states were drawn into the war, more than 80% of the world's population. Military operations were conducted on the territory of 40 states, as well as in maritime and ocean theaters. The beginning of World War II was preceded by the coming to power in Germany of the Nazis (1933), the signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact between Germany and Japan (1936), the emergence of hotbeds of world war both in Europe (the capture of Czechoslovakia by Germany in March 1939) and in the east (beginning of the Sino-Japanese War in July 1937).

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The Second World War began on September 1, 1939 with the German attack on Poland, after which Great Britain and France entered the war against Germany. In April - June 1940, the Nazi troops occupied Denmark and Norway, and on May 10 they invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. On June 22, 1940, France capitulated. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the USSR. The Great Patriotic War began. On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a war against the United States by attacking the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. On December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy joined Japan's war against the United States.

The first major defeat of the German - fascist troops in World War II was their defeat near Moscow in 1941 - 1942, as a result of which the fascist Blitzkrieg was thwarted, the myth of the invincibility of the German army - the Wehrmacht, was dispelled. The counter-offensive of the Soviet troops near Stalingrad in 1942-1943, which ended with the encirclement and capture of the 330,000th group of German-fascist troops, was the beginning of a radical turning point in the Second World War. The Soviet army seized the strategic initiative from the enemy and began to expel him from the territory of the USSR.

The American armed forces in 1942 defeated the Japanese fleet in naval battles in the Coral Sea and Midway Island. In February 1943, the Allies captured about. Guadalcanal, landed on New Guinea, ousted the Japanese from the Aleutian Islands, began developing an operation to advance to the territory of Japan proper along the islands of the Kuril chain. On June 6, 1944, in Europe, with the Normandy landing operation, the Allies opened a second front.

In February 1945, the Crimean (Yalta) conference of the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain took place, which considered the issues of the post-war structure of the world and the participation of the USSR in the war with Japan. On February 11, 1945, an agreement was signed at the conference, which provided for the entry of the USSR into the war against Japan on the side of the allies two to three months after the surrender of Germany on certain conditions.

1.2 Choosing a venue for the Crimean (Yalta) conference in 1945

The first message about the meeting, read by the Crimeans: "The President of the United States, the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, accompanied by their chiefs of staff, as well as three foreign ministers and other advisers, are currently conferring in the Black Sea region." The fact that the “Black Sea region” is the South Coast is known only to a few of those who ensure the meeting. Crimea has been cleared of fascists for almost a year, but it continues to be in the zone of operation of German aviation based in Northern Italy, and it is not customary to talk about the places of such meetings in advance. The world started talking about Yalta after February 15, when the last planes of high-ranking guests left the peninsula.

However, initially there was no talk of a meeting in Crimea. The US President proposed Northern Scotland, Cyprus, Athens or Malta, the British Prime Minister - Alexandria or Jerusalem. But the leader of the USSR was adamant: "On the Soviet Black Sea coast." Stalin had the right to insist: after the Vistula-Oder operation, the Soviet troops were sixty kilometers from Berlin, the allies, who had barely recovered from the fascist counterattack in the Ardennes (Belgium), were five hundred kilometers away. On the other hand, Stalin agreed with Churchill's proposal that the conference be codenamed Argonaut. The Briton wrote to the American: "We are the direct descendants of the Argonauts, who, according to Greek mythology, sailed to the Black Sea for the Golden Fleece." The “Golden Fleece” was the USSR, according to the Americans: “We need to have the support of the Soviet Union to defeat Germany. We desperately need the Soviet Union for a war with Japan after the end of the war in Europe."

The USSR had two months to prepare the conference, and a lot had to be done: the peninsula was badly damaged by the Nazis, the southern coast palaces - Livadia, Vorontsovsky (Alupka) and Yusupovsky (Koreiz), where the delegations were supposed to be located, were plundered. Equipment, furniture, products were brought to the Crimea from all over the country, specialists from construction organizations and the service sector arrived (for Churchill's fireplace in the Vorontsov Palace, birch firewood was specially prepared from the Crimean trees now listed in the Red Book). In Livadia, Koreiz and Alupka, several power plants were installed, metro builders made bomb shelters. The protection was provided by the Soviet Union: aviation and artillery special groups, "covered" from the sea - the Voroshilov cruiser, destroyers, submarines, entered the Black Sea and several Allied warships.

In the parks, palaces of the southern coast of Crimea and other places where the delegations even stopped for a short time, they brought shine, but they did not manage to remove the traces of the war along the entire path of the motorcades. Yes, and there was no need to “mask” them: destroyed houses, crumpled military equipment, which the US president saw from the windows of the representative ZIS-101 (there is a photo where the American president in the Crimea is captured not on ZiS, but on an open army "Willis" ) and the Prime Minister of Britain, made the "right" impression. Roosevelt, for example, "was horrified by the extent of the destruction caused by the Germans in the Crimea." But otherwise, the guests were satisfied with the reception. Everything was chosen to their taste, even the curtains on the windows in the American president's apartment were his favorite blue color, and the English prime minister was settled in a palace designed by an English architect. Franklin Roosevelt said that when he was no longer president, he would like to ask Livadia to be sold to him in order to plant many trees near it. Winston Churchill asked Joseph Stalin what his feelings would be if an international organization came forward with a proposal to transfer Crimea as an international resort, and Stalin replied that he would gladly provide Crimea for conferences of the three powers. But the February 1945 conference remained the only one held in the Crimea.

It began on February 4 at 5 pm with a meeting in the Great Hall of the Livadia Palace. But the peninsula began to meet the participants earlier: on February 1, Stalin arrived at the Simferopol railway station by train from Moscow. Koreiz (an urban-type settlement in the Crimea) was already waiting for him, where the Soviet delegation was housed in the Yusupov Palace.

“Among the historical places of the conference is the building on Lenin Street, 20, in Alushta, this is the former dacha of General Golubov,” says the author of the book “The Crimean Conference of 1945. Memorable places" Vladimir Gurkovich. - The dacha was one of two road houses prepared for the rest of the delegations - Stalin stopped here. The leader of the USSR stayed in Alushta for about an hour, then left for Koreiz, from where he informed Churchill "personally and strictly secretly" that he was already at the meeting place. But the Soviet leader did not go to the airfield to meet, as well as to see off the guests, instructing Foreign Minister Molotov to do this. The heads of the allied countries flew to the Saki military airfield (the current airfield in Novofedorovka), where there was a runway convenient for their aircraft, built in the 30s. Churchill's plane landed first, followed an hour later by Roosevelt's. The guard of honor, the orchestra performs the anthems of three countries, and the president especially thanked for the excellent performance of the American anthem, a small "snack" in military tents set up at the airfield and "a long journey from Sak to Yalta."

