After the entry of the United States and a number of other states into the second world war military cooperation between the countries fighting against the fascist-militarist bloc was officially formalized. Such an act was the signing on January 1, 1942 in Washington of the Declaration of 26 states, known as the Declaration of the United Nations.

Among these 26 states were the USSR, USA, Great Britain, China, Czechoslovakia, Poland, India, Canada, Yugoslavia and other countries. This declaration, adopted at the initiative of the USSR, obliged the countries participating in the anti-Hitler coalition to use all resources to fight against the aggressors, to cooperate during the war and not to conclude a separate peace.

The signing by the Soviet Union of an agreement with England on an alliance in a war in May 1942 and the conclusion in June of the same year of an agreement with the United States "On the principles applicable to mutual assistance and the conduct of war against aggression" formalized the combat alliance of the USSR, the USA and England. The alliance of great powers with different social systems in the struggle against the fascist aggressor did not take shape immediately.

Both in the US and in the UK there were many people who called for "not trusting the Russians." Influential forces in these countries tried in every possible way to impede the process of improving relations with the USSR. And yet, despite their actions, this cooperation expanded and strengthened.

It developed because the objective interests of the United States and Britain demanded it, because "the fate of the peoples of many countries of the world depended on the steadfastness of Russia in the east of Europe."

On the very first day of Germany's aggression against the USSR, English Prime Minister W. Churchill, speaking on the radio, said: “Hitler wants to destroy the Russian state because, if successful, he hopes to withdraw the main forces of his army and aviation from the East and throw them on our island " 1 .

The ruling circles of the United States also understood that the expansion Nazi Germany poses a threat not only national interest their country, but also directly to the interests of the American monopolies. The "Third Reich" became an increasingly dangerous economic competitor to the United States, threatening American markets.

The transformation of Germany into a leading imperialist power would also cause irreparable damage to US political influence in the capitalist world and would pose a threat to US security. The Americans and the British quite rightly associated the security of their countries with the successes or failures of the Soviet Army.

“People quickly realized,” wrote the well-known American publicist G. Freeman, that America’s “forward line of defense” runs thousands of miles from its shores to the east, and it passes through the fields of bloody battles in the Soviet Union, that the fate of the United States, like the fate of of all mankind, depends, first of all, on the steadfastness and valor of the Soviet people and its Armed Forces.

1 Churchill W. Op.cit, vol. III, p.331-332.

Declaration of the United Nations

January 1, 1942, shortly after the US entered the war on December 7, 1941, representatives of 26 states participating in the war against the bloc of fascist aggressors of the USSR, the USA, Great Britain, China, Australia, Belgium, Guatemala, Haiti, Greece, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, India, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Nicaragua, Panama, Poland, El Salvador, Czechoslovakia, South Africa, Yugoslavia signed a declaration in Washington that went down in history as the Declaration of the United Nations. Its introductory part contained the provision that in order to protect life, freedom, independence and preserve human rights and justice, complete victory over the enemy. Each government undertakes to use all its resources, military and economic, against those members of the tripartite pact and adherents to it with whom this government was at war. Each Government undertakes to co-operate with other signatory governments and not to conclude a separate armistice or peace with enemies. The publication of the Declaration of the United Nations meant the creation of a coalition of 26 states led by the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. critical role for coordinated action these countries had meetings of their leaders at highest level. They made a deep impression on the whole world. The convocation and work of the conference of heads of government of the three great powers had a wide international resonance.

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US entry into the war

Meanwhile, Japanese expansion pacific ocean expanded. Overcome the temptation to attack Soviet Union, weakened by the war with Germany (the occupation of the Soviet Far East did not promise special economic benefits), Japan moved south.

US-Japanese talks have stalled. At the same time, Churchill, Chiang Kai-shek, as well as the Dutch and Australian governments exerted all possible pressure on Washington in order to force him to toughen his position in the negotiations. Roosevelt hesitated for fear of being embroiled in the Pacific War. In the end, however, he came to the conclusion that Japan's unlimited expansion in the Pacific was no longer tolerated: it undermined the vital interests of the United States and changed the global situation in the world in favor of the Axis powers.

