1945: Potsdam Conference

DATE: July 17th-August 6th, 1945

DESCRIPTION: The Potsdam Conference was held after the defeat of Germany. The participants again were the US, UK and Soviet Union, with Harry S. Truman for the US, Winston Churchill for the UK, and Joseph Stalin for the Soviet Union. During the conference, the three major powers discussed the division/disarming of Germany and agreed to redraw Poland and Indochina’s borders. This conclusion to this conference was met with Truman revealing the (future) use of a powerful new weapon to Stalin and gave Japan an ultimatum to surrender.

BLAME: This conference was also caused by World War 2, and in specific, the fall of Germany. This is because in this conference, the US, UK and the Soviet Union approved different steps to disarm Germany and deprive her of her ability to make war by various measures, such as dismantling her war industries. War reparations were also discussed. This conference was supposed to lead to a future peace conference, but it was never held, so Potsdam became the framework for peace after the war.

TENSION INCREASE: The tensions were clearly increasing by Stalin due to his with his big demands for land and reparations. Even though England and USA still gave it to them and turned a blind eye to Eastern European issues because they wanted Stalin’s help in the Pacific, they suspected Russia and they were getting ready for their Red Army. Stalin was also suspicious of the US because they didn’t want to cripple Germany with reparations. The one to blame for this is Stalin and tensions were starting to rise. +1

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