“The Americans covered the distance from the airfield to Livadia (where their residence was) in six hours,” continues Gurkovich, “and it took the British eight, although from Livadia to Alupka (where the British residence was) then the car went thirty minutes. About where Winston Churchill spent another hour and a half, I was told by the Crimean journalist, Sergei Shantyr, a participant in the defense of Sevastopol. In 1942, he was seriously wounded in the Mekenziev mountains, for ten months in the hospital he was treated with British medicines. “You will put a marble plaque in Simferopol on my behalf for Winston,” the journalist asked and said that Churchill stayed in Simferopol in one of the prepared road houses - an old mansion with a lion on Schmidt Street, 15.

Official meetings of the members of the delegations and unofficial dinners of the heads of state were held in all three palaces of the South Coast. In Yusupov, for example, Stalin and Churchill discussed the transfer of people released from fascist camps. Foreign Ministers Molotov, Stettinius (USA) and Eden (Great Britain) met in the Vorontsov Palace. But the main meetings still took place in the Livadia Palace - the residence of the American delegation. Under diplomatic protocol, this was not supposed to, but Roosevelt could not move without assistance. Official meetings of the "Big Three" took place here eight times (from 4 to 11 February). It was in Livadia that the "Communique on the Crimean Conference" was signed.

Then Roosevelt and Churchill went to Sevastopol, Stalin left the Simferopol station in the evening for Moscow. The American president, having spent the night on board a US ship stationed in the Sevastopol Bay, on February 12 left for the Saki airfield, from where he flew to Egypt. Churchill stayed in the Crimea for another two days: he visited Sapun Mountain, Balaklava, where the British fought in 1854-55, visited the Voroshilov cruiser, and only on February 14 flew from the Saki airfield to Greece. Roosevelt from the plane sent Stalin thanks for his hospitality, Churchill said at the farewell ceremony: “Leaving the resurrected Crimea, cleansed of the Huns thanks to Russian valor, leaving Soviet territory, I express my gratitude and admiration to all the valiant people and their army.”

“Probably,” Vladimir Gurkovich argues, “the main lesson of the Crimean Conference is that in a difficult moment in the face of a common enemy, people of different political views, sometimes even hostile to each other, can and should unite for the sake of saving their peoples and civilization.”

In the year of the 60th anniversary of the conference, they were going to erect a monument to the Big Three, created by Zurab Tsereteli, near the Livadia Palace. But the idea caused a stormy protest from a number of nationalist organizations in Crimea. Now the monument is waiting in the wings in the sculptor's art gallery in Moscow. Volgograd and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk expressed their willingness to erect a monument at home.

Chapter 2. Crimean (Yalta) Conference of 1945

Redistribution of borders

Exactly 66 years ago, from February 4 to February 11, 1945, Crimea was at the epicenter of an event of international significance - these days a conference of the heads of powers - allies of the anti-Hitler coalition in World War II - the chairman of the government of the USSR I. V. Stalin, President of the United States F D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister W. Churchill.

By the time the Yalta Conference was held, the war had already entered its final stage - as a result of the offensive of the Red Army and the landing of allied troops in Normandy, hostilities were transferred to German territory. And it was precisely this circumstance - the already obvious defeat of Nazism - that dictated the issues discussed at the meeting of the leaders of states.

Behind the external respectability of the leaders of the "Big Three" countries, proclaiming the destruction of German militarism and Nazism as their adamant goal, there was practically no hiding the tough and pragmatic approaches of the parties in solving two main problems. Firstly, it was required to draw new state borders between countries that had recently been occupied by the Third Reich. At the same time, it was necessary to establish unofficial, but generally recognized by all parties, demarcation lines between the spheres of influence of the allies - a matter that had already begun in Tehran.

Secondly, the allies were well aware that after the disappearance of a common enemy, the forced unification of the West and the USSR would lose all meaning, and therefore it was necessary to create procedures to guarantee the immutability of the new dividing lines drawn on the world map.

In this regard, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin managed to find mutual language.

The situation with Poland was very difficult. Its outlines changed dramatically after the Second World War. Poland, which before the war had been the largest country in Central Europe, was drastically reduced and moved to the west and north. Until 1939, its eastern border was practically under Kyiv and Minsk, and besides, the Poles owned the Vilna region, which is now part of Lithuania. The western border with Germany was located east of the Oder, while most Baltic coast also belonged to Germany. In the east of the pre-war territory, the Poles were a national minority among Ukrainians and Belarusians, while part of the territories in the west and north inhabited by Poles were under German jurisdiction.

The USSR received the western border with Poland along the so-called "Curzon Line", established back in 1920, with a retreat from it in some areas from 5 to 8 km in favor of Poland. In fact, the border returned to the position at the time of the partition of Poland between Germany and the USSR in 1939 under a secret additional protocol on the division of spheres of interest to the Non-Aggression Treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union, the main difference from which was the transfer of the Bialystok region to Poland.

Although Poland by that time had already been under the rule of Germany for the sixth year, there was a provisional government of this country in exile in London, which was recognized by the USSR and therefore could well claim power in its country after the end of the war. However, in the Crimea, Stalin managed to get the allies to agree to the creation of a new government in Poland itself "with the inclusion of democratic figures from Poland itself and Poles from abroad." This decision, implemented in the presence of Soviet troops, allowed the USSR to later without much difficulty form a political regime that suits it in Warsaw.

Germany

A fundamental decision was made on the occupation and division of Germany into occupation zones (one of the zones was allocated to France). It was decided that France should be given a zone in Germany to be occupied by French troops. This zone will be formed from the British and American zones, and its dimensions will be fixed by the British and Americans in consultation with the French Provisional Government. It was also decided that the French Provisional Government should be invited to enter as a member of the Control Council for Germany.

Actually, the settlement of the issue regarding the zones of occupation of Germany was reached even before the Yalta Conference, in September 1944, in the “Protocol of Agreement between the governments of the USSR, the USA and the United Kingdom on the zones of occupation of Germany and on the management of Greater Berlin”.

This decision predetermined the split of the country for many decades. On May 23, 1949, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, previously signed by representatives of the three Western powers, was put into effect. On September 7, 1949, the first session of the West German parliament proclaimed the creation of a new state. In response, on October 7, 1949, the German Democratic Republic was formed on the territory of the Soviet occupation zone. There was also talk of the separation of East Prussia (later, after Potsdam, the current Kaliningrad region was created on 1/3 of this territory).

The participants in the Yalta Conference declared that their adamant goal was to destroy German militarism and Nazism and to create guarantees that "Germany will never again be in a position to disturb the peace", "disarm and disband all German armed forces and permanently destroy the German General Staff", " seize or destroy all German military equipment, liquidate or take control of all German industry that could be used for war production; subject all war criminals to just and speedy punishment; wipe out the Nazi Party, Nazi laws, organizations and institutions; eliminate all Nazi and militaristic influence from public institutions, from the cultural and economic life of the German people." At the same time, the conference communiqué emphasized that after the eradication of Nazism and militarism, the German people would be able to take their rightful place in the community of nations.

