Place, time,
participants
Basic solutions
Tehran Conference
November-December 1943
Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
The Declaration on Joint Action in the War against fascist Germany
The issue of opening a second front in Europe has been resolved
Agreement on territorial structure post-war Europe:
The Baltic states are recognized as part of the USSR
The USSR was betrayed by part East Prussia
Independent Poland was restored to its pre-war borders
The independence of Austria and Hungary was declared
The USSR promised to declare war on Japan no later than three months after the end of
military operations in Europe
The decision on the future structure of Germany has been postponed
Yalta Conference
February 1945
Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
The defeat plan and conditions were agreed upon unconditional surrender Germany
The issue of dividing defeated Germany into four occupation zones was resolved: English,
American, Soviet and French.
The USSR's demand for reparations from Germany in the amount of $10 billion was called legal (50%
from everyone)
The basic principles of policy in the post-war world were outlined, it was decided to convene the Constituent
a conference to develop the UN Charter, in which the USSR received three seats - for the RSFSR,
Ukraine and Belarus
The right of the USSR to influence the situation in the countries of Eastern Europe was confirmed: in Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia
The USSR confirmed its promise to enter the war with Japan and received the consent of the allies to
annexation of the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin
Potsdamskaya (Berlin)
conference
July-August 1945 Stalin,
Truman, Churchill, then
Attlee is the new prime minister
The question of the four-way occupation of Germany and the administration of Berlin has been resolved
The issue of reparations from Germany to the USSR in the form of industrial equipment has been resolved
The principles of demilitarization, denazification, democratization and demonopolization were developed
Germany (4D plan)
The International Military Tribunal is created to try the main Nazi military officers
criminals
The western border of Poland was determined (transferring to it part of the German territory up to the river line
Oder - West Neisse)
East Prussia with the city of Königsberg was transferred to the USSR
Political regime
Liquidation of GKOs
Strengthening Stalin's autocracy
Transformation of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR into the Council of Ministers of the USSR,
people's commissariats - to ministries
Strengthening the positions of administrative-repressive
apparatus
The increasing role of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (since 1952 - CPSU) in life
society
A new round of political repression:
"Leningrad affair"
"The Shakhurin-Novikov Case"
"The Doctors' Case"
"Mingrelian affair"
"The Case of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee"
Development of the draft third program of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
The needs and hopes of different segments of the population for
democratization of public life
Changes in state-church relations
The struggle for power among Stalin's entourage
Economic sphere
IV five-year plan for the restoration and development of the people's
farms (1946-1950)
Famine of 1846
Rehabilitation work and new industrial
construction
Currency reform and abolition of the card system
(December 1947)
Labor heroism Soviet people
Increased liability for infringement
state and collective farm property
Restoration of destroyed collective farms, MTS and state farms
Use in national economy labor
prisoners and special forces
Creation of collective farms in the western regions of Ukraine and
Belarus, in the Baltic republics.
Preservation of administrative-command methods
Economics Department Education and science. Cultural development
Restoration and strengthening of the material and technical base of culture
Resolutions of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, 1946-1948. on the issue
literature and art
Completion of the transition to a universal seven-year school
training
Campaign to combat "bourgeois cosmopolitanism" in
science and culture
Development of forms of evening and correspondence education
higher
Discussions on philosophy, linguistics and political
savings
Achievements of scientists in the creation of nuclear weapons and
rocket technology
Propaganda of the benefits of socialism (real and imaginary)
in fiction
Strengthening party-state control over
development of culture
Foreign policy
Potsdam Conference of the Heads of the Three Great Powers
Education of the world socialist system
The split of Europe
Assistance in the creation of “people's people's” regimes
democracy"
The emergence of confrontation between two world socio-political systems: socialism and capitalism
Bilateral treaties of friendship and mutual assistance
Beginning of the Cold War
Creation of the Cominform Bureau
Ideologization of international relations
Organization of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
(CMEA), 1949
World Peace Movement
Soviet-Yugoslav conflict
The Shaa Empire, which ruled the Galaxy for ten thousand years, brought peace, prosperity and... many prohibitions due to the Praxis code of laws to thousands of planets and races.
Nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, cybernetics, genetic experiments were prohibited...
But now the Shaa Empire has fallen, and the freed inhabitants of the Galaxy are on the brink of chaos and war, which will perhaps become much more terrible than the ten-thousand-year power of the invaders.
The Time of Troubles is coming.
Time for change.
The time when the strongest will seize power!..
Walter John Williams
Praxis
Collection
Praxis
Everything really important is already known.
Praxis, Introduction
Prologue
Shaa was the last of his kind. It lay on a sofa in the great refuge, a huge domed building rising in the midst of the granite thicket of the upper city, the stronghold from which the Shaa had once gone into the world to found their empire, from where they had ruled the destinies of billions, and where they had finally returned to die.
His name was the Anticipation of Victory - it was born in the young days of praxis, when the Shaa began to prepare for the great campaign, but had not yet set out on it. During its long life, it witnessed all the triumphs and victories that befell its people. Other races, one after another, bowed under the mighty hand of the Shaa and were clothed with the uniform mark of power.
The Anticipation of Victory itself did not leave the great refuge for centuries. He was constantly surrounded by servants and officials - representatives of the conquered peoples, delivering reports and requests and transmitting his orders to the far reaches of his possessions. The servants washed and dressed the shaa, maintained the vast computer network to which his nerves were connected, and delivered selected food in an attempt to whet his appetite. He never happened to be alone for a second, and yet Shaa suffered severely from loneliness.
There was no one left who understood him. No one with whom to share memories of the glory days.
It remembered those days very well. He remembered the fever that gripped the peers, the uncontrollable desire to bend all others, to crush the universe itself - all in the name of the great truth praxis. It remembered the greatness of the first victories, when the wild Naxids were brought to submission, as the Terrans, Torminels, Lyons and many other races then fell.
And at the same time, with each victory the delight of achievement diminished, the fire that burned in the depths of Shaa’s heart weakened. Each race had to be brought to an understanding of its duties, painstakingly, as if growing a tree from a tiny seedling, guiding and tying up its branches so that it would achieve perfect harmony with praxis. And like a tree, the conquered race had to be pruned, pruned by bullets, by the whip and the molding knife, by the annihilating fire of antimatter bombs, by the sweltering flames of radiation, by the constant oppression of debilitating hunger. Immeasurable work, enormous burden and constant uncertainty of the result.
If only Shaa had more time! If they had only a few thousand more years to bring their garden to perfection, then Anticipation of Victory could die in the confidence that its noble task was completed.
But they didn't have that time. The elders were the first to give up; their memory failed them. Not memories of the past - these remained clear to the end - but new impressions that slipped away, finding no place for themselves in their tired consciousness.