On November 26, 1941, Washington presented Japan with a ten-point document in the form of an ultimatum. In it, in particular, Japan was required to withdraw all troops from China and Indochina and refuse to support any other government in China, except for the government of the Kuomintang with its capital in Chongqing. Tokyo's response was a massive bombing on December 7 of the US naval base in Hawaii - Pearl Harbor. the American Navy, which Japanese attack taken by surprise, suffered heavy losses. The United States, which to the last sought to stay out of the war, had to become a participant in it. Churchill contacted Roosevelt. "Now we are all in the same boat," said the American president.

On December 8, Great Britain declared war on Japan, and Hitler, even before the declaration of war on the United States, gave the order to attack american ships. This was followed by the immediate spread of Japanese aggression to South East Asia. The world finally split into two opposing coalitions, and the war took on a worldwide character.

The logical continuation of the Atlantic Charter was the Declaration of the United Nations, signed on January 1, 1942, during Churchill's visit to the USA. At the very beginning of the struggle against the Axis Powers, the US and Britain were already trying to anticipate the contours post-war world order. The project was developed on the basis of British-American proposals. The declaration was signed in the US President's office by Roosevelt, Churchill, Soviet Ambassador Litvinov and Chinese Foreign Minister Song.

The US State Department was supposed to collect signatures from 22 more nations that collaborated in one way or another in the anti-fascist coalition. The Declaration spoke of the commitment of the countries that signed it to the Atlantic Charter. Complete victory over the enemy was declared necessary condition protection of life, liberty, independence and religious freedom, as well as human rights and justice. The governments that signed the declaration declared that they would use all their military and economic resources to fight against Germany, Italy, Japan and their allies, will cooperate with each other and will not conclude a separate armistice or peace with the enemy.

M.M. Litvinov, who remained in the diplomatic service after his resignation from the post of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, objected to the mention of "religious freedom", but Stalin, who believed that January 1942 was not best time for discussions about the essence of democracy, adopted a Western interpretation.

[Below is the declaration of twenty-six States: the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China, Australia, Belgium, India, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Holland, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Poland, the Union of South Africa and Yugoslavia.

Subsequently, Mexico, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Iraq, Brazil, Bolivia, Iran, Colombia, Liberia, France, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, Uruguay, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon. The declaration is known as the United Nations Declaration.]

The signatory governments

having previously joined general program purposes and principles embodied in the general declaration of the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Great Britain of August 14, 1941, known as the Atlantic Charter,

Convinced that a complete victory over their enemies is necessary for the defense of life, liberty, independence and religious liberty, and for the preservation of human rights and justice both in their own countries and in other countries, and that they are now busy common struggle against the savage and brutal forces that seek to conquer the world, declare:

1) Each government undertakes to use all its resources, military or economic, against those members of the Tripartite Pact and adherents to it with whom this government is at war.

2) Each government undertakes to co-operate with other governments that have signed this, and not to conclude a separate armistice or peace with enemies.

The above declaration may be joined by other nations which render or may render financial assistance and assistance in the struggle for victory over Nazism.

Treaty between the USSR and Great Britain on an alliance in the war against Nazi Germany and its accomplices in Europe and on cooperation and mutual assistance after the war, concluded on May 26, 1942.

(Extract)

Part 1

Article 1. By virtue of the alliance established between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom, the High Contracting Parties mutually undertake to provide each other with military and other assistance and support of every kind in the war against Germany and all those states that are associated with her in acts of aggression in Europe.

Article 2 The High Contracting Parties undertake not to enter into any negotiations with the Hitlerite government or any other government in Germany which does not expressly renounce all aggressive intentions, and not to negotiate or conclude an armistice or peace treaty with Germany or any other state, associated with it in acts of aggression in Europe, otherwise than by mutual consent.

Part 2

1. The High Contracting Parties declare their desire to unite with other like-minded states in adopting proposals for common action in the post-war period in order to preserve peace and resist aggression.

2. Pending approval of such proposals, they will take, after the end of hostilities, all measures in their power to make it impossible for Germany or any of the States associated with her in acts of aggression in Europe to repeat the aggression and breach of the peace.