The eternal Balkan issue was also discussed - in particular, the situation in Yugoslavia and Greece. It is believed that Stalin allowed Great Britain to decide the fate of the Greeks, as a result of which clashes between the communist and pro-Western formations in this country were later decided in favor of the latter. On the other hand, it was actually recognized that the NOAU (People's Liberation Army of Yugoslavia) Josip Broz Tito would receive power in Yugoslavia, who, however, was recommended to take "democrats" into the government.

... It was then that Churchill touched on the topic that interested him most. "Let's settle our affairs in the Balkans," he said. - Your armies are in Romania and Bulgaria. We have interests there, our missions and agents. Let's avoid clashes over petty matters. Since we are talking about England and Russia, what do you think if you had 90% influence in Romania, and we, say, 90% influence in Greece? And 50% to 50% in Yugoslavia? While his words were being translated into Russian, Churchill jotted down these percentages on a sheet of paper and pushed the sheet across the table to Stalin. He glanced at it briefly and handed it back to Churchill. There was a pause. The sheet was on the table. Churchill did not touch him. Finally, he said, "Wouldn't it be considered too cynical that we should so easily resolve issues that affect millions of people?" Let's burn this paper better ... - No, keep it with you, - said Stalin. Churchill folded the paper in half and put it in his pocket.

Far East

A separate document fundamentally decided the fate of the Far East. In exchange for the participation of Soviet troops in the war against Japan, Stalin received significant concessions from the United States and Great Britain. Firstly, the USSR received the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin, lost in the Russo-Japanese War. In addition, Mongolia was recognized as an independent state. The Soviet side was also promised Port Arthur and the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER).

The leaders of the Three Great Powers - the Soviet Union, the United States of America and Great Britain - agreed that two to three months after the surrender of Germany and the end of the war in Europe, the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan on the side of the Allies, on the condition that:

1. Maintaining the status quo of Outer Mongolia (Mongolian People's Republic);

2. Restoration of the rights belonging to Russia, violated by the perfidious attack of Japan in 1904, namely:

a) the return to the Soviet Union of the southern part of about. Sakhalin and all adjacent islands;

b) the internationalization of the commercial port of Dairen with the provision of the predominant interests of the Soviet Union in this port and the restoration of the lease on Port Arthur as a naval base of the USSR;

c) joint operation The Sino-Eastern Railway and the South-Manchurian Railway, which gives access to Dairen, on the basis of organizing a mixed Soviet-Chinese Society with the provision of the predominant interests of the Soviet Union, while it is understood that China retains full sovereignty in Manchuria.

3. Transfer to the Soviet Union of the Kuril Islands.

The Heads of the Governments of the Three Great Powers agreed that these claims of the Soviet Union should be unconditionally satisfied after the victory over Japan. For its part, the Soviet Union expressed its readiness to conclude a pact of friendship and alliance between the USSR and China with the National Chinese Government to assist it with its armed forces in order to liberate China from the Japanese yoke.

Declaration of a Liberated Europe

In Yalta, the Declaration on Liberated Europe was also signed, which determined the principles of the policy of the victors in the territories recaptured from the enemy. It assumed, in particular, the restoration of the sovereign rights of the peoples of these territories, as well as the right of the allies to jointly "help" these peoples "improve conditions" for the exercise of these very rights. The declaration stated: "The establishment of order in Europe and the reorganization of national economic life must be achieved in such a way that will allow the liberated peoples to destroy the last traces of Nazism and fascism and create democratic institutions of their own choice."

The idea of ​​joint assistance, as expected, did not become a reality later: each victorious power had power only in those territories where its troops were stationed. As a result, each of the former allies in the war began to diligently support their own ideological allies at the end of the war. Europe in a few years was divided into the socialist camp and Western Europe, where Washington, London and Paris tried to resist the communist mood.

Major war criminals

The Conference decided that the question of the chief war criminals should, after the close of the Conference, be considered by the three Foreign Ministers for a report at the appropriate time. At the Crimean Conference, negotiations took place between the British, American and Soviet delegations to conclude a comprehensive agreement regarding measures for the protection, maintenance and repatriation (return to their homeland) of prisoners of war and civilians of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States of America liberated by the allied armed forces entering into Germany. The texts of the Agreements signed on February 11 between the USSR and Great Britain and between the USSR and the United States of America are identical. The agreement between the Soviet Union and Great Britain was signed by V.M. Molotov and Eden. The agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States of America was signed by Lieutenant General Gryzlov and General Dean.

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In accordance with these Agreements, until vehicles are made available for the repatriation of Allied citizens, each Ally will provide food, clothing, medical care and other needs for citizens of other Allies. Soviet officers will assist the British and American authorities in their task of serving Soviet citizens liberated by the British and American armed forces during the period of time they are on the continent of Europe or in the United Kingdom, waiting for transport to take them home.

British and American officers will assist the Soviet Government in serving British subjects and American citizens. Since an agreement has now been reached, the three Governments undertake to provide all assistance consistent with the requirements of the conduct of military operations in order to ensure the prompt repatriation of all these prisoners of war and civilians.

The results of the Crimean Conference of 1945, in principle, are quite well covered in historiography. But it raised a question that for a long time actually not known to the general public.

On February 10, 1945, in Koreiz, in the Yusupov Palace, where Stalin's residence was located, he met with British Prime Minister Churchill and Foreign Minister Eden, who accompanied him. The meeting was about the repatriation of Soviet citizens who ended up outside the USSR as a result of the war (prisoners of war, Ostarbeiters (from German Ostarbeiter - a worker from the East) - a definition adopted in the Third Reich to refer to people taken out of Eastern Europe for the purpose of use in as a free or low-paid workforce, soldiers of the volunteer formations of the Wehrmacht). According to the Yalta agreements, all of them, regardless of their desire, were subject to extradition to the USSR, a significant part of them subsequently ended up in camps and were shot. It is no coincidence that these people, with the light hand of the émigré historian Nikolai Tolstoy, began to be called "victims of Yalta."

Here is what an eyewitness of those events, the former Soviet doctor Georgy Aleksandrov, wrote about this in a series of articles published in the emigrant magazine Socialist Bulletin in 1949-1952. After his army was surrounded, he himself was captured by the Germans. In the article “The Way to the West”, G. Aleksandrov wrote bitterly about the unenviable fate of Soviet citizens, who were actually “surrendered” to the Nazis by their own power: “We knew from the very first days of captivity that our homeland and the Stalinist government put us outside the law. On stages and halts, Soviet aircraft bombarded the columns of prisoners and poured machine-gun fire on us. During the years of captivity and fascist captivity, not a single piece of news from our homeland reached us - the Soviet homeland did not send us a single piece of stale cracker ... And yet, most of the miraculously surviving Soviet prisoners reached their homeland ... smersh (independent counterintelligence organizations in the USSR ), special departments, the Ministry of State Security and other punitive bodies met them with filtering commissions, bullying, beatings, torture, prisons, exile and executions ... Those of us who had sufficient experience and strength of resistance knew that we were not given a return home … the way to the east is closed.”