The Shaa were unable to accommodate the fulfillment of their dreams in their memory. They were losing - not the past, but the present.
They tried to resort to artificial means - powerful computers connected to their nervous system, contained the memory of their lives in every detail. But over time, it became increasingly difficult to access these repositories of past memory, and the efforts expended for a dubious result became more and more painful.
And so the great galaxy of Shaa began to fade. The Shaa, who did not hesitate to send others to death, and were not afraid to face it themselves. Realizing that they were becoming a burden on the wings of their former dreams, they chose death, and they died with pomp.
The anticipation of Victory was the last. Lying on the sofa, among the amazing machines that preserved his memory, it understood that the time had come to lay down responsibility from its shoulders.
It did everything it could to guide the young races along the right path. At one time it deserved both great rewards and painful punishments. It once created a system that could establish Praxis even after his death, maintaining the stability of the empire.
It could only hope that after his death nothing would change.
Nothing. And never.
Chapter 1
Of course, after the death of the great master, I will commit suicide.
Lieutenant Gareth Martinez, walking alongside the long-legged Fleet Commander Enderby, tripped and nearly fell when he heard this.
What, my lord? - He firmly ordered his legs not to tremble and again positioned himself on Enderby’s left. Their heels again beat a step in unison on the asteroid stone-paved floor of the headquarters.
“I suggested it myself,” Enderby explained in his dry, matter-of-fact voice. “My family must nominate a representative for the funeral pyre, and I am the most suitable candidate.” I have reached the pinnacle of my career, my children are well settled, and my wife gave me a divorce,” He looked calmly at Martinez. - My death will ensure that my name, as well as my surname, will be revered for centuries.
And it will help you forget about the financial scandal in which your wife is involved, Martinez thought. What a shame that his family couldn't sacrifice Enderby's wife instead of putting up a fleet commander.
The most offensive person was Martinez himself.
“I will miss you, my lord,” he said.
“I talked about you with Captain Tarafa,” continued Enderby. - He agreed to take you to his place. "Crown" for the position of chief communications officer.
“Thank you, my lord,” Martinez replied, trying not to betray the confusion that gripped him in his voice.
The Martinez family belonged to the peerage, a group of chosen clans that the great lords, the shaa, exalted above all other creatures. But although all the peers were equal from the point of view of the shaa, the peers themselves did not share their Olympian approach to things. Just being a peer was not enough. He still had to become a true peer. And Martinez was definitely not one of them. All-powerful to his kin living on the distant planet of Laredo, his clan was a provincial bigwig out of nowhere for the high-ranking peers whose palaces adorned the upper city on Zanshaa. This difference in status, obvious to any of the peers, had no legal force, but this did not make it any less significant. By right of birth, Martinez was entitled to a place in the military academy of peers, after graduating from which he received the rank of officer, but that was all.
During his six years of service he rose to the rank of lieutenant. His father got to this point after a dozen years of hard work, after which Mark Martinez resigned and returned to Laredo in disappointment, where he went into business.
What Martinez lacked was a powerful patron who could propel him through the ranks. He believed that he had found such a patron in the person of the fleet commander Enderby, who seemed so impressed by his abilities that he was ready to ignore his humble origins and the damned provincial accent from which Gareth, no matter how hard he tried, could not couldn't get rid of it.
What can you do when your commander announces his intention to commit suicide, Martinez wondered. Try to dissuade him?
Tarafa is a good officer,” continued Enderby. - He will take care of you.
Tarafa himself is only a lieutenant-captain, Gareth thought. Even if Tarafa decided that Martinez was the most brilliant officer he had ever met in his life (and there was little hope of that), he would not be able to give him a higher rank. He can only recommend Martinez to his superiors, and these superiors are already full of people who want to get a promotion.
Looks like I'm in trouble, Martinez decided. Unless he can dissuade the fleet commander from the dubious idea of ascending to the funeral pyre of Shaa.
The Collection includes documents from three conferences of country leaders anti-Hitler coalition– Tehran, Crimean (Yalta) and Potsdam. These conferences played an outstanding role in strengthening the combat and political cooperation USSR, USA and England during the Second World War. The meetings of the leaders of the three powers were great value not only during the joint struggle against German fascism and Japanese militarism, but also subsequently - in creating the foundations of the post-war world order.
The first edition of the Collection, released in 1967, did not satisfy reader demand. This second edition is supplemented by documents not included in the previous Collection.
PREFACE 1
TEHRAN CONFERENCE 7
CRIMEA CONFERENCE 22
POTSDAM CONFERENCE 43
INDEX OF NAMES 89
INDEX OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 90
Notes 91
Tehran – Yalta – Potsdam
Collection of documents
PREFACE
A quarter of a century separates us from the events described in the documents collected in this book. Over the past two and a half decades, not only have new houses and entire cities risen from the ruins and ashes of the war years, but a generation of people for whom war, fortunately, is just paragraphs of a textbook, pages, has grown up and become adults. fiction, film stills. But time has no power over people's memory. Attention to the Great Period Patriotic War Soviet people from German fascist invaders continues unabated, and every new truthful and meaningful book about this time finds a wide and warm response.
In 1967, the publishing house "International Relations" published the book "Tehran - Yalta - Potsdam" - a collection of documents from conferences of the leaders of the three countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, held in Tehran (November 28 - December 1, 1943), Yalta (February 4-11, 1945). ) and Potsdam (July 17 - August 2, 1945) The book was met with great interest and translated into a number of foreign languages and quickly dispersed. And this despite the fact that for the first time in our country, Soviet recordings of conference meetings (as is known, no agreed upon notes or transcripts were kept at the conferences; each delegation kept notes independently) of the three powers in Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam were published back in 1961– 1966 in the magazine "International Affairs".
After the publication of the first edition of the book “Tehran – Yalta – Potsdam” the editors received many letters.
“Although the documents included in the Collection were previously published in the journal International Affairs,” wrote a reader from Cheboksary, “publishing them as a separate book makes it possible for a wider circle of people to become familiar with these important materials.”
One of the Leningrad readers, noting the great impression made on her by the publication of documents, believes that such a book as “Tehran - Yalta - Potsdam” “would be nice for every worker to have on his desk.”
The second edition of the book “Tehran – Yalta – Potsdam”, offered to the attention of readers, is supplemented by records of several conversations between J.V. Stalin and F. Roosevelt and W. Churchill, which took place in 1943 in Tehran.
This book is published in the significant year 1970, when Soviet people and all peace-loving people celebrate the 25th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. The documents presented in the Collection speak eloquently of the colossal work carried out by the CPSU and the Soviet government in the field foreign policy and diplomacy to ensure complete victory over the enemy and the establishment of a just and sustainable peace.