Article 4. If one of the High Contracting Parties in the post-war period again becomes involved in hostilities with Germany or any other state referred to in Article 3 (paragraph 2), as a result of an attack by that state on that side, then the other High Contracting Party shall immediately shall render to the Contracting Party thus involved in hostilities all military and other aid and assistance within its power.

This Article shall remain in force until, by mutual agreement of the High Contracting Parties, it is deemed redundant in view of their acceptance of the proposals referred to in Article 3 (paragraph 1). If such proposals are not accepted, it shall remain in force for a period of 20 years and thereafter until it is withdrawn by any of the High Contracting Parties in accordance with the terms of Article 8.

Article 5 The High Contracting Parties, taking into account the security interests of each of them, have agreed to work together in close and friendly cooperation after the restoration of peace in order to organize security and economic prosperity in Europe. They will take into account the interests of the United Nations in the implementation of these goals and will also act in accordance with the two principles - not to seek territorial gains for themselves and not to interfere in the internal affairs of other states.

Article 6. The High Contracting Parties agreed to render each other every kind of mutual economic assistance after the war.

Article 7 Each of the High Contracting Parties undertakes not to enter into any alliances and not to take part in any coalitions directed against the other High Contracting Party.

Article 8. The present treaty... shall enter into force immediately upon the exchange of instruments of ratification and thereafter supersede the agreement between the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, signed at Moscow on July 12, 1941.

Part 1 of this treaty shall remain in force until the restoration of peace between the High Contracting Parties and Germany and the Powers associated with her in acts of aggression in Europe.

Part 2 of this Agreement shall remain in force for a period of 20 years...

The logical continuation of the Atlantic Charter was the Declaration of the United Nations, signed on January 1, 1942, during Churchill's visit to the USA. At the very beginning of the struggle against the Axis powers, the US and Britain were already trying to foresee the contours of the post-war world order. The project was developed on the basis of British-American proposals. The declaration was signed in the US President's office by Roosevelt, Churchill, Soviet Ambassador Litvinov and Chinese Foreign Minister Song.

The US State Department was supposed to collect signatures from 22 more nations that collaborated in one way or another in the anti-fascist coalition. The Declaration spoke of the commitment of the countries that signed it to the Atlantic Charter. Complete victory over the enemy was declared a necessary condition for the defense of life, freedom, independence and religious freedom, as well as human rights and justice. The governments that signed the declaration declared that they would use all their military and economic resources to fight against Germany, Italy, Japan and their allies, would cooperate with each other and would not conclude a separate armistice or peace with the enemy.

Mikhail Litvinov, who remained in the diplomatic service after his resignation from the post of People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, objected to the mention of "religious freedom", but Stalin, who believed that January 1942 was not the best time for discussions about the essence of democracy, accepted the Western interpretation.

Churchill's visit to Moscow

By this time, the US had agreed to a landing in North Africa. This was not what Stalin wanted, and everyone understood this. But this was a significant intensification of hostilities in the Mediterranean region.

Churchill spent August 12-16 with Stalin. The talks did not remove Stalin's principled demands, but, as Churchill had hoped, they established personal contact and eased mutual suspicion. At the same time, Stalin reinforced the idea that the Allies were waiting until Germany was exhausted in the fight against the Soviet Union, in order to then enter the war on the European continent at the last stage. As a matter of fact, it was so.

Churchill promised a second front in 1943 and devastating bombardments of Germany already in 1942. Stalin perked up and, as Harriman, who was present at the meeting, reported to Roosevelt, "the two of them soon destroyed almost all the major industrial centers of Germany." Churchill moved on to a planned expedition to North Africa, which he said was to pose a serious threat to Germany. All of North Africa was to be under British-American control by the end of 1942, which, combined with the landings in France in 1943, promised to deal a heavy blow to the Reich. The British Prime Minister called North Africa the soft underbelly of Hitler's Europe. Churchill declared that Great Britain, alone or together with the United States, could send an air force to the southern extremity of the Soviet-German front. Stalin accepted Churchill's explanations with enthusiasm.