So, for example, on July 12, 1945, the Americans faced the first case of massive Russian resistance to forced return to their homeland in the USSR: in Kempten, several people subject to repatriation committed suicide; a similar incident occurred on June 29, 1946 in the American Fort Dick (USA).

Without in any way trying to justify Stalin - who by that time had already accumulated quite a lot of experience in fighting his own people - one should not discount the position of Stalin's Western allies, who, in general, agreed with the USSR on this issue without much torment, and sometimes with particular cruelty, they handed over to the leader of his citizens - for virtually inevitable reprisal.

In the light of studying the history of the Crimean Tatars, an excerpt from Nikolai Tolstoy's Victims of Yalta is interesting: “Just eight months before the Yalta conference, the NKVD, after a series of massacres, deported all Crimean Tatars from Crimea. The vehicles for the operation were provided by British and American forces in Iran, and according to Soviet officials, the Allies knew the purpose of the trucks. However, Stalin's plan was not at all original - Hitler also intended to remove the entire population from the Crimea and populate the peninsula with Tyrolean Germans, but Himmler opposed this plan. The mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars not only preceded the agreement that Eden and Churchill were now proposing to Stalin; the agreement itself, as it were, completed the operation to evict them. The fact is that several thousand Tatars left for the West even before the occupation of the Crimea by the Red Army in May 1944. Almost all of them died at the hands of the Nazis, who mistook them for Jews (Muslim custom, like the Jewish one, provided for the rite of circumcision). But about 250 people survived and fell into the hands of the English army in Germany. They asked for permission to emigrate to Turkey, but on June 21, 1945, the 21st Army Group received firm instructions from Patrick Dean of the Foreign Ministry that, in accordance with the Yalta Agreement, the Crimean Tatars should be returned to Stalin. For many decades this people was deprived of the right to return to their native places.”

In the light of studying the history of the Crimean Tatars, the content of the dialogue between US President Roosevelt and Stalin, recorded in one of the documents of the I. Stalin Foundation in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History, seemed curious: “Roosevelt said that he feels very good in Livadia. When he is not president, he would like to ask the Soviet government to sell him Livadia. He, Roosevelt, is very fond of forestry. He would have planted a large number of trees on the mountains near Livadia. Comrade Stalin replied that the Crimea was still an uncultured country, much still needed to be developed here.

Probably, Stalin's last statement could have been ignored if it had not been so symptomatic, if not symbolic - just at that time a course was set for the "new Crimea", the "Tatars" were finished - i.e. with that "uncivilized" - in the interpretation of Stalin - Crimea, as it was under the Crimean Tatars. However, it is difficult to say whether Stalin's American counterpart was able to decipher the hidden meaning of this statement.

Consideration of the issue of reparations

Once again the question of reparations was raised. However, the Allies were never able to finally determine the amount of compensation. It was only decided that the United States and Great Britain would give Moscow 50 percent of all reparations. The following protocol was signed: Protocol on negotiations between the heads of the three governments at the Crimean Conference on the question of reparations in kind from Germany.

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The heads of the three governments agreed on the following:

Germany is obliged to make good in kind the damage caused by her in the course of the war to the allied nations. Reparations should be received in the first place by those countries that bore the brunt of the war, suffered the greatest losses and organized victory over the enemy.

Reparations are to be levied on Germany in three forms:

a) one-time withdrawals within two years after the surrender of Germany or the cessation of organized resistance from the national wealth of Germany, located both on the territory of Germany itself and outside it (equipment, machine tools, ships, rolling stock, German investments abroad, shares of industrial, transport , shipping and other enterprises of Germany, etc.), and these withdrawals should be carried out mainly with the aim of destroying the military potential of Germany;

b) annual commodity deliveries from current production during the period, the duration of which is to be established;

c) the use of German labor.

In order to work out a detailed reparation plan on the basis of the above principles, an inter-Allied reparations commission consisting of representatives from the USSR, the USA and Great Britain is being established in Moscow.

With regard to determining the total amount of reparations, as well as its distribution among the countries that suffered after the German aggression, the Soviet and American delegations agreed on the following: “The Moscow Reparations Commission in the initial stage of its work will accept as a basis for discussion the proposal of the Soviet government that the total amount reparations in accordance with paragraphs "a" and "b" of paragraph 2 should be 20 billion dollars and that 50% of this amount goes to the Soviet Union. The British delegation considered that, pending consideration of the question of reparations by the Moscow Reparations Commission, no figures for reparations could be given.

Questions concerning the international security organization

In Yalta, it was decided to hold a founding conference of the United Nations in the United States in April 1945. The Soviet proposal for the membership of the Soviet republics in the future UN was accepted, but their number was limited to two - Ukraine and Belarus. At the Yalta Conference, an agreement was concluded on the entry of the USSR into the war against Japan two to three months after the end of the war in Europe. During separate negotiations between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, agreements were reached on strengthening the position of the USSR in the Far East. The main burden of military efforts against Japan fell on the United States, they were interested in the speedy entry of the USSR into the war in the Far East.

In Yalta, the idea of ​​a new League of Nations was launched. The Allies needed an interstate organization capable of preventing attempts to change the established boundaries of spheres of influence. It was at the winners' conferences in Tehran and Yalta and at the interim talks in Dumbarton Oaks that the ideology of the United Nations was formed.

It was decided:

1) that a United Nations conference on the subject of a proposed world organization should be convened on Wednesday, April 25, 1945, and be held in the United States of America;

2) that the following States should be invited to this conference:

b) those of the acceded nations that declared war on the common enemy by March 1, 1945 (In this case, the acceded nations mean the eight acceded nations and Turkey). When the world organization conference takes place, the delegates of the United Kingdom and the United States of America will support the proposal for admission to initial membership of the two Soviet Socialist Republics, namely the Ukraine and Belarus;

3) that the Government of the United States, on behalf of the three Powers, will consult with the Government of China and with the French Provisional Government on the decisions taken at this conference, concerning the supposed world organization;

4) that the text of the invitations to be sent to all States participating in the conference should be as follows:

Invitation

“The Government of the United States of America, in its own name and on behalf of the Governments of the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Republic of China, and on behalf of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, invites the Government of ……… representatives to the United Nations Conference to be held on April 25, 1945, or shortly after that date in San Francisco, in the United States of America, to prepare the charter of a universal international organization for the maintenance of international peace and security.