The great interest in the published documents is explained by the fact that the Tehran, Crimean (Yalta) and Potsdam conferences of the leaders of the Soviet Union, the United States of America and Great Britain occupy a special place in the history of diplomacy, in the history of the Second World War. Meeting materials " big three"indicate that the conferences significantly contributed to the unification of the efforts of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition in their struggle against fascist Germany and militaristic Japan. These significant conferences not only brought closer the day of victory over the common enemy, but at the same time they laid the foundations in Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam the foundations of the post-war structure of the world. The conferences of the heads of the three powers clearly demonstrated the possibility of successful cooperation between states, regardless of their social system.
IN post-war years In the West, many attempts were made to falsify the spirit and content of the allied conferences, to distort the meaning of their decisions. This was facilitated, in particular, by various kinds of “documentary publications,” numerous memoirs, books, brochures, and articles by “eyewitnesses.” In the USA, Germany, England, a number of authors, trying to justify the reactionary course with their research ruling circles these countries are trying to misrepresent certain aspects of the foreign policy and diplomacy of the Soviet Union - a country that bore the brunt of the war against Nazi Germany and made a decisive contribution to the victory over fascism.
Of course, speculation around the conferences of the Allied powers is not the only attempt by bourgeois scientists and politicians to present the history of the Second World War in a distorted form.
In order to distort the role of the Soviet Union in the war and downplay the significance of victories Soviet Army bourgeois falsifiers of history float various theories about Hitler’s “fatal mistakes”, give a chronology of “turning points” of the war that contradicts historical truth, etc.
Thus, some are trying in every possible way to impose the idea that Germany’s defeat was accidental. Hitler's Field Marshal Manstein in his book "Lost Victories" tries, in particular, to prove that if Hitler had followed the advice of military experts (and, of course, the advice of Manstein himself), then the course and outcome of the war would have been completely different.
Other researchers extol the victories of the Anglo-American troops in Africa and the Far East and only in passing, by the way, talk about the battles on the Soviet-German front. Thus, it turns out that the turning points of the Second World War were not the heroic defense of Moscow, not the historical Battle of Stalingrad and the battle on the Kursk Bulge, which brought a radical change in the course of the war, and the battle of El Alamein in October 1942, when British troops North Africa won a victory over the Italian-German group of Rommel, as well as the battle in the Coral Sea and near the island. Midway.
The English historian J. Fuller, for example, names victories over Nazi Germany in this order: first naval battle at o. Midway on Pacific Ocean, then the victory at El Alamein and the landing of Anglo-American troops in Africa and finally the Battle of Stalingrad.
Such “concepts,” of course, do not stand up to criticism. The course of negotiations at inter-allied conferences is presented with the same, to put it mildly, dishonesty. Thus, trying to reconsider the essence and significance of the Tehran Conference, bourgeois scientists put forward the version of “Roosevelt’s concession to Stalin,” as a result of which Churchill allegedly found himself isolated with his military-political program.
If in the first post-war years the Crimean Conference was called in the United States “the highest point of unity of the Big Three” and its results were approved, then later Yalta in the mouths of reactionary American historians became synonymous with betrayal, portrayed by them as a kind of new “Munich”, where the United States and England capitulated to the Soviet Union. Russia.
The falsification of the Potsdam Conference proceeds primarily through distortion of the question of the borders of Poland. The English bourgeois historian Wilmot claims that “Stalin authorized the Polish government to take control of German territories up to the Oder and Neisse rivers, a line that the President and Prime Minister never recognized.” While it is well known that the issue of borders was discussed at the Tehran and Crimean conferences, and it was in Yalta that the decision was reached to transfer lands to Poland up to the Oder River.
These are just some examples of gross distortion of historical truth by bourgeois science.
Referring to archival documents and, as if speaking under the guise of “objectivity,” bourgeois scientists are trying to mislead the reader, and above all the younger generation, who did not know the horrors of fascism, to create a false idea about the course and significance of major events the second world war.
Tehran – Yalta – Potsdam
All three conferences took place under the enormous influence of Stalin on the Allied leaders...
V. Firsov
When all questions about the venue international conference were settled, on November 22, 1943, Stalin left for Tehran by letter train No. 501, which proceeded through Stalingrad towards Baku. His armored spring twelve-wheeled carriage had all the basic amenities for personal work, meetings and relaxation.
It must be said that with the beginning of the war, letter trains acquired a new meaning. German aviation dominated the skies at that time, and therefore the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR forbade members of the Politburo from traveling long distances by air. The only way left to travel was by rail.
The daughter of the main railway “writer”, State Security Colonel Kuzma Pavlovich Lukin, Alla Kuzminichna, in a conversation with the author of these words, said that, according to her father, he provided Stalin’s trip to Tehran.
– Alla Kuzminichna, your father, having gone into the reserves and then retired, did not leave any memoirs?
– You know, dad tried to write his memoirs, he took up the pen more than once, but either he didn’t have enough strength, or the desire quickly faded each time. So he never finished his writing.
– Have you read these notes yourself?
- Yes, sure…
-What are they talking about?
– There were some memories there about working with special trains in general and about preparing a letter train for the trip of our government delegation to Tehran.
– Of course, I remembered the main details. The matter with this letter train developed as follows. In November 1942, my father found two locomotive drivers for his needs; I think they were called Victor Lyon and Nikolai Kudryavkin. He selected them to work in the transport department of the Main Security Directorate of the NKVD. The official responsibilities of the newly minted security guard drivers included ensuring the safety of the “A” series letter trains.
The essence of their work was as follows:
– inspection of locomotives,
– replacing the locomotive with a new locomotive in case of detection of malfunctions along the route,
– monitoring the implementation of the necessary instructions by the locomotive crew, and so on.
Stalin's letter began its historical mission at the end of 1943. At that time preparations were underway for the Tehran Conference. My father and his assistants Lyon and Kudryavkin were directly involved in preparing the train for departure. Few people know about this.
– What did your father write about the composition itself? What did he look like? What number did he go under?
– I’ll start answering with the last question: I don’t know the number, or it wasn’t mentioned in my father’s notes, or it slipped my mind.
The train consisted of several lounge cars, a security car, a staff car with a separate compartment for the train commandant and other employees, a garage car for two cars, a restaurant car, rather it was a dining room, and a warehouse car with food products.
– What was Stalin’s saloon car like?
– At first glance, it was practically no different from the usual one, but it did not have one vestibule. It was used, due to which the interior was noticeably lengthened. The car was fully armored, which is why it became heavier by as much as twenty tons. It was furnished very modestly and formally: a table, chairs, armchairs, a shower compartment and a bathroom.
