In February 1945, after six years of devastating war, Europe lay in ruins. Millions had died, but the defeat of Nazi Germany was now certain. The Allies, still fighting, had to plan for the peace that would follow. Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill decided to meet in a small resort in the south of the Soviet Union.
The conference took place in Yalta, in the Crimea. There, the three leaders dreamed of a post-war world. But their faces in photographs from the time reveal the tension. United in war, they would prove divided in peace.
For eight days, from February 4 to February 11, 1945, the three men fought a relentless battle over their conflicting interests and ideologies. Yalta was the last time they would all meet. Each was at a critical point in his own destiny, and the conference would soon plunge the world into a new darkness.
On February 3, 1945, British and American planes landed on a frozen runway at Saki airfield in the Crimea after a seven-hour night flight. Winston Churchill descended the plane stiff and feverish, but the British Prime Minister put on a brave face. He was ill, but ready to write a new page in history.
President Franklin Roosevelt was also present, though exhausted. Diplomats and military officers exchanged greetings on the tarmac. Many attendees kept records of the conference, and their writings tell stories not found in official histories.
Stalin did not come to Saki to greet his guests. This absence was an early move in his game of power. Instead, Vyacheslav Molotov, Stalin’s loyal right-hand man, met Roosevelt and Churchill at the plane.
Roosevelt, paralyzed by polio, could no longer walk. Churchill walked beside him, appearing subordinate. Churchill’s personal doctor, Lord Moran, noted in his diary that the Prime Minister looked like an Indian servant accompanying Queen Victoria’s carriage in her old age.
This was not the last time Churchill would appear as Roosevelt’s aide. The war was not over, but the glory of the British Empire was already fading. The United States and the Soviet Union were the new giants of the century. Yalta would be Churchill’s struggle for survival.
Yalta was 150 kilometers from Saki, and the poor, winding road made the trip last five hours. For Roosevelt, it was a new ordeal. Paralyzed, he sat in the back seat with two cushions to support his back and useless legs.
The route was under close watch, with 160 fighter planes patrolling the sky. Roosevelt’s daughter, Anna Boettiger, was surprised by the Soviet preparations. She wrote in her memoirs that soldiers were posted every 300 meters along the road. All the Russian soldiers, including women, were smart and upright.
Through the windows, Roosevelt and Churchill witnessed scenes of destruction. The Crimea had been liberated from the Germans less than a year earlier. More than 20 million Russians had lost their lives, and 70,000 Soviet cities and villages had been destroyed. Stalin had designed the route so his guests would not miss any detail of the devastation.
After the five-hour journey, Roosevelt and Churchill arrived in Yalta in the early evening. Roosevelt was exhausted. His journey had begun twelve days earlier, crossing the Atlantic by boat and then flying from Malta. He had traveled 8,500 kilometers. Churchill had traveled 3,200 kilometers, while Stalin’s train journey was only 1,500 kilometers.
Yalta had not lost its charm. In the 19th century, it was a Soviet Riviera where tsars and aristocrats vacationed. The conference delegates were to stay in palaces that still exist today. They had been fully renovated in anticipation of the conference, with items brought from Moscow in large convoys.
Stalin had chosen Yalta and wanted his guests to have only good memories. He reserved the best villas for them: Livadia Palace for Roosevelt, where the negotiations took place, and Vorontsov Villa for Churchill.
On February 4, 1945, the first day of negotiations, Stalin paid courtesy visits to his guests. He met Churchill first, then Roosevelt. The Russian and the American shared martinis, Roosevelt’s guilty pleasure. There was no lemon, and Stalin noticed. The next time, a huge lemon was delivered. This impressed the British and Americans, as a lemon tree in the middle of war was remarkable. It also showed Stalin’s power.