However, the next day, Stalin, following his favorite tactic of contrasting negotiations, when he confused partners, moving from pleasantries to insults, sharply attacked the Allies for refusing to open a second front immediately. Stalin refused to consider the landing in North Africa as the opening of a second front. Stalin was also quick to complain that supplies from the US and Great Britain were often disrupted, and the USSR never received what it needed and was promised. Churchill replied that no one guaranteed Stalin the delivery of goods, only their arrival in British ports was guaranteed. Northern convoys circulating between Great Britain and the USSR were subjected to severe attacks by German submarines and aircraft; Of the last, 17th, convoy, Churchill recalled, only a third of the ships reached the Soviet shores. Stalin did not accept this explanation and hinted that the Allies probably did not appreciate the significance of the Soviet military efforts enough and were too afraid of losses.

However, the meeting ended on a friendly note. The conversation turned to the need for a meeting between Roosevelt and Stalin, or the entire Big Three. However, Stalin and Churchill did not come to any final decision.

3) Understanding the danger of fascist enslavement pushed aside traditional contradictions and prompted the leading politicians of the time to join forces in the fight against fascism. Immediately after the start of the aggression, the governments of England and the United States issued statements of support for the USSR. W. Churchill made a speech in which he guaranteed the support of the USSR by the government and people of Great Britain. In a statement by the US government on June 23, 1941, fascism was the main danger to the American continent.

The formation of the anti-Hitler coalition was marked by the beginning of negotiations between the USSR, Great Britain and the USA. which ended with the signing on July 12, 1941 of the Soviet-British cooperation agreement. The agreement formed two basic principles of the coalition: assistance and support of any kind in the war against Germany, as well as the refusal to negotiate or conclude an armistice and a separate peace.

On August 16, 1941, an economic agreement on trade and credit was concluded. The allies of the USSR undertook to supply our country with weapons and food (deliveries under Lend-Lease). By joint efforts, pressure was put on Turkey and Afghanistan in order to achieve neutrality from these countries. Iran was occupied.

One of the main steps in the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition was the signing on January 1, 1942 (at the initiative of the United States), of the United Nations Declaration on the fight against the aggressor.

The agreement was based on the Atlantic Charter. The declaration was supported by 20 countries.

The main problem of the anti-Hitler coalition was the disagreement between the allies on the timing of the opening of the second front. This issue was first discussed during Molotov's visit to London and Washington. However, the Allies limited themselves to fighting in North Africa and landing troops in Sicily. This issue was finally resolved during the meeting of the heads of the allied powers in Tehran in November-December 1943.

In an agreement between Stalin, US President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister W. Churchill, the date for the opening of the second front was determined, and the problems of the post-war development of Europe were also discussed.

One of milestones In strengthening the anti-Hitler coalition was the Crimean Conference of the Heads of the Allied States, which was held in Yalta in February 1945.

Before the start of this conference, by order Stalin a powerful offensive was launched on the fronts.

Using this factor and playing on the contradictions between the allies, Stalin managed to achieve the confirmation of the borders of Poland along the Curzon Line, the decision to transfer the USSR East Prussia and Koenigsberg.

A decision was made on the complete disarmament of Germany and the amount of reparations was determined. The Allies decided to take control of the German military industry, banned the Nazi Party.

Germany was divided into four occupation zones between the USA, USSR, England and France. At the conference, a secret agreement was adopted, according to which the USSR undertook to declare war on Japan.

On July 17, 1945, a conference of heads of state of the anti-Hitler coalition took place in Potsdam. Questions of the post-war device were solved. The USSR delegation was headed by Stalin, the American delegation by Truman, and the British delegation by Churchill (during the conference he was defeated in the elections and was replaced by Clement Attlee).

The USSR demanded an increase in reparations and the transfer of Poland's borders along the Oder-Neisse line, to which he received consent. The participants of the conference decided to betray International Court of Justice Nazi criminals.

Fulfilling its allied obligations, on August 8, 1945, the USSR denounced the neutrality treaty with Japan and declared war on it.