– How many locomotives went on this noble trip?
- It seems like three. The first and third walked at a distance from the main one. The second locomotive was pulling the train.
– Did your father write anything about the problems of passing the train?
- Well, there was one problem.
– At one of the stations near Moscow, I don’t remember the name, the train stopped. The rumble of German bombers was heard in the sky. According to my father’s stories, everyone froze, holding their breath, waiting for the bombing. Using the selector, the train commandant gave the command that no one should leave the carriage. The anti-aircraft guns on the platforms were also silent. A flock of aerial predators passed by without noticing the train. He also came with a disguise. If the Krauts knew who was on the train...
- Probably, the train would have been bombed?
“I think the anti-aircraft gunners would have driven the Germans away.” The whole battery stood on the platforms. But worse could happen...
In the memoirs of Chief Marshal of Aviation Alexander Evgenievich Golovanov, there is a mention of the flight of the head of state and the delegation to Tehran on two planes, which he personally prepared for the flight.
So, Stalin and his small retinue left Moscow by train. We reached Baku, and there two C-47 planes were waiting for them, which were supposed to deliver passengers to Tehran.
At the airfield, the Moscow guests were greeted by Air Force Commander A.A. Novikov and aviation commander long range A.E. Golovanov. Novikov reported that two cars had been prepared for the main delegation. One will be led by Colonel General Golovanov, the other by Colonel Grachev.
– How, when and with what will you deliver the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? – Stalin suddenly asked
– In half an hour, two more planes with Foreign Ministry employees will fly after us.
– What air cover? – asked Stalin.
“Three nine fighters,” answered the commander in chief.
And then he suddenly asked:
– What plane do you want to fly on?
- Hmm, colonel generals rarely fly planes, their skills are lost, we’d rather fly with a colonel. I invite you with me, comrades Molotov, Voroshilov, Beria and Shtemenko.
It should be noted that Grachev was the best pilot in the country and Beria’s personal pilot. Then they will all suffer to varying degrees from the vindictive and voluntaristic will of Khrushchev, after the death of the Master of the Kremlin.
The evil satrap-politician “fought excellently” with the dead body of the leader. He executed Beria, Merkulov, Abakumov and a dozen other state security officers. Molotov and Voroshilov were thrown out of the country's leadership. Shtemenko and Grachev were demoted. Sudoplatov was sentenced to 15 years in the Vladimir Central Prison. He despicably tripped up Zhukov...
So, it is known that the plane with Stalin was flown by Beria’s chief pilot, Colonel Viktor Georgievich Grachev.
This is how the arrival in Baku of the letter “A” S.M. was covered. Shtemenko in his book “The General Staff during the War”:
« ...In the evening we arrived in Baku. Here everyone except me got into their cars and drove off somewhere. I spent the night on the train. At 7 o'clock in the morning they picked me up and we went to the airfield. There were several twin-engine propeller-driven Douglas C-47 aircraft on the tarmac. By the way, the most reliable cars in the world. The Americans built more than 13,000 of them.
The commander of Long-Range Aviation, A.E., was walking near one of them. Golovanov. At another plane I noticed a pilot I knew, V.G. Gracheva. At eight o'clock I.V. arrived at the airfield. Stalin.
Novikov reported to him that two planes had been prepared for immediate departure: one of them would be flown by Colonel General Golovanov, the other by Colonel Grachev...
A.A. Novikov invited the Supreme Commander-in-Chief onto Golovanov’s plane. At first he seemed to accept this invitation, but after taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped.
“Colonel generals rarely fly planes,” said Stalin, “we’d rather fly with a colonel.”
And he turned towards Grachev. Molotov and Voroshilov followed him.
“Shtemenko will also fly with us, and will report on the situation along the way,” said Stalin, already climbing the ramp. – As they say, we combine business with pleasure.
I didn't keep myself waiting.
A.Ya. flew on the second plane. Vyshinsky, several employees of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and security..."
Not only did the political situation in the United States evolve around President F. Roosevelt’s idea of opening a Second Front in Europe and participating in negotiation process"Big Three" on issues of post-war reconstruction of the world.
Underwater reefs were encountered every now and then along the course of the ship, the administration of Franklin Roosevelt. Despite his enormous authority in the country, the so-called “constructive” opposition represented by business and financial circles did everything possible to prevent the American president from meeting with Stalin, going to Tehran for a meeting and holding an international conference there.
1943 Year greatest events on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War: Stalingrad, the Kursk Bulge, the crossing of the Dnieper and the liberation of Kyiv.
The Second World War was reversed and the movement to the West began. The accumulated experience, the help of allies, the deployed power of domestic production, all this said that the Red Lava could no longer be stopped.
Only two years have passed since Reza Shah fled Tehran. Undoubtedly, against the backdrop of the victories of Russian weapons, there was an unprecedented rise in public life in Iran. Political gatherings, manifestations, rallies and demonstrations continually shook cities, villages and auls. These processes became a social phenomenon. Trade union organizations grew stronger. Waves rolled on the periphery peasant uprisings. All these events forced the government to embark on a search for radical reforms. But it made only some concessions and only with one goal - to introduce ordinary people misleading. The “new” leaders now placed their bets not so much on the Germans as on the Americans, and through them on strengthening the punitive apparatus.
The head of the Iranian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Khosrow Khavar, remembered his recent consultant, Mr. John Benton, and, with the consent of Prime Minister Ali-Foroughi, asked an American specialist in police and gendarmerie affairs to come to Tehran. There was no need to call the “hawk” of American foreign policy; he was eager to go to Iran, where, in his understanding, “the British and Russians were in full control.” He “productively” advised policemen and gendarmes even under the old Shah.
Soon he arrived in Tehran.
The next day, Benton met with the US envoy to Iran, Louis Dreyfus. They talked about the situation on the fronts of the German-Soviet war, about the relations between the allies, about the situation in Iran, which particularly interested him. But the diplomat was clearly restrained on the last issue. However, John pestered him precisely on this issue.
- Mr. Benton, you will soon find out everything. Your help as a police specialist may not be needed,” the ambassador noted. – I’ll tell you one little secret – the sympathies of the local population are on the side of the Russians. Amazing people! We've been through so much! And the whole world knows how they fight. Stalingrad and the Kursk Bulge - these two clubs stunned the Nazis.
- What, they fight here just as successfully?
- Successfully? Hm... - the ambassador rolled the hexagon of a pencil along the varnished surface of the table. – I also believed that demonstrations and rallies were the work of the Russians, but then I was disabused of this
“I have long argued that the president is wrong about flirting with the Russians.” He will soon realize his mistake. And how does the Russian neighbor Sir Krepps behave?
- At the British Ambassador good relationship with Soviet diplomats - good neighbors. They are neighbors, they live across the street.
