Postdam Conference
The last conference of the Allied Powers towards the end of World War II. The conference was held in Potsdam, the royal center of the Prussian state. President Truman from the United States, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Stalin from the Soviet Union participated in this conference.
The conference, which began in July 1945, was held after the greatest victory of history. But the problem that had to be solved was very important: Rebuilding Europe. The need for Europe to be ruined by war has created this need. At the conference, a Council of Foreign Ministers was set up to prepare peace treaties. The most important issues addressed are:Germany problem, Poland problem, Occupation of Austria, Soviet duty in Eastern Europe, war reparations and war with Japan. The most controversial topic at the conference was Germany. As the Allies begin to look at the defeat of Germany,they have begun to change their old views on the disintegration of Germany.
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Stalin's request to amend the Montreux Convention was accepted by the western countries in principle.Also held will be replaced by separate contract negotiations with Turkey were decided. Ultimatum sent to Japan to accept the Potsdam Declaration. However, Japan rejected it. Then,the USA threw atom bombs to, Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6, August 9). The conference ended on August 1, 1945. But the positive atmosphere after the Yalta Conference did not exist after the Potsdam Conference. The Soviets commented on this conference; Western states give priority to the development of Germany rather than to the Soviet Union and was disinterested in the harm that Germany has inflicted on the Soviet people and their lands. The interpretation of Western states is; The Soviet Union sought to strengthen itself rather than a general European order. The German problem that took the most time of the Potsdam Conference, it was the most important theme of the Cold
Following World War Two tensions was developing between the communist East represented by the Soviet Union and the capitalist West which was comprised of Britain, France and the United States. This tension, which was mostly between the United States and the Soviet Union, who had emerged as the two power states following the World War Two, was a result of both ideological differences as well as the decisions made at three key conferences during World War Two; The Tehran Conference of 1943, The Yalta Conference in the early months of 1945, and the Potsdam conference following the fall of Germany in July 1945. The Soviet Union disagreed with some of the decisions made at the conferences, most notably, the division of Germany and Berlin. The decisions made at these conferences, as well as the ideological differences between the two superpowers would further increase tensions between the East and West, as well as having a significant impact on the development of the Early Crisis and the Cold War.
On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the world’s first atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. On August 15th, the Japan announced unconditional surrender in World War II. To this day historians still discuss why the U.S. decided to use the atomic bombs. Orthodox historians argue that the decision to drop the bombs was a military one designed purely to defeat the Japanese.
Foreign and domestic policies during the Cold War lead to both the separation of world powers and the fear of political and social systems throughout the world. After World War 2 ended, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union heightened. The agreements made at the Yalta Conference between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt, were not being followed by the Soviets. The Soviet Union kept the land they reconquered in Eastern Europe and did not enforce a democratic government in those countries, as they promised. Instead, the Soviet Union decided to continue spreading communism in their reconquered lands.
This physical border was christened the Iron Curtain by the former Prime Minister of Great Britain Winston Churchill in a speech he made at Fulton Missouri on 5th March 1946. The first two years after the war passed uneventfully with both superpowers establishing themselves into their new sectors within Germany, which had been agreed at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945. This changed with the implementation by Truman of the Truman Doctrine in March 1947.
However, it was not the case, the Soviets acknowledged the atomic bomb and wanted to create as many as possible so they could yield the control not only in the Pacific, but in the Eastern Europe. In the words of former US senator from South Carolina, James F. Byrnes, claimed “the bomb provided a unique opportunity to check Soviet control of Eastern Europe and Asia in the postwar years, and he very much wanted to delay or avert the entry of the Soviet Union into the war with Japan” (59). In the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, all the Allied countries, except the Soviets, stood together in preparing for the end of the World War 2. President Truman, learning of the success of the Manhattan project, and understanding that he must make a choice whether to drop the atomic bomb or not turned out to be the most difficult decision to make in his life. They came up with a decision to make Japan “unconditional surrender” (59) but they were afraid the Japan would not step down and refused to give up their fight.
Continuing on, the bombing of Japan was also unnecessary due to the unacceptable terms of the Potsdam Declaration. After Germany’s surrender on May 7, 1945, the U.S. created a treaty, called the Potsdam Declaration, with terms of surrender for Japan (Lawton). Among those terms was one which stated, “We call upon the government of Japan to ...
Canning, Kathleen. “Responses to German Reunification.” The Journal of the International Institute. 2000. The Regents of the University of Michigan. 07 March 05
Japan refused to accept an unconditional surrender, which was demanded by the allied powers in order to stop the war against them. On August 6, 1945 Truman allowed Enola Gay to drop the atomic bomb on top of Hiroshima and later Nagasaki to end the war. The revisionists and the orthodox views have different opinions on President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb. The revisionists believed that Truman’s decision was wrong and that there could have been alternatives. They say that the bomb was unnecessary and it was only used as a “diplomatic tool” and to show the power of the US to the world....
