Chapter 102 Yalta meeting

At the beginning of 1945, the Second World War had entered the late stage, and the final victory of the anti-fascist war was just around the corner.On the European battlefield, the troops of the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States advanced from the east and west to the German mainland, and the German fascists were doomed.In the Far East and the Pacific region, the Japanese fascist army is still stubbornly resisting.In order to coordinate the relationship between the allies, discuss the plan to finally defeat Germany and Japan, study how to deal with the defeated Germany, arrange European affairs and major issues of post-war peace, the Yalta Conference was held.

On February 3, 1945, US President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, together with their foreign ministers and chiefs of staff, came to Yalta, a health resort on the south coast of the Crimea Peninsula in the Soviet Union. From February 4 to 11, 1945, the world-famous Yalta International Conference was held here. Because Yalta is located in the Crimea Peninsula, the Yalta International Conference is also called the Crimea Conference.The participants of this meeting were mainly Stalin, chairman of the People's Committee of the Soviet Union, US President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill, as well as the accompanying foreign ministers, chiefs of staff and advisers of the three countries.

The meeting lasted from February 4th to 11th. During the 8 consecutive days, the government delegations of Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union adopted a variety of different ways of talks, including plenary meetings attended by all representatives. Only the Big Three were present. Meetings, as well as group meetings of chiefs of staff or foreign ministers on specific issues.Extensive discussions were held on the final defeat of German and Japanese fascism, dealing with defeated Germany, arranging European affairs and safeguarding post-war world peace and equality. Finally, the three countries jointly issued a meeting communiqué and signed the "Yalta Protocol" and the secret "Yalta Agreement" ".

Dealing with the defeated Germany was the primary issue discussed at the Yalta Conference, including territorial occupation and war reparations.In terms of territorial jurisdiction, the three giants unanimously agreed to implement a "divide and rule" policy for Germany, that is, after the war, Germany was divided into four countries: the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain, and France. (Later, the divisional occupation developed into two Germanys, East and West, and with the boundary between East and West Germany as the boundary, East Germany was included in the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, and West Germany was included in the sphere of influence of the United States. At the end of the 1980s, the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the East Germany and West Germany are moving toward unification.) On the issue of compensation for Germany's defeat, in view of the huge sacrifices made by the Soviet Union in the process of defeating Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States agreed to the host country Soviet Union's proposal that "the total amount of war compensation is 20 billion U.S. dollars, of which 50% belongs to the Soviet Union" proposal.

Discussing how to fight against Japan is another important topic of the Yalta meeting.When the Yalta Conference was held, the Japanese army was still fighting on the Pacific battlefield.President Roosevelt did not believe that the atomic bomb could be successfully manufactured and put into war soon.In order to reduce the casualties of the US military in the Pacific theater and end the war as soon as possible, it was urgently hoped that the Soviet Union would send troops to fight against Japan, and sacrifice China's rights and interests as the condition for the Soviet Union to send troops.The leaders of the three countries reached an agreement on the conditions of war against Japan and signed it.According to this agreement, the Soviet Union had to participate in combat within 2 or 3 months after the surrender of Germany and the end of the European War.The conditions are: 1. The status quo of Outer Mongolia (that is, today's Mongolian Republic) must be maintained; 2. The southern part of Sakhalin Island and all adjacent islands must be returned to the Soviet Union; Dalian's commercial port must be internationalized, and the Soviet Union's superior rights and interests in the port must be guaranteed , the Soviet Union’s lease of Lushun Port as a naval base must be restored; the Soviet Union and China jointly operate the Middle East Railway and the South Manchuria Railway, but the Soviet Union’s priority rights and interests must be guaranteed, and China can maintain full sovereignty in “Manchuria”; 3. The Kuril Islands must be handed over to Soviet Union.This agreement was the product of mutual compromise and recognition between the two major powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, in dividing their spheres of influence in Asia.Behind the back of the Chinese government and people, one of the four major allies at that time, they made an agreement that violated China's sovereignty and interests.More than four months after the agreement was signed, the United States notified the content to the then Kuomintang government, but the Kuomintang government rejected it.In the end, Stalin won the consent of the Kuomintang government on the condition that he did not support the Chinese Communist Party and only recognized the Kuomintang government as the only legal government in China.This is an ugly act of big-country chauvinism and power politics, and it is the most disgraceful chapter of the Yalta Conference.

At the Yalta meeting, the three heads of state also discussed matters concerning the establishment of the United Nations.Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to the Soviet Union's proposal after considering the need to win the Soviet Union's agreement to defeat Germany and declare war on Japan. Therefore, it is clear that the five permanent members of the Security Council have a veto power on substantive issues.And it is planned that in April, a congress of anti-fascist countries from all over the world will be held in San Francisco, USA to discuss the establishment of the United Nations.

The meeting also adopted the "Declaration on a Liberated Europe", declaring that the people of all countries have the right to solve their political and economic problems in a democratic way according to their own choices. Usually the Yalta Conference is considered to be the most important conference that established the strategic pattern of the post-war world dominated by the US and the Soviet Union.Therefore, later people used to call this pattern the Yalta pattern or the Yalta system.It is generally believed that the so-called Yalta system mainly refers to a series of communiqués, protocols, agreements, statements and statements formed during the wartime leaders of allied countries from Tehran, Yalta to the Potsdam Conference and other important bilateral and multilateral talks from 1943 to 1945. The arrangements for the post-war world order that were unanimously confirmed by the memorandum and so on.It was a product of the balance of power and compromise between the great powers, especially the United States and the Soviet Union, during and at the end of World War II.