Benton realized that he would not be able to split and turn the envoy against the president.
The next day he met with Iran's top police officer, Khosrow Khawar. Old friends hugged, patted their backs with their palms, and diplomatically kissed their cheeks.
– Well, you’re right, you stopped the process, you haven’t changed at all. Probably, wives warm well with their young bodies, not otherwise.
“You’re right, John, they are beautiful, hard-working, caring,” after these words he took his friend by the arms and dragged him into the women’s half of the house. - But you passed. aged.
- Things to do, things to do! They chase like dogs all the time, but I don’t run away from them, I fight them. There is no shameful deed, and only inaction is shameful.
Soon they ended up with the owner's wives.
– I brought you a dear guest from distant America.
- Oh, John Benton!
- Johnny!
- Mr. Benton!
All three wives recognized an old acquaintance and friend of their husband - an American who had visited their house more than once in the past.
After dinner, the owner invited the American to play billiards. They walked into a spacious billiard room, in the middle of which stood a table covered with green cloth.
“You break it,” suggested Khosrow Khovar.
– This will be my first strike against the Russians!
- Come on, come on, hit...
John took the cue, took aim and hit the tip of the triangle made of balls. They ran away with a roar, but not one fell into the pocket. Everyone seemed to be stuck to the sides. After that, John smiled sourly, like a snake.
- Ha ha ha. And I will hit the British.
The owner took aim and immediately with a klapstoss - a blow to the center of the cue ball, pressed tightly against the board not far from the middle pocket, drove it exactly where he intended.
“This is my first blow against the predatory British,” Khosrow Khavar laughed loudly...
In the first ten days of November, a major shareholder and one of the board members of the Denavar Company, Mr. Seipall, arrived in the Iranian capital from New York, and that day in the evening he met with Benton.
The whole of Tehran fell silent after a noisy day, immersed in silence and darkness. Quietly and monotonously, the time-tarnished bronze disk of the long pendulum of the floor chronometer ticked out seconds. Every hour he beat out the time that was passing away forever with a loud bell ringing.
Two leather armchairs, a table between them, on it a coffee utensil, a box of marshmallows, a bowl of fruit and an already half-drunk bottle of cognac.
The conversation was conducted frankly. And the more the fragrant and strong drink diminished in the bottle, the more tongues were loosened.
-Have you met Louis? Seipall asked Benton.
- Yes, but you can’t talk to him.
– What did he say about the Russians?
- They behave normally. The Iranians' sympathies are on their side. They have already firmly established themselves in the north of the country. They’re friends with the British,” John reported.
– Well, now we can forget about Mazandaran oil. Only the Shah could give us concessions for northern oil. What about the Germans? – Seypoll unexpectedly sharply expanded the topic.
“I think they got cold feet.” Soviet counterintelligence is represented here in large numbers. Its power is felt. She works closely with the British. In general, I stopped understanding Roosevelt’s policies. “He’s making us shell out more money,” Benton fumed.
-What are you talking about, John?
– About Lend-Lease going through Iran.
- Yes, I see you are not a politician, but an oak policeman. Don't you understand that there is a war going on? We are helping the Russians. And this help is not for thanks, it is, first of all, a profitable business. As for Dreyfus’s assessment of the quality of the fighting at the fronts, I agree with the diplomat – the Russians fight well,” Seypoll suddenly turned around.
- I'll tell you what. Well, let them fight. Let them kill each other. And there is no need to get into this fight. That's when he will stay in Germany and in Soviet Russia one soldier at a time, then you can take them with your bare hands, without opening any second front in Europe,” Benton was angry.
– As for the second front, this is still a myth. There is no information about its opening yet. Wall Street businessmen will do everything they can to delay its opening. The meat grinder at the fronts will turn more than one Soviet division into mince. Then we will see who will get the oil riches of northern Iran.
– Who will come out of this war the strongest? Hands will reach out to us, and only to us, for help. You'll see with time...
“So you think we’ll end up in this role?”
- Definitely. We have everything for this.
So, the Little Three began to act against the Big Three.
But suddenly a bomb exploded. The US envoy to Iran, Louis Dreyfus, invited Benton and, in great secrecy, informed him about the upcoming Tehran conference of representative delegations of three countries: the USA, the USSR and Great Britain, led by Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill.
“You are instructed to develop an action plan to ensure reliable security for the conference of high leaders of the three powers,” the head of the US Embassy ordered the police official.
They met at the boss's villa. John told him about the information received in great secrecy about the holding of the Big Three conference.
– Does sick Roosevelt really want to shake his body across the ocean? – Seypoll expressed doubts. - And then, it’s dangerous for a motorcade to wander around the city. The negotiation center will be visible on the territory of the USSR embassies, the English one is nearby,” and then I thought to myself, “I don’t think they will discuss the issue of opening a second front.”
And suddenly Benton could not resist making a caustic remark:
– And you assured me that the second front is a myth. Roosevelt and Churchill will open a second front, and Stalin will open a third front here.
Thus, Seipall’s naivety was ridiculed, although Benton had no targeted objections to his boss’s line of reasoning.
Suddenly Seipall rose from the table, took a cigar out of the box, professionally trimmed it and lit it. A cloud of gray smoke from the first deep puff of smoking, released from the nostrils and mouth, enveloped the head. The space was filled with the noble smell of expensive Havana tobacco. He was again drawn towards surprise by the ambassador’s information:
- Has Roosevelt really gone crazy? America will not forgive him for this step. Why, why is Bolshevik support needed now? The old man is going crazy, polio has destroyed him, and he wants to jump across the ocean. Does he not feel sorry for our soldiers?
“You see, you and I have agreed,” Benton stated calmly.
And in the evening, the personal plane of the general director of Denavar Company, Senator Roy Loring, landed at the Tehran airfield. The surprising thing was that no one invited Mr. Loring to the conference of the three powers. He even arrived before the president himself.
At the airfield, Roy Loring hastened to announce to the newspaper correspondents who surrounded him that he had arrived in Tehran solely on issues of the oil company he headed. However, towards the end next day Loring invited Seipall and Benton to his residence.
I started the conversation from afar.
“America was amazed by the series of victories of Soviet weapons,” the owner muttered angrily and grumpily, gloomily and dissatisfiedly. – The victory at Stalingrad amazingly changed the balance of forces at the front. And then the failures of the Germans in the Kursk Bulge and the North Caucasus. Recently the Soviets crossed the Dnieper, liberated Kyiv and the route to the West. Now is the time to help Hitler, not the Russians! And you and I, the “constructive” opposition, must do what corrupt diplomats cannot organize. And our president and British prime minister are rushing to hold a conference here. Stalin, of course, will be happy. We need to tear it down!
