The Yalta Conference, held from February 4 to 11, 1945, was a profoundly significant event in history, especially towards the end of World War II. This conference brought together three of the greatest Allied leaders of the time: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. It took place in the city of Yalta, in Crimea, with the aim of discussing how to end the war and prepare for post-war Europe.
Why did the Yalta Conference take place?
The conference occurred in February 1945, at a crucial moment in World War II. The Red Army had famously won the long, brutal Battle of Stalingrad, dealing a significant blow to Nazi Germany. The Allies had made substantial gains in Italy, and a new front was already being prepared. However, these recent successes were fragile, and the German Army still fiercely held much of Europe.
The war effort was unsustainable. Russia faced incalculable human losses, in addition to chronic shortages of everything from soap to ammunition. The counterattack demanded a final effort, but for how long could the Red Army continue like this? Among the Allies, it was crucial for the Red Army to maintain pressure on Germany to relieve the Eastern Front.
The United States and Great Britain found themselves allied with yesterday’s enemy: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, led by the all-powerful Joseph Stalin, Secretary-General of the Communist Party. This improbable alliance against Germany had all the flaws of a last resort. Cooperation was undermined by the fear of constant betrayal.
The U.S. military wanted military-to-military cooperation to speed up cooperation and deconflict operations. But Stalin would not allow any communications without overseeing everything. Stalin prohibited any of his staff from speaking directly with the Americans. Churchill, the strongman of Great Britain, viscerally hated communism and everything it represented. As for Roosevelt, his understanding of Soviet Russia was shaky at best.
While the American president appeared surprisingly optimistic, all three men and their administrations were wary of future plans. How could they reconcile the immediate necessity with the fear of strengthening other powers?
It was evident that Germany was on a downward slope, and the end of the war was imminent. The question at Yalta was to establish the foundations of an agreement among the three major powers for the post-war era. Immediately, they had to address embarrassing issues for everyone: how to divide Germany, what to do with Poland, and how to end the war with Japan?
Yalta had no fixed agenda. Stalin opposed preparing an agenda; he didn’t need one. Nevertheless, the question that no one dared to address immediately but was glaringly obvious to the generals was the issue of spheres of influence. In a sense, the Iron Curtain had already fallen on Europe since Stalingrad. In Tehran, Churchill had already mentioned spheres of influence. In Tehran, the focus was on reaching an agreement on the form.
A herculean task against all odds
Firstly, the chosen location for the meeting was not straightforward for anyone. Initially, there were discussions about going to Malta or Egypt. Yalta was a compromise with Stalin, who refused to leave Soviet territory “on the advice of his doctor.” One cannot rule out the possibility that Stalin simply feared being away from Moscow for too long. The all-powerful General Secretary was famously paranoid.
However, traveling to Yalta was far from a simple matter. For the American president, it meant covering 10,000 kilometers. First aboard the Ferdinand Magellan train, then on an aircraft carrier, and finally by plane to Malta, and from Malta to Yalta. The journey was scarcely less unpleasant for Churchill, who had to endure 5,000 kilometers himself. The catch was that these planes were not luxury aircraft, and pressurization had not yet been invented.
Consequently, both men arrived in Soviet territory with severe headaches. They then had to endure a 5-hour drive through an utterly devastated territory, despite the distance being barely 100 kilometers. This was no coincidence: Stalin insisted that the Allies see the extent of the Soviet sacrifice. Throughout the conference, he would remind them of the Motherland’s sacrifice.
Nevertheless, they had to stay in touch with the Allied high command, keep an eye on the domestic political situation, and secure the sky against any attacks. After all, three enemy leaders in the same place made for an ideal target for a desperate Hitler. It would later be revealed that Hitler did indeed attempt to have the three leaders assassinated. For Stalin, it also meant dusting off the three aristocratic mansions abandoned for nearly fifty years on the outskirts of Yalta.
Three Sick Men Decide the Fate of the World
The conference was far from a ceremonial G7 summit, rich in handshakes for journalists. A mix of international diplomacy and celebration, the conference was the setting for many strange scenes, numerous excesses, and quite a few minor clashes.
