After the end of the Quebec conference of 1944, Winston sailed back to Britain in the Queen Mary, arriving at Greenock in Scotland on September 26. He did not remain at home for long.
Winston in Moscow
Only eleven days later, he departed for Moscow, where he presented Stalin with proposals which he hoped would contain the spreading tide of communist influence in southern Europe and the Balkans.
The inexorable advance of the Soviet army had liberated Romania, Bulgaria and Jugoslavia and was about to free Hungary as well. Communist minorities, bidding to take power, were already active in all these countries.
In Greece, civil war was developing between the royalist government and communist guerillas even before the Germans started their withdrawal which was not complete until November.
Winston and Stalin Make a Deal
Winston’s plan proposed “percentages of interest” for Britain and Russia in five countries. The Russians receive ninety percent interest in Romania, the British, ten percent. The proportions were reversed in Greece.
In Hungary, Bulgaria and Jugoslavia, the proportions were equal. In addition, as a concession, Winston offered to persuade Turkey to allow Russia free access through the Dardanelles to the Mediterranean. In exchange, the British Prime Minister asked Stalin for his word not to promote communism in Greece or Italy.
Winston handed the paper containing these proposals to Stalin, who put a large tick on it and handed it back. Realizing the imperialist nature of the proposals in what Winston called “the naughty document”, the Prime Minister lightheartedly suggested to Stalin that they dispose of it.
“Might it not be thought rather cynical if it seemed we had disposed of these issues, so fateful to millions of people, in such an offhand manner?” Winston asked. “Let us burn the paper.” But Stalin disagreed. “No,” the Soviet leader replied “You keep it.”
Stalin’s Plan for Poland
The discussion became less lighthearted when they moved on to the question of Poland, where the Germans had now crushed resistance in Warsaw. The Polish government in exile, based in London, had told Winston that they would accept nothing less than complete independence.
But Stalin had his own communist nominees ready to take over the government in post-war Poland. The countries of eastern Europe were “seething with communism,” Winston told Anthony Eden, his War Minister. “ ...only our influence with Russia prevents their actively stimulating this movement, deadly as I conceive it to the freedom of Mankind.”
Fleeing the Russians
In eastern Germany, many people had no intention of waiting to see what the Russians would do with the freedom of Mankind. Thousands fled westwards to escape the Red Army’s revenge for atrocities the Nazi forces had perpetrated in Russia. Winston’s compassion was roused.
“I am free to confess to you that my heart is saddened by the tales of masses of German women and children flying along the roads everywhere in forty-mile columns ...." Winston wrote to his wife Clementine.
“I am clearly convinced that they deserve it,” he continued, “but that does not remove it from one’s gaze. The misery of the whole world appalls me and I fear increasingly that new struggles may arise out of this which we are successfully ending.”
The Big Three Head for Yalta
The new struggles Winston feared were already evidence and Stalin’s expansionist ambitions became a central concern for him. On January 29, 1945, Winston left London on the first leg of his journey to Yalta, on the south coast of the Crimea in Russia, for a conference with Stalin and Roosevelt to discuss the growing communist problem.
The Prime Minster headed for Malta to discuss tactics at Yalta with Anthony Eden and the Chiefs of Staff. Winston wanted positive action to prevent the Russians advancing too far into western Europe.
In this context Austria was his first concern. “It is essential,” Winston told the Chiefs of Staff, “that we occupy as much of Austria as possible, as it is undesirable that more of western Europe than necessary should be occupied by the Russians.”
It was soon evident that Winston would have to do most, if not all, of the hard work at Yalta. President Roosevelt arrived in Malta on February 2 in no state for hard political bargaining. Winston was shocked at his frail appearance. Normally so lively and charismatic, Roosevelt had become pale, grey and painfully thin.
Roosevelt’s Bad Health
A year earlier, his doctors had diagnosed serious heart and circulatory problems and the deterioration in his health was all too evident. The President attended a few meetings in Malta, but for the most part sat silent and dull-eyed.
Winston, Roosevelt and their respective staffs departed for Yalta on February 3. The conference was held at the Livadia Palace, which had once been a residence of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II.
The timetable was not a taxing one. Discussions did not begin until four in the afternoon and lasted until about nine in the evening. That allowed Winston to follow his favorite routine; he liked to rise late in the morning, then enjoy an early lunch with a short nap afterward.
Unconditional German Surrender
Agreement was easily reached on several of the issues discussed at Yalta. Winston, Roosevelt and Stalin were in accord over the policy of unconditional surrender for Germany first announced at the Casablanca conference in January 1943. Stalin concurred with the American request that he declare war on Japan once Germany was defeated.
Stalin also agreed to Winston’s request for a Soviet attack on Danzig, where the Germans had built a revolutionary new type of submarine that had already sunk ships in British waters. There was assent, too, over the arrangements for the occupation of Germany after the war: Britain, the United States, Russia and France were to govern their own zones, with Berlin falling under joint control. However, the long-term treatment of Germany was a more controversial matter.
Please see also: The Life and Struggles of Winston Churchill: last months of war
Sources
Judt, Tony: Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 (London UK: Penguin Press, 2005) ISBN-10: 1594200653/ISBN-13: 978-1594200656
Stafford, David: Roosevelt and Churchill: Men of Secrets (New York, NY: Overlook TP, 2011) ISBN-10: 1585672491/ISBN-13: 978-1585672493
The Yalta Conference of 1945
Brenda Ralph Lewis - My interest in history dates from childhood. I am presently the author of 120 books and hundreds of articles, all on historical ...