The negotiations began at 5 p.m. in the Livadia Palace conference hall. Churchill arrived first with his daughter Sarah, wearing a Russian hat in honor of his host. Stalin arrived next, and the two men showed camaraderie for the cameras. Roosevelt was already at the negotiating table, having entered discreetly. He kept cameras from filming his arrival, as moving from wheelchair to chair was difficult.
Each of the Big Three had advisors. Churchill was accompanied by Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden and diplomat Alexander Cadogan, an expert on Polish affairs. Roosevelt relied on Harry Hopkins, his friend and right-hand man, and Secretary of State Edward Stettinius. Stalin had Molotov and diplomat Ivan Maisky.
Four major issues were on the table: the fate of defeated Germany, Poland, the United Nations, and the war against Japan. The positions of the Allied armies influenced these discussions. Since December, the Red Army had liberated Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland. The Russians were only 80 kilometers from Berlin, while Anglo-American forces had been slowed by a German counterattack and had not yet crossed the Rhine.
From a military perspective, the Soviets were clearly ahead of their Western allies. This gave them a diplomatic advantage. There was also an ideological divide: Churchill and Roosevelt were capitalists facing communism. But they did not form a united front against Stalin.
Roosevelt respected Churchill as an old warhorse who had stood alone in Europe, but he also felt contempt for him as an old colonialist. Roosevelt believed in modern ideals like decolonization. He needed Stalin more than he needed Churchill. The United States was fighting Japan in the Pacific, and without Russian help, the war could last indefinitely. Roosevelt also needed Stalin’s participation in the future United Nations.
Roosevelt was willing to discard Churchill, an old ally with little to offer. Churchill took this seriously. He suspected Stalin would try to establish communist systems in all the countries the Red Army had liberated, and he knew that without Roosevelt’s help, there was no chance of stopping him.
During the first day, only military matters were discussed. Stalin took the initiative and proposed that Roosevelt chair the plenary sessions. By becoming president, Roosevelt was flattered but also powerless, as he would have to be master of ceremonies while others planned and negotiated behind his back. It was a clever trick.
The first session was just a warm-up, with no important decisions. But the Westerners clearly understood that it would not be easy to raise their voices against Stalin.
On the second day, serious matters were discussed, starting with the German question. What would happen to Germany after its defeat? How would the country be managed? What reparations would be appropriate?
The discussion began with the upcoming occupation of Germany. In early 1944, the plan was to divide the country into three zones: American, British, and Soviet. Now Churchill asked for a fourth zone, for France. He did not want to stand alone against the two giants and wanted an alliance with another colonial power.
Stalin said generously that the French had not fought much during the war and had surrendered quickly in 1940. But he was a reasonable man and agreed, as long as he could share the British zone. Stalin then took the opportunity to ask for something in return: maximum reparations from Germany. The Soviet Union had been destroyed, and Germany must pay.
This vengeful stance worried Roosevelt and Churchill. If Germany was looted and starved to satisfy Stalin, how could it recover? It would inevitably be financed by the West. The Western leaders stood firm, and Stalin became angry and suspicious.
Stalin was about to play his trump card. He and Molotov formed an unmatched duo, both masters of dark diplomacy. Molotov was the bad cop, while Stalin would intervene to calm things down.
The Soviet delegation had not yet decided on the total amount of reparations. Maisky described the scene in his memoirs. Molotov leaned toward Stalin and asked if he should give the total. Stalin said yes. Molotov asked which amount, five or ten. Stalin said ten. This was a way to show that discussions were ongoing and nothing was finished. Ten billion for the Soviet Union was agreed, and no one said anything. Stalin assumed the total was accepted. The Westerners did not dare respond, but this decision would have serious consequences later, as Germany could not pay such a huge sum, and the Soviets would take payment in kind by dismantling German industry.
After this first round of negotiations, each of the Big Three retired to his palace. In Livadia, Roosevelt found peace with his daughter Anna. She had been his closest friend and companion for years, acting as an unpaid, informal aide. Fifteen kilometers away at Vorontsov, Churchill was with his daughter Sarah, an actress and volunteer helper in the Royal Air Force.