5)Yalta (Crimean) Conference

The "Big Three" met at Yalta February 4-11, 1945. Before Yalta, the British and American delegations met in Malta; this, however, did not remove a number of contradictions. Roosevelt was determined to cooperate with the USSR. In his opinion, the USSR, unlike Great Britain, was not an imperialist power, and Roosevelt considered the elimination of the colonial system one of the priorities of the post-war settlement. Roosevelt played a complex diplomatic game: on the one hand, Great Britain continued to be his closest ally, and the atomic project was carried out with the knowledge of London, but in secret from Moscow; on the other hand, Soviet-American cooperation, in the opinion of the president, made it possible to carry out global regulation of the system of international relations.

The "Big Three" returned to the question of the fate of Germany. Churchill proposed separating Prussia from Germany and forming a South German state with Vienna as its capital. Stalin and Roosevelt agreed that Germany should be dismembered. However, in adopting this decision, the conference did not establish the procedure for dismemberment, or even its approximate territorial contours.

Roosevelt and Churchill offered to give France a zone of occupation in Germany, with Roosevelt emphasizing that American troops would not remain in Europe for more than two years. However, Stalin did not want to include France in the Control Commission, and Roosevelt at first readily agreed with him. Neither Roosevelt nor Stalin wanted to include France among the great powers. In the end, however, Roosevelt declared that if France were included in the Control Commission, then this would force de Gaulle to be more compliant. Stalin, who was met halfway in other matters, agreed.

The Soviet side raised the question of reparations, offering two forms of reparations: the removal of equipment and annual payments. She also proposed the creation of a reparations commission in Moscow. However, the final amount of reparations has not been established. The British side insisted on the latter; Roosevelt, on the other hand, favorably accepted the Soviet proposal to fix the total amount of reparations at 20 billion dollars, of which 50 percent was to be paid to the Soviet Union.

The truncated Soviet proposal for the membership of the Soviet republics in the UN was accepted, but their number was limited to two (Molotov proposed two or three - Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, citing the fact that British Commonwealth presented in full). It was decided to hold the founding conference of the United Nations in the United States in April. The Soviet side agreed with the American proposal, according to which a permanent member of the Security Council could not vote if the issue concerned him. Roosevelt accepted the Soviet concession with enthusiasm.

Roosevelt took the principle of UN tutelage over colonial territories seriously. When the American side presented the corresponding document in Yalta, Churchill became indignant. He declared that he would not allow interference in the affairs of the British Empire. How, Churchill asked, appealing to the USSR, would Stalin react to the proposal to internationalize the Crimea? The American side, retreating, stated that they meant territories recaptured from the enemy - for example, islands in the Pacific Ocean. It was agreed that the American proposal extended to the mandated territories of the League of Nations, territories taken from the enemy, and territories that would voluntarily agree to UN supervision.

The conference discussed a number of issues related to small European states. Stalin did not dispute British-American control of Italy, which was still fighting.

In Greece there was Civil War, in which British troops intervened on the side opposing the communists. In Yalta, Stalin confirmed the agreement reached with Churchill in October 1944 in Moscow to regard Greece as a purely British sphere of influence.

Great Britain and the USSR, again in accordance with the October agreements, for the period preceding Yalta, observed parity in Yugoslavia, where the leader of the Yugoslav partisans, Josip Broz Tito, negotiated with the pro-Western Yugoslav leader Šubašić about control over the country. In Yalta, parity was generally confirmed, although a practical settlement of the situation in Yugoslavia was envisaged not in the way Churchill wanted it to be. Churchill was also concerned about the territorial settlement between Yugoslavia and Austria and Yugoslavia and Italy. At Yalta, it was decided that these issues would be discussed through the usual diplomatic channels.

A similar decision was made on the claims of the American and British sides due to the fact that the USSR did not consult with them in solving the political problems of Romania and Bulgaria. The situation in Hungary, where the Soviet side again excluded the Western allies from the political settlement process, was not discussed in detail.

In general, in Yalta, it was de facto implied that all of Eastern Europe remained in the Soviet sphere of influence. This was a departure from "percent diplomacy", but Britain could hope for some adjustment of the Soviet position in the course of the post-war settlement.

The American side presented in Yalta a document called the "Declaration on a Liberated Europe". It was based on the same democratic principles as previous documents of the same order. The heads of allied governments, in particular, undertook to coordinate with each other their policy of resolving by democratic methods the political and economic problems of the liberated countries during the period of "temporary" instability. The Allies pledged to create conditions for the establishment of democratic forms of government through free elections. The declaration was accepted. However, it remained an unfounded document of no practical value.