The above-named Governments propose that the Conference consider as the basis for such a constitution the proposals for the establishment of a general international organization, which were published last October as a result of the Dumbarton Oaks conference and which were supplemented by the following conditions for Section C of Chapter VI:

It was decided that the five states that would have permanent seats on the Security Council should consult among themselves prior to a United Nations conference on the issue of territorial trust.

This recommendation was accepted on the condition that the territorial tutelage would only apply: a) to existing mandates of the League of Nations; b) to territories taken away from enemy states as a result of this war; c) to any other territory that may be voluntarily placed under trusteeship, and d) no discussion of specific territories at the upcoming United Nations conference or during preliminary consultations is expected, and a decision on which territories that fall into the above categories will be placed under guardianship, will be the subject of a later agreement.

It was agreed that the principle of the unanimity of the great powers - permanent members of the Security Council with the right of veto - would be the basis for the UN's activities in resolving cardinal issues of ensuring peace.

Stalin obtained the consent of his partners so that not only the USSR, but also the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR were among the founders and members of the UN. And it was in the Yalta documents that the date “April 25, 1945” appeared - the date of the start of the San Francisco Conference, which was intended to develop the UN Charter.

The UN has become a symbol and formal guarantor of the post-war world order, an authoritative and sometimes even quite effective organization in resolving interstate problems. At the same time, the victorious countries continued to prefer to resolve really serious issues of their relations through bilateral negotiations, and not within the framework of the UN. The UN has also failed to prevent the wars that both the US and the USSR have waged over the past decades.

Conclusion

The Yalta Conference of the leaders of the USA, USSR and Great Britain was of great historical significance. It was one of the largest international wartime conferences, an important milestone in the cooperation of the powers of the anti-Hitler coalition in waging war against a common enemy. The adoption at the conference of agreed decisions on important issues once again showed the possibility of international cooperation between states with different social systems.

The bipolar world created in Yalta and the rigid division of Europe into east and west survived for half a century, until the 1990s, which speaks of the stability of this system.

The Yalta system collapsed only with the fall of one of the centers that ensured the balance of power. Literally in two or three years at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, the “Vostok”, which personified the USSR, disappeared from the world map. Since then, the boundaries of spheres of influence in Europe have been determined only by the current alignment of forces. At the same time, most of Central and Eastern Europe survived the disappearance of the former demarcation lines quite calmly, and Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Baltic countries were even able to integrate into the new picture of the world in Europe.

The conference, which was attended by I. Stalin (USSR), F. Roosevelt (USA), W. Churchill (Great Britain), began its work at a time when, thanks to the powerful blows of the Red Army on the Eastern Front and the active actions of the Anglo-American troops in Western Europe, World War II entered its final stage. This also explained the agenda of the conference - the post-war structure of Germany and other states that took part in the war, the creation of an international system of collective security that would exclude the emergence of world military conflicts in the future.

The conference adopted a number of documents that determined the development of international relations for many years to come. It was stated, in particular, that the aim of the conference participants was “to disarm and disband all German armed forces and destroy the German General Staff forever; seize or destroy all German military equipment, liquidate or take control of all German industry that could be used for military production; subject all war criminals to just and speedy punishment; wipe out the Nazi Party, Nazi laws, organizations and institutions; eliminate all Nazi and militaristic influence from public institutions, from the cultural and economic life of the German people”, i.e. destroy German militarism and Nazism so that Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace.

It was decided to create the United Nations as a system of collective security, and the basic principles of its charter were defined. In addition, in order to end the Second World War as soon as possible, an agreement was reached on the Far East, which provided for the entry of the USSR into the war with Japan. The fact is that Japan - one of the three main states that unleashed World War II (Germany, Italy, Japan) - has been at war with the United States and England since 1941, and the allies turned to the USSR with a request to help them eliminate this last hotbed of war.

The communiqué of the conference recorded the desire of the allied powers "to preserve and strengthen in the coming period of peace that unity of purpose and action which has made victory possible and undeniable for the United Nations in modern warfare."

Unfortunately, the unity of goals and actions of the allied powers in the post-war period was not achieved: the world entered the era of the Cold War.

Adygea, Crimea. Mountains, waterfalls, herbs of alpine meadows, healing mountain air, absolute silence, snowfields in the middle of summer, the murmur of mountain streams and rivers, stunning landscapes, songs around the fires, the spirit of romance and adventure, the wind of freedom are waiting for you! And at the end of the route, the gentle waves of the Black Sea.

The Yalta Conference, sometimes referred to as the Crimean Conference and codenamed Argonaut, was held from February 4 to 11, 1945 between the heads of government of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. The delegations were led respectively by Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin.

The conference was held in Yalta, a resort town on the Crimean peninsula in the Soviet Union. The American delegation was accommodated in the former tsar's palace, while President Roosevelt stayed at the Livadia Palace, where the meetings took place. The British delegation settled in the Vorontsov Palace in Alupka. The key members of the delegations were Edward Stettinius (US Secretary of State), Averel Harriman (UK Deputy Foreign Secretary), Anthony Eden (UK Foreign Secretary), Alexander Cadogan (US Ambassador to the USSR) and Vyacheslav Molotov (Commissar for Foreign Affairs).

According to Anthony Beevor, a British historian and writer, all rooms were bugged by the NKVD. Stalin arrived by train on 4 February. The meeting began with a formal dinner that evening.

big three

The key leaders of the allied countries, Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill, were called the "Big Three" - because of the power of the states they led, and their cooperation at the time. During the war, they met only twice, and both times these meetings changed the course of history.

After the Tehran Conference, they agreed to meet again, and this agreement was embodied in the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Although Stalin expressed concern about Roosevelt's health during the Tehran conference, this concern did not reflect on his actions. For the next summit, he refused to go further than Yalta, the Black Sea resort in Crimea, and Roosevelt again had to travel long and tedious to the conference venue.

The demands of the parties at the Yalta Conference

Each of the three powers put its proposal on the agenda. The British wanted to keep their empire, the Soviets wanted more land and consolidate their gains, and the Americans wanted the Soviets to agree to go to war with Japan and negotiate a post-war settlement. Moreover, Roosevelt hoped to obtain from Stalin a commitment to participate in the United Nations. The first topic on the agenda for the expansion of the Soviet Union immediately became the question of Poland, and Stalin immediately expressed his point of view:

“For the Russian people, the question of Poland is not only a matter of honor, but also a matter of security. Throughout history, Poland has been a corridor through which the enemy passed into Russia. Poland is a matter of life and death for Russia.”

Accordingly, Stalin made it clear that some of his demands regarding Poland were non-negotiable: the Russians were to get the eastern part of Poland, and Poland was to compensate by expanding its western borders, thereby displacing millions of Germans. Reluctantly, Stalin promised free elections in Poland despite a newly installed communist puppet government.

However, it soon became apparent that Stalin had no intention of keeping this promise. In fact, it was not until 50 years after the Yalta Conference that Poles were able to hold free elections for the first time. As mentioned above, Roosevelt's main goal was to make sure that the Soviets would enter the Asiatic war, that is, the war against the Japanese.

