Yalta

The Yalta Conference

The Yalta Conference was one of the most important events in history, let alone, this century. It took place from February 4 to February 11, 1945, at Yalta, Crimea, a port/resort. The three main individuals at this meeting were Churchill of Great Britain, Roosevelt of the United States and Stalin of the

U.S.S.R, known back then, and now known as Russia.

Roosevelt had two primary goals at Yalta, and he secured them both, during the negotiations. One these key objectives was to involve Stalin in the war against Japan. The Americans had lost too many people since the battles fought with Australia against Japan were bloody ones. And, since it was not clear how to defeat the Japanese since they were so devoted to their country (recall the Kamakasi), Roosevelt wanted Russian involvement in the war.

His other major objective at the Crimea conference was to ensure the creation of the UN along the lines proposed by the Americans. “FDR believed that the UN was the only device that could keep the United States from slipping back into isolationism after WWII”(1). After detailed explanations of the UN proposal, by Secretary of State, Edward R. Stettinius, Stalin and Churchill agreed to the guidelines proposed. Because Churchill strongly wanted to have certain countries in the British commonwealth accepted into the UN, Roosevelt was unable to deny Stalin the admission of Soviet Ukrainian and Belorussian republics in the UN. Another very important matter on the table of discussions at Yalta was Poland. Since Poland was a very large country and situated between Germany and Russia. It was also a very will strategically placed country. So, at the Yalta conference it was discussed whether Poland would be allowed to have free elections. Stalin was greatly opposed to having supervised (by the Americans, British and Soviets) election in Poland and so.

Another matter of great importance and Crimea was the reparations to be received from Germany. The Russians wanted a set amount of $$50 million. They also wanted 50% of this money. However, a historian close to Roosevelt, advised him that this would be a bad idea. He believe that “it would open the door to all sorts of deliberations in the future”.

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... Russians who made Romania give all of its agricultural products to Russia for more than 10 years along with many other taxations and pay-backs. One of the biggest way the Russians influenced the Romanian people, was by killing all of it’s highest intellect. Any person with higher education (than high school) that did not “seem” to agree with the concepts of communism (let alone talk or write against the government) was immediately put to death.

Freedom is took for granted and the pain that a small country like that

had to go through will not be forgiven in the years to come. Certainly, my generation will not forget it, and I will pass on to my children the many stories of great oppression that Romania had to go through after the war. And I hope that this painful memory will never be forgotten.

I will criticize FDR for doing this to Eastern Europe, because it ruined one of the most beautiful, and educated places in the world. Eastern Europe has proved that it can take the pain and oppression of its captors and it will live through the economic crisis that has affected it because of the fall of this communist empire.