Without any enthusiasm, the conference participants began to discuss the Polish question. By this time, the pro-Soviet government had already moved to Warsaw from Lublin, but was still called "Lublin" by the Western powers.

Roosevelt, supported by Churchill, proposed that the USSR return Lvov to Poland. However, both Roosevelt and Churchill were not too interested in the question of Polish borders; Polish independence - that's what was on the agenda. Stalin repeated his position: the western border of Poland should be moved, the eastern one should pass along the Curzon line, the Warsaw government would have nothing to do with the Polish London one. Churchill said that, according to his knowledge, the Lublin government represented the views of no more than a third of the Poles, and the situation could lead to bloodshed, arrests and deportations. Stalin agreed to the inclusion in the Polish provisional government of some "democratic" leaders from Polish émigré circles.

Roosevelt proposed the creation of a presidential council in Poland, consisting of representatives of various forces, which would form the Polish government, but soon withdrew his proposal. Long discussions followed. Ultimately, it was decided to reorganize the provisional Polish government on a "broad democratic basis" and to hold free elections as soon as possible. All three powers pledged to establish diplomatic relations with the reorganized government. The eastern border of Poland was determined along the "Curzon Line"; territorial gains at the expense of Germany were mentioned vaguely. The final definition of the western border of Poland was postponed until the peace conference.

An agreement was signed on the entry of the USSR into the war against Japan two or three months after the end of the war in Europe. In the course of separate negotiations between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, an agreement was reached on strengthening the positions of the USSR in Far East. Stalin put forward the following conditions: the preservation of the status of Mongolia, the return of South Sakhalin and the adjacent islands to Russia, the internationalization of the port of Dalian (Dalniy), the restoration of the naval base in Port Arthur, the joint Soviet-Chinese ownership of the Chinese Eastern Railway and the Southern Moscow Railway, the transfer of the Kuril Islands to the USSR. On all these issues from the Western side, the initiative for concessions belonged to Roosevelt.

San Francisco Conference

Despite the growing contradictions between the allies, which became apparent with the change of political leadership in the United States and the tightening of the USSR's position on Eastern Europe, the idea of ​​creating the UN had to find its practical completion. On April 25, 1945, the founding conference opened in San Francisco. It was preceded by difficulties.

Stalin refused to send Molotov to the conference unless the Warsaw government (not yet renewed and recognized by the West) was invited to represent Poland. Ultimately, however, Stalin had to give in.

The conference was to adopt the UN Charter. The political principles underlying the new international organization seemed indisputable. The question was about the political mechanisms of this forum.

The Conference decided on the responsibility of the Security Council for the maintenance of peace, limiting the Assembly's authority to discussion and recommendations. Small powers tried to protest against the proposed "hidden veto" formula. According to the Yalta agreement, the great power whose interests were affected by the vote did not have the right to vote, but the other four great powers had to vote unanimously. As soon as one of them voted against, the actions of the Security Council were blocked. Given the fact that the great powers were in constant interaction, their support for each other seemed inevitable to the small countries. However, it was precisely because of this circumstance that the great powers did not want to change the charter.

The British delegation secured an amendment regarding elections to the Security Council. What was now required was a uniform geographical representation of the powers, as well as an account of their contribution to international security.

The US and the USSR were dissatisfied with the supposed subordination of regional organizations and treaties to the decisions of the Council: Washington feared for its sphere of influence in the Western Hemisphere, and Moscow for the system of treaties in Europe. The new article provided for the right to individual or collective self-defence in the event of aggression - pending appropriate action by the Security Council.

The Soviet side insisted that the great power had the right to veto the discussion (not the vote!) of an issue that did not concern it. The discussion, insisted the Soviet side, was an important political act with serious consequences. The Soviet demarche provoked opposition from the West. The conflict was settled through Hopkins, who was in Moscow at the time. Stalin agreed to withdraw his proposal.