However, Roosevelt didn't have to waste time getting the USSR involved in the Pacific War because Stalin didn't need to be convinced. The Soviets themselves were determined to avenge the humiliation of defeat and the loss of privileges over Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War. The Soviets sought to reclaim the reclaimed territories and figured they could get more land.

However, Roosevelt did not recognize Stalin's goals, as he excellently kept his face and was impenetrable. Therefore, Roosevelt readily accepted the conditions of the USSR, leaving the Yalta Conference satisfied, because Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan. Moreover, the Soviets agreed to join the United Nations under a secret agreement on a form of voting with veto power for the permanent members of the Security Council, giving the Security Council more control over world affairs and significantly weakening the United Nations. In general, I was sure that the negotiations in Yalta were successful.

The Big Three ratified their earlier agreements on the post-war division of Germany: it was divided into four zones - one for each of the three countries participating in the conference and one zone for France. Berlin itself, although it ended up in the Soviet zone, was also divided into four sectors. Later, the infamous Berlin Wall, built under the leadership of the USSR, will become the main symbol.

The Big Three also decided that in the occupied countries all original governments would be restored and that all civilians would be repatriated. Democratic states will be created, all territories will hold free elections. In Europe, the order should be established according to the following official statement:

"The establishment of order in Europe and the restoration of national economic life must be achieved through processes that will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last remnants of Nazism and Fascism and create the democratic institutions of their choice."

After the war, the USSR received South Sakhalin and the Kuriles, half of East Prussia, the German Koenigsberg and control over Finland. In addition, Roosevelt let slip that the United States would not mind if the Soviet Union tried to annex or set up puppet governments in the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). So it is quite understandable why both Stalin and Roosevelt were satisfied with the overall results.

The Yalta Conference is often viewed by many Central European countries as a "Western betrayal". Countries such as Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and the Czech Republic believe so, based on the conviction that the Allied Powers, despite revering democratic politics and signing numerous pacts and military agreements, allowed the Soviet Union to control smaller countries or turn them into communist states. . The Big Three at Yalta "tried to sacrifice freedom for stability," and many believe that Roosevelt's and Churchill's decisions and concessions during the summit led to power struggles in the ensuing Cold War.

Basic moments

• An agreement was reached that the priority was the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. After the war, the country will be divided into four occupation zones, and Berlin will also be divided into four zones. Stalin agreed to allocate a fourth occupation zone for France from the British and American zones - in Germany and Austria. France also received a seat on the Allied Control Council.
• Germany will be demilitarized and denationalised.
• A decision was made to create a union council for reparations with its headquarters in Moscow.
• The fate of Poland was discussed, but the situation was complicated by the fact that Poland was under control by this time. It was decided to reorganize the Provisional Government of Poland, which was created after the entry of the Red Army into the country: now it was called the Provisional Government of National Unity, was expanded by politicians from Poland itself and those outside it, and was supposed to provide democratic elections (after which the Polish government in exile, located in London, effectively lost its legitimacy).
• The Polish eastern frontier should for the most part follow the Curzon Line, and Poland should receive substantial territorial compensation in the west at the expense of Germany.
• Citizens of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, regardless of their consent, were to be repatriated from other countries.
• Stalin promised Roosevelt to join the United Nations on the condition that the five permanent members of the Security Council have the right to veto.
• Stalin agreed to join the fight against the Empire of Japan within 90 days of the defeat of Germany. After the defeat of Japan, the Soviet Union will receive South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.

Effects

The Yalta Conference was the last significant meeting before the end of the war. It was also Roosevelt's last trip abroad. He already looked sick and exhausted. Most likely, his most important goal was to ensure the participation of the Soviet Union in the United Nations, which he achieved at the cost of granting the right of veto to each permanent member of the Security Council, which significantly weakened the UN. Another of his goals was to draw the Soviet Union into a war against Japan, as it had not yet been proven. The Red Army had already liberated most of Eastern Europe from the Nazis, so Stalin got everything he wanted, namely a significant sphere of influence in a large part of Europe, which he could use as a buffer zone. The freedom of small nations was sacrificed for the sake of stability: the three Baltic states - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - became part of the USSR.

Or the meeting of the leaders of the USSR, USA and Great Britain Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, all researchers and historians call historical. It was on it, in the period from February 4 to February 11, 1945, that a number of decisions were made that for decades to come determined the way of Europe and the world as a whole.

At the same time, the meeting of the "Big Three" was not limited to the adoption of geopolitical decisions. There were formal and informal receptions, informal meetings, stops along the way, many of which are still shrouded in mystery.

Not Malta, not Sicily, not Rome. To Yalta!

The first meeting between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill took place in November 1943 in Tehran. It determined the preliminary dates for the Allied landings in Europe in 1944.

Immediately after Tehran-43 and the landing of allied forces in France in June 1944, the heads of the three states in personal correspondence began to probe the ground for a meeting. According to historians, it was US President Franklin Roosevelt who first raised the topic of a new conference, or, as they say now, a summit. In one of his messages to Stalin, he writes: "A meeting should soon be arranged between you, the Prime Minister and myself. Mr. Churchill fully agrees with this idea."

The meeting was originally supposed to take place in Northern Scotland, Ireland, then on the island of Malta. Cairo, Athens, Rome, Sicily and Jerusalem were also mentioned as possible meeting places. However, the Soviet side, despite the objections of the Americans, insisted on holding the conference on its territory.

Churchill, like the Americans, did not want to go to the Crimea and noted in a letter to Roosevelt that "there is a terrible climate and conditions."

Nevertheless, the southern coast of Crimea and specifically Yalta, which was less destroyed after the occupation, was chosen as the meeting place.

"Eureka" and "Argonaut"

What Stalin allowed the British Prime Minister, who did not want to go to the Crimea so much, was to give the code name for the conference, which was mentioned in secret correspondence. Namely "Argonaut". Grumpy Churchill proposed this name, as if drawing a parallel between the ancient heroes of ancient Greek myths, who went to the Black Sea region for the Golden Fleece, and the participants in the Yalta Conference, who go to almost the same places, but the "Golden Fleece" for them will be the future of the world and the division of spheres of influence .

Greek mythology hung invisibly in the relationship of the "Big Three". It is no coincidence that the Tehran meeting of 1943 was held under the code name "Eureka". According to legend, it was with this legendary exclamation ("Found!") that Archimedes from Syracuse discovered the law that "on a body immersed in a liquid ...".

It is no coincidence that Tehran-43 showed the rapprochement of the positions of the heads of the three great powers, who really found a common language and ways to full-fledged cooperation.

Planes, anti-aircraft guns, ships and armored trains: safety is paramount

Although the war was in its final stages in February 1945, increased attention was paid to the security issues of the participants in the Yalta Conference.