The daughters could do things that no one else could. Churchill tended to wake up late and work in bed, spending a long time in the bathroom. You could not send a military aide to get him, but you could send his daughter.
Most evenings that week, one of the leaders invited the others to dinner. These were occasions for more informal negotiations. The first of these meals was at Livadia. The Americans took care of the service, but the Russians provided the food. Stalin made it a point to be lavish, with fifteen meals of thirty courses, caviar, and cream. Cream was rationed in Britain, and people had almost forgotten what it was. Meanwhile, Soviet people were starving, but Stalin was not interested in that. He wanted to show his power.
This was Georgian and Russian hospitality. Psychologically, it gave him the upper hand. Everything depended on Stalin’s goodwill. At dinner, alcohol flowed freely. Food and drink were always part of the host state’s means. It was a game to see who could drink the most.
To allow everyone to recover from these evenings, plenary sessions were scheduled late in the afternoon. The mornings were spent preparing for the debates, thinking about possible compromises.
On the third day, February 6, the Polish file was on the table. It was the most difficult part of the conference and the most symbolic, as the war had begun in Poland. The Allies had to form a new government, but they could not agree on anything.
Stalin had always considered Poland a threat to his country, as Russia had always been invaded through Poland. He wanted Poland to be a friendly state, a defensive barrier around the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union intended to use these countries as buffer states.
The British view was that they had not declared war on Hitler over Poland to see it become a communist state. Churchill wanted a free and independent post-war Poland. For Roosevelt, the Polish question was incidental, but it mattered for other reasons. Six million American citizens of Polish origin mostly supported the Democratic Party, and they were strongly anti-communist.
The Polish president, Władysław Raczkiewicz, lived in exile in London. But another government, this time communist, opposed him. Headed by Bolesław Bierut, it was based in Lublin and called itself the Lublin Committee. The two governments hated each other.
In August 1944, an event had destroyed their relationship irreparably. The Red Army was at the gates of Warsaw, and from London, Raczkiewicz decided to provoke an uprising. The Polish resistance wanted to liberate its capital before the communists did. But the German crackdown was fierce. For 63 days, the resistance was crushed. Stalin coldly allowed this to happen and ordered the Red Army to do nothing. The Nazis massacred 200,000 Poles, and 90% of the Polish capital was destroyed.
Two months later, Stalin reaped the benefits and installed a communist government in Warsaw. This action cast a shadow over the Yalta negotiations. Churchill could never accept that Stalin had allowed the Warsaw rebels to die without helping them. He realized he was dealing with a dangerous man.
Now at Yalta, the Allies had to put aside their suspicions and build Poland’s future government. The Anglo-American view was that a unified national government should be built from the various anti-fascist political groups in Poland. The Soviets saw it simply as using the Warsaw government as it was, with some added members.
Stalin refused to hear about the London-based governments. Whenever Churchill or Roosevelt proposed potential members to join the Lublin administration, he refused. Stalin knew he was in a position of power. Soviet forces were in those countries.
The Allies could not find a way to agree, and things became heated. Stalin became increasingly restless. Maisky described the scene in his memoirs: suddenly, Stalin stood up and began waving his right arm. This behavior was inappropriate at a Big Three conference. He began speaking in an unusually tense manner.
Stalin’s attack stunned his allies. Hopkins sent a note to Roosevelt, suggesting they end the session for the day and continue tomorrow at 7:15. It was better to leave things as they were and start fresh the next day.
Stalin’s negotiating skill was clear to everyone. That night, diplomat Alexander Cadogan wrote that he thought Stalin was the most impressive of the three men. He was calm and reserved, never using an unnecessary word.
