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Back in the USSR
US-Soviet Relations during the Era of the Iron Curtain
In February 1945, during the final weeks of World War II, the “Big Three” world leaders, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin met at the Black Sea resort of Yalta to discuss the future of postwar Europe. They recognized the urgent need to establish order in Europe, rebuild its economy and restore the sovereign rights of occupied nations. However, each leader pursued his own agenda at Yalta. Roosevelt wanted Soviet support in the U.S. war against Japan. While Churchill called for free elections and democratic governments in Central and Eastern Europe, Stalin was determined to maintain a Soviet sphere of political influence in the region, particularly in Poland. Poland, the largest of the East European countries, was historically used as a corridor of enemy attack against Russia, and occupation of this region was vital to Soviet security.
During the war, Stalin had created a buffer of pro-Soviet states along Russia’s western border to protect it against German invasion. Western Allies feared Soviet domination of the buffer states, viewing it as an attempt by the Soviets to extend their empire. At the Yalta Conference, Stalin ruthlessly
Yalta
"The Big Three" at the Yalta Conference,1945
Churchill (left), FDR (middle), and Stalin (right)