According to the Russian writer and historian Alexander Shirokorad, which he cites in his publication in Nezavisimaya Voyennoye Obozreniye, thousands of Soviet, American and British guards and security officers, ships and aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet and the US Navy, and Great Britain. On the part of the United States, units of the Marine Corps participated in the protection of the president.

The air defense of the Saki airfield, which only received delegations, consisted of more than 200 anti-aircraft guns. The batteries were designed for seven-layer fire at a height of up to 9000 m, aimed fire at a height of 4000 m and barrage fire at a distance of up to 5 km to the airfield. The sky above it covered over 150 Soviet fighters.

In Yalta, 76 anti-aircraft guns and almost 300 anti-aircraft guns and heavy machine guns were deployed. Any aircraft that appeared over the conference area was to be shot down immediately.

The protection of highways was provided by personnel of seven checkpoints consisting of more than 2 thousand people.

When motorcades of delegations participating in the conference passed along the entire route, all other traffic stopped, and residents were evicted from residential buildings and apartments overlooking the highway - their place was taken by state security officers. About five regiments of the NKVD and even several armored trains were additionally transferred to the Crimea to ensure security.

To protect Stalin, along with Soviet delegation in the Yusupov Palace in the village of Koreiz, 100 state security officers and a battalion of NKVD troops in the amount of 500 people were allocated. For foreign delegations who arrived with their own guards and security services, the Soviet side allocated external guards and commandants for the premises they occupied. Soviet automobile units were allocated to each foreign delegation.

There is no reliable evidence that Hitler intended to assassinate his opponents in the Crimea. And he was not up to it then, when the Soviet troops were already a hundred kilometers from the walls of Berlin.

Russian hospitality: caviar with cognac, but without bird's milk

The Saki airfield became the main airfield for receiving delegations arriving in the Crimea. The Sarabuz airfields near Simferopol, Gelendzhik and Odessa were considered as spares.

Stalin and the delegation of the Soviet government arrived in Simferopol by train on February 1, after which they went by car to Yalta.

The planes of Churchill and Roosevelt landed in Saki with an interval of about one hour. Here they were met by People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov, other high-ranking officials of the USSR. In general, 700 people were brought to Crimea from Malta, where the meeting between the American president and the British prime minister was held the day before, who were part of the official delegations of the United States and Great Britain at meetings with Stalin.

According to the first researcher of the unofficial nuances of the Yalta meeting, the Crimean historian and local historian Vladimir Gurkovich, with whom the correspondent of RIA Novosti (Crimea) spoke, the Allied delegations were greeted with great fanfare. In addition to the obligatory formation of guards of honor and other honors in this case, the Soviet side also arranged a grand reception not far from the airfield.

In particular, three large tents were set up, where there were tables with glasses of sweet tea with lemon, bottles of vodka, cognac, champagne, plates with caviar, smoked sturgeon and salmon, cheese, boiled eggs, black and white bread. This is despite the fact that food cards were still in force in the USSR, and Crimea was liberated from the invaders less than a year ago.

Gurkovich's book about everyday and unofficial details of the Yalta Conference was published in 1995 and became the first such publication on this topic. The local historian collected testimonies of participants in the events still alive at that time: guards - NKVD officers, cooks, waiters, pilots providing " clear sky over the Crimea.

He says that, according to one of the chefs who prepared meals for the reception at the Saki airfield, there were no restrictions on food and drinks.

"Everything had to be high level and, our country had to confirm this level. And the tables were really bursting with all sorts of delicacies," the Crimean local historian notes.

And this is only on the tables of official delegations. And American and British pilots were received at the Pirogov Saki military sanatorium, where about 600 places were prepared for them. Russian hospitality manifested itself here as well. They were prepared according to the menu, approved by a special order of the head of the rear of the Black Sea Fleet. According to eyewitnesses, the tables were also bursting with abundance: they had everything except bird's milk.

Churchill smoked a cigar in Simferopol, and Stalin shaved in Alushta

In fact, this stop of the Prime Minister of Great Britain in Simferopol, in the house at 15 Schmidt Street, cannot be called secret. Along the route of the corteges from Sak, several places of possible stops for rest were provided. One of them was in Simferopol, and the second in Alushta. The first of them was used by Churchill on his way to Yalta, and the second by Stalin.

The house on Schmidt Street in Simferopol was previously a reception house, or otherwise a hotel of the Council of People's Commissars of the Crimean ASSR. During the occupation, high-ranking officers of the Wehrmacht lived there, so the building and the interior were quite well-groomed and ready to receive distinguished guests.

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was a famous lover of cognac and cigars, which he used without sparing his health. When flying from Malta, and this is a rather long journey, he sent a telegram to Stalin that he was already on the flight and "had already had breakfast." And at the airfield in Saki, the allies were greeted with no less warm hospitality, with Armenian cognac and champagne for the British prime minister.

As Vladimir Gurkovich notes, there is nothing unusual about Churchill's stop in Simferopol. He most likely needed time to "come to his senses, think and once again smoke a cigar." And he stayed in the guest house for no more than an hour, and indeed, going out onto the balcony, according to one of the state security officers, he smoked a traditional cigar.

Gurkovich also cites information that the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, after arriving in the Crimea, stayed in Alushta - at the so-called dacha "Dove" of the retired tsarist general Golubov, on the first floor. “Here he rested and shaved,” testified the archival record found by Gurkovich.

"Dove" is also notable for the fact that it was here that the future heir to the throne Nikolai Alexandrovich (Nicholas II) and his future wife Alexandra Feodorovna stayed in 1894, after the blessing of their marriage by Emperor Alexander III, dying in Livadia.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt from Sak immediately went to the Livadia Palace without stopping.

Roosevelt and Churchill visited Sevastopol after the conference, which lay in ruins. And the British Prime Minister visited Balaklava, where one of his ancestors died in the Crimean War (the first defense of Sevastopol in 1854-1855). However, he does not mention this trip in his memoirs.

Stalin to the Yusupovs, Roosevelt to the Romanovs, Churchill to the Vorontsovs

The main venue for the meeting was Livadia, the former estate of Russian emperors, starting with Alexander II. The famous Livadia Palace was built in 1911 by the architect Nikolai Krasnov for the last of the Romanovs, Nicholas II.

It was the Livadia Palace that was identified as the main residence of the US delegation at the talks, which was headed by Roosevelt. The President of the United States has been wheelchair-bound since 1921 due to polio and has had limited mobility. Therefore, Stalin, in order not to once again jeopardize Roosevelt's health and create comfortable conditions for him, appointed Livadia for work - both to accommodate the US delegation and meetings of the Big Three summit.

Churchill and the British delegation got the no less luxurious palace of the Governor-General of Novorossia Count Vorontsov in Alupka, which was built according to the project of the English architect Edward Blore.

Stalin chose the palace of Prince Yusupov in Koreiz for his residence.