But Stalin’s success was not only due to his talent. Unknown to Eden and Cadogan, Stalin’s supporters were spying on their allies. Even before the conference began, Stalin knew everything that was happening. Soviet intelligence services had been well established in England and the United States for months. Agents provided detailed information on how Churchill and Roosevelt were preparing for the conference.
Soviet intelligence had also bugged the palaces. Churchill and Roosevelt knew this, but they did not realize that when they went to the garden to discuss secret matters, everything was picked up by microphones hidden in trees and bushes. Stalin insisted on being personally informed of everything they heard, even requiring his spies to repeat dialogues using the same intonations as Churchill and Roosevelt.
Stalin knew exactly what hands his opponents held, while his allies groped in the dark.
On the fourth day of negotiations, the Polish file had to be completed. Thanks to the information gathered the previous day, Stalin knew his allies were ready to sacrifice Poland to get what they wanted from other files. The United Nations and Japan were at the forefront of Roosevelt’s concerns. The file that interested Churchill the most was not on the table at Yalta, but it was essential: Greece.
Greece was a former British protectorate and a strategic asset, opening the road to the Suez Canal and access to British colonies. For two years, Greece had been in a violent civil war. Communists were trying to overthrow the king and were close to seizing power. If Greece fell to the communists, the future of the entire British Empire could be at stake.
To avoid this, Churchill had taken the first step and become involved in serious negotiations. In October 1944, four months before Yalta, he met Stalin face to face in Moscow. Roosevelt was in the middle of his re-election campaign, and Churchill took advantage of his absence to make a secret agreement with Stalin about the future of Europe.
The document was written in bold on a scrap of paper by Churchill and pointed to by Stalin. Like two grocers, they agreed on their shares of the crop in Eastern Europe. Russia got 90% of Romania, the Soviets got 75% of Bulgaria, and Britain got 90% of Greece. At Yalta, Churchill hoped Stalin would remember this agreement. To ensure he had a free hand in Greece, Churchill was ready to leave Poland to dry.
This agreement on percentages contrasted starkly with Churchill’s firm ideas. He would never have agreed to give up any European territories or spheres of influence.
To avoid upsetting Stalin, the Western powers ended up with a conciliatory compromise on the Polish question. On the fourth day, the Americans and British dropped the exile government and recognized Bierut’s communist government in Lublin. In return, Churchill and Roosevelt won seats for non-communist ministers in the Lublin government. Stalin also promised to organize free elections in Poland after the war, as in all other countries liberated by the Red Army.
The phrase “free elections” seemed like a victory for the West, although Stalin gave them no guarantees at all. All they got from Stalin was a declaration of good intentions and formulas that allowed them to save face in their parliaments. But how could free elections be imagined when the country was completely occupied by the Red Army?
In exchange for these promises, the Western leaders gave Stalin a great service. They allowed him to build a defensive barrier by annexing part of Poland to the Soviet Union. In return, Poland would later receive German territory, allowing the country to move gradually westward. Stalin got full marks on the Polish file. He got everything he wanted, and his allies hoped he would not forget this.
On February 8, the sun shone brightly in the Crimean sky. Roosevelt was on the edge, with discussions about Japan about to begin. He desperately needed Stalin’s support. To make sure things went his way, he invited Stalin to share a martini just before the plenary session. Churchill was not informed of these developments. The meeting took place behind his back.
Roosevelt feared the impulsive Englishman would prevent him from negotiating freely. He believed in the principle of heart-to-heart relations and thought he could influence Stalin through the relationship he was developing. But such things did not work with Stalin. Roosevelt had no idea how ruthless Stalin was, how devoid of human emotion.
At this time, the American campaign in the Pacific was suffering heavy losses against the fanatical Japanese army. Senior leaders estimated that without Russian help, the war could last another year and cost more than half a million soldiers. Roosevelt was determined to avoid this bloodbath.