Let’s start with the haphazard proximity of delegations accustomed to being wary of each other. Each leader and their entourage had a palace to themselves: the Livadia Palace hosted Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) and the Americans; Churchill and his company stayed at the Vorontsov Palace; and Stalin and his entourage were at the Yusupov Palace. In a way, the Big Three lived in luxury.
Except for Stalin, none of the Big Three was in great shape. Franklin Roosevelt was 63 years old. Afflicted since the age of 40 by polio, he was confined to his chair and had great difficulty walking. Churchill suffered from occasional depression and arrived greatly weakened at the conference. He would leave with a severe pneumonia that forced him into two weeks of “convalescence” in Morocco. Two months later, Franklin died of an intracerebral hemorrhage. Already at Yalta, his daughter Anna Boetinger described him as paler than ever.
Yalta: An Explosive Menu
Each suite had its own palace, but Winston Churchill called Yalta the “Riviera of Hades.” They had multi-course dinners, but they also had lines to the toilets that stretched for hours. On one side, there was an abundance of vodka, the indulgence of unimaginably hearty meals in wartime, endless toasts, and on the other side, infestations of bedbugs, walls filled with microphones, and embarrassing promiscuity.
Whether they were palaces or not, what has often been remembered was the famous toilets of Yalta. There were only nine toilets on the entire campus for several hundred guests. Other toilets were ‘constructed’ over trenches. Private toilets were only for Churchill or Roosevelt. Even Stalin himself waited in line to access them. (It must be said that Stalin also reprimanded passersby at the Kremlin for not walking on the sidewalk.)
In addition to these facilities, the places were filled with hundreds of microphones by the Soviets. Stalin could enjoy this unique advantage during the negotiations at the conference. Home advantage!
The leaders hosted dinners in their palaces, and without exception, these were lively and alcohol-filled affairs, with a bit of geopolitical tension for good measure. After the dinner on the first full day, FDR upset Stalin by revealing that he jokingly called him “Uncle Joe.” However, Stalin recovered from this joke and became more friendly afterward. Stalin, who knew how to throw a party, reportedly served Churchill the ArArAt brandy.
Wine from Massandra, a renowned Ukrainian vineyard, was brought in. In each room of the villas where dignitaries, advisors, and their entourage stayed, there was typically a decanter of vodka. Inebriation was so common and severe at Yalta that some members of the English and American delegations had to be “carried” to their rooms. The Soviets, who had filled the entire protocol campus with microphones, must have salivated at the potential wasted state secrets.
On February 8, Stalin invited the group to dinner at his villa. Kathleen Harriman, daughter of diplomat W. Averill Harriman, stated that Stalin “had a good time, was a splendid host, and his three main speeches were excellent.” All parties wrote that the tyrant was in good spirits. Stalin often raised long toasts (and drank a lot too, although there were rumors that he only sipped half of his glass before switching to water). Churchill and Roosevelt were happy to return the favor by toasting Stalin after the cocktail. Roosevelt said that the atmosphere was “like that of a family.”
Who really won Yalta?
Shortly after the famous photo session on February 9, when Stalin and Churchill accommodated FDR’s handicap, Yalta turned back into a ghost town. As described in the State Department archives, many gifts were exchanged. Among the presents were wine, caviar, and strong cigars for the Americans, while the Russians received personalized medals. Instead of tips, British and American guests were asked to give servants cigarettes, candy, and chewing gum. But the festivities did not linger.
On February 11, Roosevelt left at 4 p.m., and Churchill, who had initially planned to stay longer, hastily departed. According to Sarah Churchill, Stalin “vanished like a genie.” Both men emerged considerably weakened from this grueling journey. Churchill returned from Yalta with pneumonia and had to stop in Morocco for several weeks to recover. As for Roosevelt, who had arrived considerably affected by the 10,000 km journey, he would die two months later.
In summary, the Yalta Conference was crucial in history as it determined how the major world powers would shape the post-World War II world. Ultimately, history would severely judge all the decisions taken by so few men that would immediately affect several generations. Although Yalta unquestionably contributed to peace, Historians wonder at what cost. What is certain is that all three men wanted, at all cost, to avoid another all-out war. Even if meant shaking hand with the enemy.
Pierre-Olivier Bussieres is the author of the podcast Le Temps d’une Bière, producer of Hoppy History and editor-in-chief of Le Temps d’une Bière media. He holds a graduate degree in political science from Carleton University.
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