A number of researchers note that this location was chosen, allegedly not by chance: Koreiz is located between Alupka and Livadia, and Stalin could observe all the movements of the allies.

To put it mildly, this is not so, or not quite so. Surveillance and wiretapping services of the Soviet state security worked at a high level, so it is unlikely that Stalin would have pulled back the curtain and watched the frequency with which motorcades run between the British and American residences.

Furniture and products were delivered by echelons

The palaces of the South Coast looked very deplorable after the occupation. The Germans tried to take out everything as valuable as possible from furnishings and decorations. Therefore, colossal efforts were made on the Soviet side to make the conference as comfortable as possible.

Suffice it to say that more than 1,500 wagons of equipment, building materials, furniture, services, kitchen utensils and food were delivered to the Crimea for this purpose.

The renovation of the Livadia Palace alone took 20,000 working days. In Livadia, as well as in Koreiz and Alupka, bomb shelters were built, since the possibility of an enemy air raid was not ruled out.

Roosevelt, who traveled apprehensively to the summit, was nonetheless delighted with the design of his suite. Everything was to his taste: the curtains on the windows, the draperies on the doors, the bedspreads on his and his daughter's beds, and even telephone sets all rooms were blue. This color was Roosevelt's favorite color and, as he put it, "caressed his blue eyes."

In the White Hall of the Palace, where the main meetings of the conference were held, a round table for negotiations of the Big Three was mounted. For the working needs of the members of the delegations, the former billiard room was prepared, where most of the documents were signed, the inner Italian courtyard and the entire garden and park ensemble.

In Livadia, where not only the American delegation was located, but also where the main negotiations between the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain took place, three power plants were installed. One working and two duplicates. In Alupka and Koreiz - two each.

The publication was prepared on the basis of RIA Novosti's own materials (Crimea) and open sources

The art of war is a science in which nothing succeeds except what has been calculated and thought out.

Napoleon

The Yalta (Crimean) conference was held on February 4-11, 1945 at the Livadia Palace in Yalta (Crimea). The leaders of 3 powers took part in the conference: the USSR (Stalin), the USA (Roosevelt), Great Britain (Churchill). Together with the leaders of the countries, the ministers of foreign affairs, chiefs of staff and advisers took part in the conference. The main question is the post-war structure of the world and the fate of Germany. By this moment it was absolutely clear that the war was won and the question of capitulation of fascist Germany was a matter of several months.

Choosing a conference venue

Planning for the conference began about six months in advance, and for the first time the leaders of the countries started talking about its need in May 1944. Churchill did not express any wishes or demands regarding the venue, but Roosevelt offered to hold the meeting in Rome, arguing that the US constitution does not allow him to leave the country for a long time, and he himself can only move around in a wheelchair. Stalin rejected this proposal and insisted on holding a conference in Yalta, although Roosevelt also offered Athens, Alexandria and Jerusalem. He talked about places with a warm climate.

Having held a conference in Yalta, in the Crimea, Stalin wanted to once again demonstrate the power of the Soviet army, which independently liberated this territory from the German invaders.

Operation Valley

“Valley” is the code name for the operation to ensure security and other issues of holding a conference in Crimea. On January 3, Stalin instructed Beria personally to carry out these events. First of all, we determined the locations of the delegates:

• The Livadia Palace is the seat of the US delegation and the venue for the conference.
• The Vorontsov Palace is the seat of the British delegation in Yalta.
• The Yusupov Palace is the seat of the USSR delegation.

Around January 15, operational groups of the NKVD began to work in the Crimea. Counterintelligence was active. More than 67 thousand people were checked, 324 were detained, 197 were arrested. 267 rifles, 283 grenades, 1 machine gun, 43 submachine guns and 49 pistols were confiscated from verified persons. Such activity of counterintelligence and unprecedented security measures gave rise to a rumor among the population - preparing for war with Turkey. This myth was dispelled later, when the reasons for these actions became clear - the holding of an international conference of the heads of 3 leading world powers in Yalta to discuss issues of the further development of Europe and the world.

Issues discussed

War with Japan

At the Yalta Conference, the question of the USSR's entry into the war against Japan was discussed separately. Stalin stated that this was possible, but not earlier than 3 months after the complete surrender of Germany. At the same time, the Soviet leader named a number of conditions for the USSR to enter the war against Japan:

• The results of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 are annulled, and the USSR returns all the territories lost by the tsarist government.
• The USSR receives the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin.

The issue of starting a war with Japan by the USSR did not raise big questions, since Stalin was interested in this. It was obvious that Japan would not be able to resist the allied army, and at the cost of little effort, it would be possible to win and return the previously lost lands.

All decisions of the Crimean Conference

The Yalta Conference on February 4-11, 1945 developed a document, the main points of which were as follows:

• Creation of the United Nations. The first meeting, which was to develop the organization's charter, was held on April 25, 1945 in San Francisco (USA). All countries that at the time of February 8 were at war with Germany could enter the UN. It was decided to create a UN Security Council, which included the USSR (the successor to Russia), the USA, Great Britain, China and France. All 5 countries have the right to "veto": the imposition of a ban on any decision of the organization.
• Declaration for the Liberation of Europe. The zones of influence over the countries that were subordinate to Germany were delimited.
• The dismemberment of Germany. It was decided that the USSR, the USA and England would have complete power over Germany, taking all measures that they considered reasonable for the future security of the world. A commission was created by Eden, Winant and Gusev, who were in charge of these issues and had to decide whether France should be involved in the dismemberment process.
• French occupation zone in Germany. Stalin sharply opposed this idea, stating that France did not fight, and therefore did not have the right to an occupation zone. But if the United States and England consider this acceptable, let them allocate such a zone to the French from their territories. And so it was decided.
• Reparations. It was decided to create a commission that was supposed to determine the amount of reparations. The commission met in Moscow. The payment plan was as follows: one-time (after the defeat of Germany, reparations were withdrawn, which would deprive Germany of its military and economic potential), annually (the duration and volume of annual payments were to be established by the commission) and the use of German labor.
• Polish question. The creation of the Provisional Polish Government was approved, the eastern border with the USSR along the Curzon line was approved, and the right to expand Poland to the West and North was also recognized. As a result, Poland expanded its territory and received a more democratic government.
• Yugoslavia. It was decided later to solve the problems of the country and its borders.
• Southeastern Europe. It was decided to create a commission that would solve 3 main problems: 1 - oil equipment in Romania, 2 - Greece's claims to Bulgaria, 3 - the creation of a commission on Bulgarian issues.

The Yalta conference basically did not contain complex issues, since there were agreements. The most pressing issue was reparations from Germany. Soviet Union demanded to assign reparations of 20 billion dollars, 10 of which were to be destined for the USSR, and the other 10 for other countries. Churchill was strongly opposed, but it was decided to create a separate commission to resolve this issue.