- How? – two guests barked in unison.
- At least start a fight, better with a shootout and casualties between Soviet soldiers and ours or British. Will such forces be found?
“Of course they exist,” Benton, an expert in police adventures and provocations, hastened to assure.
– Where could they be? Through whom can we solve this important task for America today?
– Through Khosrow Khawar. He became skilled in the fight against the democratic opposition.
- For example?
- Organize a drunken brawl.
- Accepted. This is just the beginning. Prepare this action,” commanded the low-brow, bug-eyed businessman. He stood up, extended his plump arms covered with black fur, finished his coffee and addressed the guests, “Now leave me alone, I want to rest after such a marathon flight...
Information about the fight, clearly inspired by opponents of the Tehran Conference, between the British and the Americans, with the participation of our patrol service in localizing this conflict, was received through secret channels by SMERSH representative Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Grigoryevich Kravchenko, who informed the head of the 2nd Directorate of the NKGB, Lieutenant General Pyotr Vasilyevich Fedotov. Along the chain, the information reached Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria. What and how did he report on this matter to I.V. Stalin and what his reaction was, unfortunately, we are not allowed to know.
One can only assume that the action plans of the so-called American “constructive” opposition or “little three” were intercepted as a result of operational and technical measures. And then they were extinguished in the initial phases of their manifestations. Many such clashes have been recorded. American “moles” were digging to disrupt the conference.
Naturally, both the US President himself and his security were informed in advance by our side. In particular, about plans to disrupt the conference by the “fifth column”, consisting of the business circles of New York and Washington.
This gesture of goodwill on our part was later highly appreciated by Roosevelt.
Realizing their insolvency and inability to “stir up” the situation around the “Big Three” conference, soon the other “little three” in the person of Benton, Seipall and Loring left overseas, empty-handed and empty-headed.
Now they had one goal: upon arrival, they would begin to drive a wave of further complaints against the president’s policies, starting with the fact that he stopped for the entire duration of negotiations at the Soviet embassy - “in captivity of the NKVD” and solidarity with Stalin to speed up the opening of a second front by the allies...
But the Tehran Conference (November 28 – December 1, 1943) took place despite the American “hawks” and the plans of Hitler’s intelligence services to eliminate or steal the “Big Three” - Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. All the tasks that Stalin set for himself at this conference were resolved in favor of the USSR.
The Soviet leader dictated the will. His authority was so high that Roosevelt willingly responded to the Soviet proposal to live on the territory of the Soviet Embassy for security purposes during the conference. The American president was more interested in meetings with Stalin than anyone else. He wanted to spend more time with the leader of Soviet Russia without Churchill in order to find out the USSR's position on the war with Japan. Therefore, Roosevelt perceived the Tehran Conference not as a meeting of three, but as a meeting of “two and a half.” He considered Churchill to be “half”.
Neither Stalin nor Roosevelt liked Churchill. It seems that because of dislike for Churchill, a rapprochement between Roosevelt and Stalin occurred.
At this conference, at the insistent request of Stalin, an exact date was set for the Allies to open a second front in France and the “Balkan strategy” proposed by Great Britain was rejected.
Real ways of granting independence to Iran were discussed, a beginning was made for resolving the Polish issue, and the contours of the post-war world order were outlined.
Upon the return of the Soviet delegation to Moscow at the Headquarters meeting, Stalin did not disclose any special details about the Tehran Conference. He only briefly remarked:
– Roosevelt at the Tehran Conference gave his firm word to begin extensive action in France in 1944. I think he will keep his word. Well, if he doesn’t hold back, we have enough of our own to finish off Hitler’s Germany.
Churchill was very afraid of this moment.
The Yalta Conference (February 4 – 11, 1945) was held in the Livadia (White) Palace in Yalta, consisting of leaders of the same three countries as at the Tehran Conference. This was the second meeting of the leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, it was also the last conference of the Big Three in the pre-nuclear era.
The war was ending in favor of the Allies, so it was necessary to draw new state borders on the territory recently occupied by Wehrmacht troops.
In addition, it was necessary to establish demarcation lines generally recognized by all parties between the spheres of influence of the Allies and create procedures after the victory over Germany to guarantee the immutability of the demarcation lines drawn on the world map.
On the Polish question, Stalin in Crimea managed to obtain from the allies consent to the creation of a new government in Poland itself - the “Provisional Government of National Unity”.
The participants of the Yalta Conference stated that their main goal was the destruction of German militarism and Nazism - the main paradigm for the growth of German fascism.
The issue of German reparations was also resolved. The Allies agreed to give 50% of theirs to the USSR, and the USA and England each received 25%. This is also the merit of Stalin and the members of his delegation.
In exchange for entering the war with Japan, 2–3 months after the end of the war in Europe, the USSR received the Kuril Islands and South Sakhalin, which had been lost for years Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905
It was at the Yalta Conference that the ideology for the creation of the United Nations (UN) was formed. It was Stalin who achieved the consent of the partners to include not only the USSR among the founders and members of the UN, but also, as those most affected by the war, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR.
The bipolar world created in Yalta and the division of Europe into East and West survived for almost half a century. The Yalta system collapsed only with the treacherous collapse of the USSR.
The Potsdam Conference (July 17–August 2, 1945) took place at the Cecilienhof Palace in Germany. This time the Big Three were headed by J. Stalin, G. Trumpzn and W. Churchill, and from July 28, who replaced him as Prime Minister, K. Attlee.
G.K. took part in the Potsdam Conference as Stalin’s military advisers. Zhukov and N.G. Kuznetsov. The Soviet delegation was delivered to Germany by a train not with steam locomotive traction, but with diesel locomotive traction. The British delegation arrived by plane, the American delegation sailed on the cruiser Quincy to the coast of France, and from there reached Berlin on the US President's Sacred Cow plane.
This was the third and last meeting of the “Big Three” of the anti-Hitler coalition, at which the allies proclaimed the so-called. the principle of the “five Ds” - denazification, demilitarization, democratization, decentralization and decartelization while maintaining the unity of Germany, but with the creation of a new configuration of the Berlin state.
On the eve of the conference, the first nuclear weapons test took place. Truman did not fail to boast to Stalin that America “now has weapons of extraordinary destructive power.”
Stalin only smiled in response, from which Truman, from Churchill’s words, concluded that “the Soviet leader did not understand anything.” No, Stalin understood everything well and was privy to the intricacies of the developments of both the Manhattan project and Kurchatov’s allied research.
At the conference, the meeting participants signed a declaration demanding unconditional surrender from Japan. On August 8, after the conference, the USSR joined the declaration, declaring war on Tokyo.
