Aftermath of World War II
Potsdam Conference: July 17 - August 2, 1945
Main points
The Potsdam Conference, held near Berlin, July 17-August 2, 1945, was the last of the Big Three meetings during World War II. It was attended by Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, the new American president, Harry S. Truman, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain (replaced on July 28 by his successor, Clement Attlee). On July 26, the leaders issued a declaration demanding ‘unconditional surrender’ from Japan, concealing the fact that they had privately agreed to let Japan retain its emperor. Otherwise, the conference centered on postwar Europe. A Council of Foreign Ministers was agreed upon, with membership from the Big Three plus China and France. Military administration of Germany was established, with a central Allied Control Council (the requirement that acc decisions be unanimous would later prove to be crippling). The leaders arrived at various agreements on the German economy, placing primary emphasis on the development of agriculture and nonmilitary industry. The institutions that had controlled the economy under the Nazis were to be decentralized, but all of Germany would be treated as a single economic unit. War criminals would be brought to trial. Stalin’s request to define the Polish-German border was put off till the peace treaty, but the conference accepted his transfer of the land east of the Oder and Neisse rivers from Germany to Poland. Regarding reparations, a compromise was worked out, based on an exchange of capital equipment from the Western zone for raw materials from the East. It resolved a dispute but set the precedent of managing the German economy by zone rather than comprehensively as the Western powers had hoped. Although postwar Europe dominated the Potsdam agenda, the war in the Pacific lurked offstage. Truman received word of the successful atomic bomb test soon after he arrived at Potsdam; he told Churchill the news but mentioned ‘a new weapon’ only casually to Stalin. Truman continued to solicit Stalin’s assistance against Japan, but he knew that if the bomb succeeded, Russian help would not be needed. Indeed, the bomb would give the United States unprecedented power in the postwar world.
United Nations: Oct 25, 1945
In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States in August-October 1944.
The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States.
The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.
Paris Peace Treaties: 1947
Main points
From July 1946 until February 1947, delegates from twenty‐one nations met in Paris to decide on peace terms for Germany's five allies in World War II: Bulgaria, Hungary, Finland, Italy, and Romania. Italy was obliged to cede most of the Istrian peninsula, including Fiume (Rijeka), and some Adriatic islands to Yugoslavia, and the Dodecanese to Greece; Trieste became a free city, a status it retained until 1954. Italy also had to accept some minor frontier adjustments and renounce all claims in Africa. Romania regained Transylvania, but ceded Bessarabia (Moldova) and the northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union. Bulgaria's sovereignty over south Dobrudja, which it had regained from Romania in 1940, was confirmed. Hungary remained limited to its frontiers of the Treaty of Trianon. Finally, Finland had to cede Petsamo to the Soviet Union. A peace treaty with Austria was not concluded until 1955, while bitter Allied disputes over the division of Germany during the Cold War prevented the conclusion of a peace treaty with Germany until German reunification in 1990.
Main points
- Germany to be disarmed and demilitarized under 4 zones that would be occupied by the Allied Forces.
- Abolished discriminatory laws in Germany created during the Nazi Era
- Germans responsible for massive damages and loss of lives were to be arrested and deemed as war criminals
- Defined the terms for Japan's unconditional surrender
The Potsdam Conference, held near Berlin, July 17-August 2, 1945, was the last of the Big Three meetings during World War II. It was attended by Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, the new American president, Harry S. Truman, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain (replaced on July 28 by his successor, Clement Attlee). On July 26, the leaders issued a declaration demanding ‘unconditional surrender’ from Japan, concealing the fact that they had privately agreed to let Japan retain its emperor. Otherwise, the conference centered on postwar Europe. A Council of Foreign Ministers was agreed upon, with membership from the Big Three plus China and France. Military administration of Germany was established, with a central Allied Control Council (the requirement that acc decisions be unanimous would later prove to be crippling). The leaders arrived at various agreements on the German economy, placing primary emphasis on the development of agriculture and nonmilitary industry. The institutions that had controlled the economy under the Nazis were to be decentralized, but all of Germany would be treated as a single economic unit. War criminals would be brought to trial. Stalin’s request to define the Polish-German border was put off till the peace treaty, but the conference accepted his transfer of the land east of the Oder and Neisse rivers from Germany to Poland. Regarding reparations, a compromise was worked out, based on an exchange of capital equipment from the Western zone for raw materials from the East. It resolved a dispute but set the precedent of managing the German economy by zone rather than comprehensively as the Western powers had hoped. Although postwar Europe dominated the Potsdam agenda, the war in the Pacific lurked offstage. Truman received word of the successful atomic bomb test soon after he arrived at Potsdam; he told Churchill the news but mentioned ‘a new weapon’ only casually to Stalin. Truman continued to solicit Stalin’s assistance against Japan, but he knew that if the bomb succeeded, Russian help would not be needed. Indeed, the bomb would give the United States unprecedented power in the postwar world.
United Nations: Oct 25, 1945
In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. Those delegates deliberated on the basis of proposals worked out by the representatives of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States at Dumbarton Oaks, United States in August-October 1944.
The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. Poland, which was not represented at the Conference, signed it later and became one of the original 51 Member States.
The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October each year.
Paris Peace Treaties: 1947
Main points
- The treaties allowed Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland to resume their responsibilities as sovereign states in international affairs and to qualify for membership in the United Nations.
- The settlement elaborated in the peace treaties included payment of war reparations, commitment to minority rights and territorial adjustments including the end of the Italian Colonial Empire in Africa, Greece, and Albania, as well as changes to the Italian–Yugoslav, Hungarian–Czechoslovak, Soviet–Romanian, Hungarian-Romanian, French–Italian and Soviet–Finnish borders.
From July 1946 until February 1947, delegates from twenty‐one nations met in Paris to decide on peace terms for Germany's five allies in World War II: Bulgaria, Hungary, Finland, Italy, and Romania. Italy was obliged to cede most of the Istrian peninsula, including Fiume (Rijeka), and some Adriatic islands to Yugoslavia, and the Dodecanese to Greece; Trieste became a free city, a status it retained until 1954. Italy also had to accept some minor frontier adjustments and renounce all claims in Africa. Romania regained Transylvania, but ceded Bessarabia (Moldova) and the northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union. Bulgaria's sovereignty over south Dobrudja, which it had regained from Romania in 1940, was confirmed. Hungary remained limited to its frontiers of the Treaty of Trianon. Finally, Finland had to cede Petsamo to the Soviet Union. A peace treaty with Austria was not concluded until 1955, while bitter Allied disputes over the division of Germany during the Cold War prevented the conclusion of a peace treaty with Germany until German reunification in 1990.