The American delegation presented proposals for a guardianship system to the conference. The comprehensive concept that Roosevelt wanted to see did not work out; the American project was based on proposals for the Pacific Islands. The Americans proposed two categories of mandated territories. The first was defined as strategic areas; here the Security Council provided the guardianship. In the remaining areas included in the second category, the Assembly provided trusteeship through the Board of Trustees.

Potsdam Conference

While the San Francisco Conference was establishing the United Nations to prevent new conflicts, the war in Europe was over. Germany capitulated. May 2, 1945 ceased fighting in the southern direction in Italy, on May 4, at the headquarters of General Bernard Montgomery, who commanded the British forces, a document was signed on the surrender of German troops in North-Western Europe, on May 7, at Eisenhower's headquarters in Reims, the surrender of all German armed forces was signed. A similar document was signed by Marshal G.K. Zhukov and German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel on the night of May 8-9.

However, far from bright prospects opened before politicians. Germany and Italy were defeated and out of the game for an indefinitely long time as significant powers. Most of the countries of Europe were weakened by the war: material destruction and the temporary liquidation of statehood in many of them made post-war reconstruction a difficult task. Finally, after the Second World War, two global centers of power emerged - the USA and the USSR, the latter of which has been involved in world affairs on the basis of partnership only for the last four years. The Kremlin was afraid.

But the Kremlin was far from euphoric. The war was won, a huge sphere of influence was won, the status of a global power was obtained, but an incredible price was paid for this. The Kremlin was torn between the desire to secure new spheres of influence and the realization of its own weakness. new war nobody wanted. However, cooperation in the "Big Three" changed dramatically with the death of Roosevelt. The partnership to regulate international relations has been replaced by sporadic attempts to find mutual understanding.

On July 17, 1945, the Potsdam Conference opened. Truman proposed the creation of a Council of Foreign Ministers of the five great powers (although neither France nor China participated in the conference), which would deal with peace negotiations and territorial settlement. The proposal was accepted and a Council meeting was scheduled for 1 September in London. However, other issues were not so easy to resolve.

The British and American sides refused to consider the question of reparations in isolation from the question of the survival of the Germans without outside help. Food, on the other hand, came to Germany to a large extent from those eastern regions, which Moscow has already handed over to the Polish administration. The Soviet side, during the discussion of the issue of Italy's admission to the UN, demanded that the same principle be extended to the former satellites of Germany in South-Eastern Europe. This raised questions to the Soviet representatives regarding the implementation of the "Declaration on Liberated Europe" by the USSR. Conclusion peace treaties provided for the recognition of new governments; Western representatives were ready to recognize them only after they were convinced of their independence and electivity. The Soviet side referred to the state of affairs in Greece, implying that Great Britain itself was not fulfilling its obligations.

During a meeting with Churchill, Stalin stated that the USSR was not going to Sovietize Eastern Europe and would allow free elections for all parties except the fascist ones. Churchill returned to "percent" diplomacy and complained that instead of 50%, the USSR received 99% in Yugoslavia. This did not impress Stalin.

At the very first plenary session, the question of Poland came up. The Soviet delegation defended the western Polish border along the Oder-Neisse. Truman reproached Stalin for the fact that he had already transferred these areas to Polish administration without waiting for the peace conference, as agreed at Yalta. At the insistence of the Soviet side, Polish representatives headed by Bolesław Bierut arrived in Potsdam. The Polish delegation demanded German lands and promised democratic elections. Churchill and Truman suggested not to rush, and Churchill expressed doubt that Poland could successfully digest such a large territory.

The Polish question, which cost Churchill so much blood, was last question, which he discussed as Prime Minister of Great Britain. On July 25, he left for London with Eden, where he resigned the next day after the election results were announced: the Conservative Party had lost. The new prime minister, Clement Attlee, arrived in Potsdam with the new foreign minister, Ernest Bevin. Now Stalin was surrounded on all sides by strangers.

Already in the new composition, the conference reached an agreement on the question of Poland. Poland was to hold free elections with the participation of all democratic and anti-Nazi parties. The final decision on the question of the western border of Poland was postponed, but East German lands were already being transferred to Poland. IN Polish question Stalin emerged victorious. The conference agreed to the transfer of Konigsberg and the adjacent territory to the USSR.