Stalin knew this and raised the stakes. In exchange for Soviet artillery fuel, he wanted territory. He demanded Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands, but also control of Port Arthur, Dairen, and the Manchurian railways. The negotiations did not focus on the Kuril and Sakhalin islands because they belonged to Japan, and the Americans were happy to hand over Japanese territory to the Soviets. But Dairen and Port Arthur were a concern because they belonged to China, meaning Chiang Kai-shek, an American ally. He had not been invited to Yalta.
Roosevelt could be criticized, particularly by the Senate, for making concessions to Stalin at the expense of an ally. It was a very sensitive situation. But then Stalin tried to reassure Roosevelt, using his charm to find a solution and convince Chiang Kai-shek to accept the situation.
Roosevelt’s interpreter, Charles Bohlen, reported in his memoirs that Stalin said it was clear that if his conditions were not met, it would be difficult for him and Molotov to explain to the people why the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan. Roosevelt was clearly upset by what he was doing, but in the face of Soviet intransigence, he swallowed his reservations. His main goal was to end the war. His Chinese allies, along with Dairen and Port Arthur, were sacrificed. He would settle matters with Chiang Kai-shek once the war was over.
Roosevelt could be satisfied with himself. He had achieved his goals, not only over Japan but also the United Nations. The new organization he wanted to see carried an ambition to bring peace to the world. Stalin had agreed in principle to be part of this peacekeeping organization. Getting Stalin to agree to send Molotov to Dumbarton Oaks for preliminary negotiations was a strong move. For Stalin, it was a significant concession, and he played a cat-and-mouse game, saying he was not sure if he could really send Molotov.
On the sixth day of negotiations, February 9, 1945, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin could show their sense of humor to a crowd of photographers. The Big Three had managed to reach compromises on all the files: the United Nations, Japan, Germany, and Poland. Each had gotten what they wanted most.
Churchill had proven himself a match for his powerful counterparts, raising France to the level of victors and securing an occupation zone in Germany. Roosevelt had gotten the green light from Stalin on the United Nations and Japan. Together with Churchill, he had also persuaded Stalin to agree to free elections in Poland and Eastern Europe after the war.
But it was Stalin who won the grand prize. Without a doubt, the Soviet Union and Stalin were superior at the Yalta Conference. He got what he wanted regarding Poland and almost what he wanted regarding Germany, especially when it came to reparations.
A photograph showing perfect harmony between the Big Three was circulated around the world. But the image was deceptive. At Yalta, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill sought to reach an agreement among themselves. They wanted to maintain the alliance while the war was still ongoing. Each defended his own vision of the world and his own interests.
The Yalta agreements were risky. They were born of compromise and rested on a fragile consensus between three exceptional personalities. When the negotiations ended, everyone wanted to believe. That evening, the delegations toasted friendship between nations and peace for all humanity.
But this hope would not last long. The “entente” celebrated by the Big Three would soon shatter. Just three weeks after the conference ended, Stalin imposed his full control over the governments in Yalta. As the Red Army continued to occupy Romania, he organized a communist takeover. In Poland, every time his allies proposed a non-communist minister to join the government, Stalin refused.
Roosevelt, who had been confident until then, became worried. After Yalta, he was disappointed. He realized that the Stalin he thought he knew bore little resemblance to the real Stalin. On April 1, the American president sent a long telegram to his friend Stalin, demanding explanations. He could not hide his concern about the development of events since their fruitful meeting at Yalta. He could not understand why recent events in Romania should not be considered outside the terms of the agreement.
But Roosevelt’s warnings fell on deaf Soviet ears. Stalin continued to implement his plan relentlessly, installing communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Roosevelt died eleven days after sending the telegram, never seeing the full extent of Stalin’s betrayal. Churchill, who lost the general election in a widespread shock, could only sit helplessly and watch their main plan unfold.
The Big Three did not achieve the long-awaited world peace at Yalta. The dream of brotherhood was nothing more than an illusion. These former allies would soon become enemies, fighting a new kind of conflict: the Cold War.