In Potsdam, many contradictions emerged between yesterday's allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, which soon led to the Cold War.
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Observer - Observer 2005 №8 (187)
THREE SUMMITS OF THE "BIG THREE": TEHRAN, YALTA, POTSDAM
Yu. Kashlev,
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary,
professor
In the context of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, thoughts often return to how relations developed between the Soviet Union, the United States and Great Britain at that time, and especially the personal contacts between J.V. Stalin, F.D. Roosevelt and W. Churchill at conferences in Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam.
It is clear that the defeat of Nazi Germany was ensured primarily thanks to the heroism of the Soviet Army and the close military-political interaction of the three great powers. This interaction took place regularly: through diplomats such as Molotov, Hull, Eden and others, through the military, etc. However, the meetings of the Big Three leaders played a decisive role.
The Tehran Conference of 1943 was preceded by lengthy agreements, including on the location of its holding. The British and Americans offered different cities - Tangier, Cairo and even Iceland. At the same time, the Americans referred to their legislation, which did not allow the US President to leave the country for more than two weeks. However, Stalin insisted on Tehran, since he, too, could not leave the country for a long time in the midst of the war.
Considering that at that time the capital of Iran was full of German agents and the threat of an assassination attempt on the Big Three could not be ruled out (Hitler even created a special team led by Skorzeny), Stalin suggested that Roosevelt be accommodated in Tehran in the building of the Soviet Embassy. Roosevelt agreed. This was a good step, allowing the two leaders to move towards close, even warm, relations. In fact, the entire Tehran conference took place in the building of the USSR Embassy.
In Tehran the main question was the opening in Western Europe second front against Germany. Stalin said directly: “We must decide here in fact main question- will the USA and England help us in the war." Roosevelt was inclined towards this. Even on the eve of Tehran, Generals Marshall and Eisenhower prepared a landing plan allied forces across the English Channel already in 1942. Roosevelt, after some hesitation, agreed to this plan. But the British (W. Churchill and General Brooke) declared that this plan was impracticable.
Churchill’s line consisted of delaying the opening of a second front, maximizing the depletion of the forces of the Soviet Army and attempting to resolve Britain’s own interests at this expense. Instead of opening a second front in Europe, he proposed intensifying military operations in North Africa, in southern Italy, or even in the Bay of Bengal. In other words, he wanted to preserve British interests with someone else's hands. Churchill is famous for his cynical statement: “I would like to see Hitler in a coffin, and the Soviet Union on the operating table.”
This Churchill line was no secret to the Americans either; It is no coincidence that Roosevelt once told Stalin in Tehran that the United States did not enter the war to save the British Empire.
Churchill's attempts to achieve special benefits for London did not work. And there were such attempts. For example, at one of his meetings with Stalin, Churchill, apparently without consulting Roosevelt first, proposed dividing spheres of influence in the Balkans; he even drew on a piece of paper the percentage division of spheres in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Greece. Stalin looked at this piece of paper, said nothing and only put a tick on it with a blue pencil*.
At a certain point, Churchill’s maneuvering on the issue of the second front, delaying it under any pretext, aroused the indignation of Stalin, who stood up from the negotiating table and said to Molotov and Voroshilov: “Let’s get out of here. We have too much to do at home to waste time here. Nothing worthwhile, As far as I can see, it doesn't work."
Churchill, confused that the conference was actually being disrupted, said: “The Marshal misunderstood me. The exact date can be given - May 1944.”
And Roosevelt told his son back in Tehran that if things at the front continued like this, then the Russians might not need a second front.
As a result, Operation Overlord was carried out on June 6, 1944, when 6,000 warships and transport vessels simultaneously moved from British ports across the English Channel; within two weeks, 100,000 soldiers and officers of the allied armies began fighting in Western Europe.
Other important issues were discussed in Tehran, in particular the dismemberment of Germany, the post-war world order, the USSR's entry into the war with Japan, and the borders of Poland. In one of the conversations, Roosevelt asked Stalin a strange question, at first glance: would the Soviet system be suitable for India? That is, he allowed the expansion of the USSR's sphere of influence into South Asia after the war, where until then Britain had dominated. True, Stalin replied that this was not necessary.
The Yalta (Crimean) conference was very different from the Tehran one. It took place at the final stage of the war (February 4-11, 1945). By that time, as a result of successful offensive actions of the Soviet Army, the territory of our country, most of Poland, was completely liberated, our divisions entered German territory. By February 1945, the fascist bloc had finally collapsed, and Germany's former allies entered the war on the side of the anti-Hitler coalition. No statements by Hitler’s propaganda about a new “weapon of retaliation”, no attempts by the Nazis to enter into a separate conspiracy behind the back of the Soviet Union could save the “Third Reich” from inevitable collapse.
At the Yalta Conference, issues of the further conduct of the war were discussed, plans for the final defeat of Germany were agreed upon, the attitude of the Allied powers towards it after the surrender was determined, a decision was made on the management of Greater Berlin, on reparations from Germany to compensate for the damage caused by the fascist army.
The policy of the three powers towards Germany was based on the principles of its democratic structure and denazification, creating guarantees that Germany would never again be able to disrupt peace in Europe. At the same time, confidence was expressed that after the eradication of Nazism and militarism, the German people would take their rightful place in the community of nations.
The position of the Soviet side was determined by the formula: “Hitlers come and go, but the German people, the German state remain.” (By the way, back in Tehran in 1943, Stalin said that there was no force that could keep Germany from unifying in the future).
The historical merit of the Yalta Conference was the decision to create an international institution for the preservation of peace - the United Nations and a permanent body under it - the Security Council. At the same time, it was established that when resolving coordinated issues of peace, the UN would proceed from the principle of unanimity of the great powers that are permanent members of the Security Council. This decision is especially relevant now, when some countries are trying to decide critical issues bypass the UN Charter and challenge the principle of unanimity of the great powers.
The conference adopted a number of other decisions, among which the “Declaration of a Liberated Europe” should be mentioned. It, in particular, provided for the destruction of the remnants of fascism in the liberated countries and the creation of democratic institutions there. Thanks to the decisive position of the Soviet delegation, decisions that were very favorable for Poland were made, including the establishment of its borders in the north and west, and a significant increase in its territory at the expense of East Prussia. A separate agreement between the leaders of the three powers, in the spirit of the preliminary agreement reached at the Tehran Conference, was the decision on the entry of the Soviet Union into the war with Japan 2-3 months after the surrender of Germany. This decision was conditioned by the need to maintain the existing status of the Mongolian People's Republic, as well as the transfer Soviet Union Southern Sakhalin with all the adjacent islands and the Kuril Islands. The right to these territories was won by the Soviet Union thanks to its decisive role and subsequent active military operations against Japan.