An agreement was reached on the procedure for exercising control over Germany. The goals of the disarmament and demilitarization of Germany were proclaimed. All military and paramilitary formations, including even clubs and associations that supported militaristic traditions, were to be liquidated. The National Socialist Party of Germany and all Nazi institutions were also liquidated. The Nazi laws that served as the basis of Hitler's regime were repealed. War criminals were put on trial. Active members of the Nazi Party were to be removed from all positions of importance. The German educational system was put under control in order to destroy Nazi and militaristic doctrines and ensure the development of democracy. On democratic principles, self-government bodies were established throughout Germany. The activity of democratic parties was encouraged. It was decided not to create a central German government for the time being. The German economy was to be decentralized, production brought under control in order to prevent the revival of the military industry. For the period of the allied occupation, Germany was to be regarded as a single economic entity, including in regard to currency and taxation.

However, a compromise was reached on the question of reparations. The Soviet Union (while undertaking to transfer part of the reparations to Poland) was to receive them from its zone of occupation, and also partly from the western zones, to the extent that this did not undermine the peaceful German economy.

The German Navy was divided in equal proportions between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain. Most of the German submarines were to be scuttled. The German merchant fleet, minus the ships needed for river and coastal trade, was also divided among the three powers. Great Britain and the United States allocated ships from their share to countries affected by German aggression.

A number of smaller agreements were also reached. Italy, as a country that broke with Germany, it was decided to recommend for membership in the UN. The Council of Foreign Ministers was instructed to prepare peace treaties with Italy, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary and Romania. The signing of peace treaties made it possible for these states to be included in the UN. Spain was denied membership in the UN. It was decided to "improve" the work of the control commissions in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. The resettlement of the German population from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary was to be carried out in an "orderly and humane" manner. Allied troops were to be immediately removed from Tehran, and the Council of Foreign Ministers was to decide on the further withdrawal of troops.

The conference did not agree with the Soviet proposal regarding the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Stalin demanded that the Montreux Convention be canceled, that Turkey and the USSR be allowed to work out the regime of the straits, and that the USSR be given the opportunity to organize military bases in the straits along with the Turkish ones. Truman proposed a free regime of the straits under the guarantee of all the great powers. Finally, it was decided that the Montreux Convention should be revised in the course of each of the three governments' contacts with Turkey.

The Potsdam Conference resolved the most urgent questions of the post-war situation. However, at the same time, it became clear that the European order would be built on a confrontational basis: everything that concerned Eastern Europe caused conflicts. Formally, the framework for post-war cooperation was created before Potsdam: the UN with its club of great powers. However, already in Potsdam it became clear that the regulation of international relations in the post-war world would not be carried out in the UN and not in a coordinated manner.

At the Potsdam Conference, for the first time in the history of diplomacy, the nuclear factor emerged. Truman deliberately planned the first test atomic bomb near Potsdam. On July 16, the test was successfully completed. According to Churchill, having received the long-awaited news during the conference, Truman became a different person. On July 24, in a conversation with Stalin, he casually mentioned that the United States had a new weapon of extraordinary destructive power. Stalin said that he was glad to hear this and hoped that he would find use in the war against Japan. By that time, Stalin had long known about the American atomic project and hurried Soviet scientists in their developments.

By 1945, the world was feverishly developing three nuclear project: American (with some British participation), Soviet and German. The United States was the first to reach the nuclear frontier. The fact that even Roosevelt, with all his desire to continue the post-war dialogue with Moscow, did not inform Stalin about the miracle weapon, just as Stalin did not inform him, allows us to draw a rather pessimistic conclusion about the potential for post-war cooperation between the USSR and the USA, no matter who was at the helm of American politics.

Truman, Churchill and Attlee left Potsdam with the realization of the serious problems ahead associated with Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe and in general with the Soviet military colossus. Stalin was leaving, having met with rather serious opposition from the Western allies, who already greatly regretted their compliance with spheres of influence during the war with Germany. Stalin now had to transfer his troops to the Pacific front and enter the war with Japan. But he was already prepared for the fact that, together with the American nuclear monopoly, a new diplomatic stage would begin.