Yalta and the Endgame in Europe

In February 1945 the Big Three met again at Yalta in Crimea, with victory in Europe in sight. Roosevelt's priorities were securing Soviet entry into the war against Japan and Soviet participation in a new United Nations. Stalin agreed to fight Japan within three months of Germany's defeat, in return for territorial gains in East Asia, and accepted arrangements for the UN. The leaders confirmed that Germany would be divided into occupation zones, with France given a zone.

On Poland, the Soviets controlled the country militarily; the leaders agreed to shift its borders west and to broaden the communist-backed provisional government, with promises of 'free and unfettered elections'. In the Declaration on Liberated Europe, the Allies pledged to support democratic governments. Critics later called Yalta a 'sellout' of Eastern Europe, but defenders argue that the Red Army's presence gave the West little leverage.