In general, the Yalta Conference went down in history as the largest international event of the Second World War. The decisions adopted at the conference contributed to the mobilization of the forces of the anti-Hitler coalition for the final defeat of fascist Germany and militaristic Japan, and contained a program for the democratic structure of the world in the post-war period. At the same time, the conference demonstrated the importance of mutual understanding and partner business cooperation between states in solving fundamental problems that arise before humanity at one point or another in its history. Attempts being made today in connection with the 60th anniversary Great Victory in a number of countries, especially in Poland, Latvia and Estonia, the misinterpretation of the consequences of the Yalta Conference is not only regrettable, but also represents a line towards rewriting the history of the Second World War and revising its results, undermining the basic principles regarding the post-war world order.
At the beginning of 1945, a US State Department memorandum stated: the United States needs the help of the USSR to defeat Germany. They need absolutely necessary help from the USSR in the war against Japan. We need cooperation with the USSR in organizing the post-war world. On the eve of Yalta, the Committee of Chiefs of Staff reported to Roosevelt: dramatic changes had taken place in the world military force states, the phenomenal growth of the power of the Soviet Union, it is impossible to conflict with the USSR, we will find ourselves in a war that cannot be won. Further, the Committee of Chiefs of Staff concludes: after the defeat of Germany and Japan, only the USA and the USSR will remain first-class military powers due to the combination of their geographical location and huge military potential.
US business circles, including such giants as DuPont and others, showed significant interest in trade relations with the Soviet Union after the war. They were already negotiating long-term agreements. The popular view in Washington was that participation in the reconstruction of the Soviet Union would be beneficial to the United States and would help ease the post-war depression. It is no coincidence that Roosevelt had a proposal from Treasury Secretary Morgenthau on his desk: to provide the Soviet Union with a loan of $10 billion after the war at 2% for 35 years.
Roosevelt's wife Eleanor later wrote that before the Yalta Conference, Franklin had high hopes that he could make real progress in strengthening his personal relationship with Marshal Stalin. These hopes came true. As their meeting in Yalta shows, it was indeed a special relationship, not only respectful, but also trusting. Roosevelt's confidant and closest friend Harry Hopkins wrote after Yalta: the President had no doubt that we could get along with the Russians and work with them peacefully for as long as we could imagine.
There was an incident in Yalta that clearly offended Churchill. He approached Roosevelt's office, but the guard did not let him in. He waited half an hour, and then suddenly Roosevelt and Stalin appeared from the office, talking separately, without Churchill. And people close to Roosevelt told Molotov: we do not advise you to conduct separate negotiations with Churchill; There are no problems in Europe that cannot be solved by two people: the USSR and the USA.
The summits in Tehran and Yalta and other contacts showed that Stalin and Roosevelt and their closest aides treated each other generally constructively and assessed the prospects for their cooperation in the future. last stage wars are positive.
Unfortunately, such hopes did not come true.
The Berlin (Potsdam) conference took place from July 17 to August 2, 1945, under completely different conditions than the Tehran and Yalta conferences.
The war in Europe ended with the complete defeat and capitulation of Nazi Germany. The conference was called upon to consolidate in its decisions the historical victory won by the peoples of the USSR and other allied countries, and to develop a program for a just and lasting peace on the continent. The start of the Berlin Conference was preceded by a lot of preparatory work - correspondence, consultations in capitals, meetings. The venue (codenamed “Terminal”) was not immediately decided upon until they settled on the Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam. And there was a behind-the-scenes struggle around the date: the Americans calculated the time so that the conference would begin after they exploded the atomic bomb.
The conference documents demonstrate that our delegation in Potsdam, which under the leadership of I.V. Stalin included V.M. Molotov, Admiral N.G. Kuznetsov, General A.I. Antonov, A.Ya. Vyshinsky, ambassadors A. A. Gromyko, F. G. Gusev and several other people sought to preserve the spirit of cooperation between the three great powers in the post-war period.
Initially, it seemed that Washington was ready to act in the same direction. G. Truman, who became President of the United States after the death of F. Roosevelt, in his first conversation with Stalin said that he would like to establish with him “the same friendly relations that the Generalissimo had with President Roosevelt.” When the question arose at the first meeting about who would chair the conference, Stalin suggested Truman.
However, the course of consideration of issues on the agreed agenda showed the presence of serious differences in positions. The mainly negative role was played by W. Churchill, who headed the British delegation until July 27, 1945, and then gave way to the elected new prime minister, C. Attlee. Churchill's line was no secret to Moscow. Just a few days after the surrender of Germany, in his message to Truman he frightened with the prospect of the Red Army advancing to the center of Europe, wrote about the “Iron Curtain”, etc. A little later, the special representative American President J. Davis became convinced of Churchill's "extremely hostile position towards the USSR."
And subsequently, Churchill did not abandon his function as “the main hater of Soviet Russia.” There was a speech in Fulton where he actually declared a “cold war” on Moscow. And in Washington, J. Kennan, who had returned from the post of US envoy in Moscow, around the same time, developed and promoted the doctrine of “containing” communism, which soon grew into a doctrine of “deterrence” and “throwing back” communism. Truman, intoxicated by the monopoly on atomic bomb, increasingly slipped into an aggressive course against the USSR, which finally plunged international relations during a long period of confrontation.
All this happened, however, somewhat later, and in Potsdam the meetings looked decent, there were no sharp clashes between the members of the Big Three, since all issues were carefully agreed upon in advance, at the level of experts and foreign ministers. The transcript of the meetings shows that Stalin's comments and statements were distinguished by their brevity and clarity, and were, as a rule, positive. He also could not help but feel grateful to the American people for the Lend-Lease program, under which the USSR received thousands of military vehicles and trucks, aircraft, food, etc. from overseas during the war years. for a fantastic amount at that time - about 11 billion dollars (although Great Britain received assistance worth 30 billion dollars).
In general, the Berlin (Potsdam) conference ended successfully across the entire range of problems considered. But most importantly, they demonstrated the possibility of successful cooperation between great powers not only in waging war against a common enemy, but also in organizing the post-war world.
Today, summits of heads of state and government have become almost commonplace and are held regularly. Thus, V.V. Putin and G. Bush met for recent years already 14 times (and the foreign ministers of the Russian Federation and the USA - more than 40 times). All these meetings are very eventful and of great importance. And 60 years ago these were the rarest events, like beacons shining far ahead.
Three summits of the “Big Three” during the Second World War were the peaks of military-political and diplomatic interaction between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. Their decisions and transcripts are invaluable material for new generations of international affairs experts.
Notes
* Historians still argue to this day what this tick meant and where this piece of paper was; although the scheme proposed by Churchill was largely implemented after the end of the war.
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