To fully examine the factors that led to the United States dropping an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, one can look at the event as a result of two major decisions. The first decision concerned the use of newly developed nuclear weapons in lieu of other military techniques to secure a timely Japanese surrender. The second decision was to use several of these weapons instead of only one. Although the Truman administration displayed little hesitation or ambivalence over the decision to use atomic weapons (Walker, 51), it is important to examine what factors contributed to these swift actions. It was believed that dropping an atomic bomb on Nagasaki would resolve a number of problems in a simpler fashion than prolonging the conventional warfare until Japan finally ceded defeat.
In February, 1945, the United Sates, Britain, France, and Soviet concluded agreement: Yalta Agreement. In January 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Poland and the Soviet Union almost reached to the border of Germany. Thus, the main three countries of Allies: the United States, France, and Britain had a conference. As a result, they decided to concluded with the Soviet Union that dividing Germany, setting the border of Poland, processing of East Countries after the war. The purpose of the Yalta Agreement was for adjusting of interests after the World War II (Morton). Thus, the United States had expected that some political problems would be appeared before the World War II ended. Therefore, the United States used the atomic bombs to restrain the Soviet Union after the World War
The United States entered WW II immediately following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The U.S. entry was a major turning point in the war because it brought the strongest industrial strength to the Allied side. The Americans helped the Allies to win the war in Europe with the surrender of Germany on May 7, 1945. However, the war in the Pacific continued. The war with Japan at this point consisted primarily of strategic bombings. America had recently completed an atomic bomb and was considering using this weapon of mass destruction for the first time. The goal was to force the “unconditional surrender” of the Japanese. Roosevelt had used the term “unconditional surrender” in a press conference in 1943 and it had since become a central war aim. Truman and his staff (still feeling bound by FDR’s words) demanded unconditional surrender from the Japanese. Consequently on July 26, 1945 Truman issued an ultimatum to Japan. This ultimatum stated that Japan must accept “unconditional surrender” or suffer “utter devastation of the Japanese Homeland”. This surrender included abdication of the throne by their emperor. Japan was not willing to surrender their dynasty and ignored the ultimatum. On August 6th and August 9th, atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively.
The effects of the atomic bomb might not have been the exact effects that the United States was looking for when they dropped Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively (Grant, 1998). The original desire of the United States government when they dropped Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not, in fact, the one more commonly known: that the two nuclear devices dropped upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki were detonated with the intention of bringing an end to the war with Japan, but instead to intimidate the Soviet Union. The fact of Japan's imminent defeat, the undeniable truth that relations with Russia were deteriorating, and competition for the division of Europe prove this without question. Admittedly, dropping the atomic bomb was a major factor in Japan's decision to accept the terms laid out in the Potsdam agreement, otherwise known as unconditional surrender. The fact must be pointed out, however, that Japan had already been virtually defeated.
Throughout history, negotiation has been a powerful tool used by world leaders to avoid violence and resolve conflict. When negotiation succeeds, all parties can feel that they have achieved their goals and met their expectations, but when negotiations go awry, countries and relationships can be damaged beyond repair. The Munich Agreement of 1938 is a primary example of this type of failure, which was one of the catalysts to the start of World War II and Czechoslovakia’s loss of independence. The Czech people were greatly overlooked during this agreement process, which still in some instances affects the country today. The 1930s were a challenging time for Europe and the powers within it due to the aftermath of WWI and the worldwide economic depression.
It has been almost a century since the first Paris Peace Conference was held, but even now, it is a popular yet controversial event in the history of the world. The Paris Peace Conference took place in 1919, involving more than 1,000 representatives from over 30 nations. The results of the Conference are five treaties regarding terms that, according to the Conference, shall prevent any upcoming conflicts among nations. Although World War II started only after 15 years, nonetheless, the treaties did function as a buffer between countries. Although many resolutions were discussed, the negotiation of the Conference revolves around four main topics, reparation from the previous war losses or limitations on the main Central Power, Germany, self-recognition, President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, and the annexation of land.
Other failures such as the Disarmament Pact will also be described in this essay. Since the Failures were more important than the successes, it is important to begin and describe in detail in a chronological. The first one was back in 1919 when Italian nationalists took over the small port of Fiume in Yugoslavia. They thought that it belonged o Italy and that the Treaty of Versailles pact was broken. The Italian government didn't accept this and so bombarded the port.