Post-war Europe was in shambles. Both the U.S. and the Soviets wanted to control how it would be rebuilt. Watch this video to learn about the battles between the two former allies over Europe immediately after the war.
Germany was in ruins after the war. Creating a new Germany that would never be a threat to world peace again was a top priority at Potsdam.
At Potsdam, the Allies agreed that Germany would go through denazification and democratization. This meant outlawing and discrediting the Nazi party and establishing a democratic German government. Here a street sign for "Adolf Hitler Street" is removed and the street resumes its old name of "Bahnhof Street" as part of denazification.
Germany also had to give up all of the lands it had taken under the Nazis, and return to its pre-1933 borders.
German factories had to stop producing war materials and go back to producing civilian goods, like these radios made in a factory in Hanover, Germany.
The Allies all agreed on this plan of action for Germany. But they did not agree about what to do with Poland. During the war, Poland had been divided between Germany and the Soviet Union.
Now Stalin said he would not leave eastern Poland, and more than that, he wanted the western half, too.
The U.S. and Britain were in a difficult situation. They had promised to restore Poland's sovereignty. But they were not willing to fight another war to do so. When the Soviets made it clear they would not leave Poland without a war, the Allies sacrificed Poland.
They agreed not only to let Stalin annex all of Poland and make it part of the Soviet Union, but also to let the temporary government the Soviets set up in Poland become the official government. This meant the democratic government that Polish exiles had set up in Britain, that they were planning to establish in Poland, was replaced by Soviet dictatorship.
Before the Potsdam Conference even began, the Red Army controlled Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania.
Romania and Albania were allowed to rule themselves because they created their own Communist governments allied with the Soviet Union.
Stalin claimed at Potsdam that his army would leave Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Bulgaria once they held free elections. But just like Poland, these nations were forced to accept Communist governments and be taken over by the Soviet Union.
 Workers construct the Berlin Wall in 1961. |
Stalin told Attlee and Truman that he needed to control eastern Europe to prevent another invasion of his country by a European power (like the German invasion in 1941). He promised them at Potsdam that he would not force any nation to join the Soviet Union but that he would not turn away any nation whose people wanted to embrace Communism and join the Soviets. What really happened was that the Red Army and Soviet officials held fake elections that put Communist governments in charge of eastern European nations. Then those nations, which became known as the Eastern bloc, were controlled by the Soviet Union. The Soviets then put up heavily guarded walls around the Eastern bloc to keep people from escaping. Here, a wall is being built between communist East Berlin and democratic West Berlin.
What was the outcome of the Potsdam Conference? Answer these questions to check your understanding.
How did the Potsdam agreements impact Germany?
How did the Potsdam agreements impact European countries that had been occupied by the Nazis?
| Your Responses | Sample Answers |
|---|---|
| Germany was stripped of its ability to make war; its Nazi party was shut down, and a new, democratic government was established; the country itself was broken into four Allied occupation zones. It was transformed from an aggressor nation into a democratic nation. | |
| It did not do them much good: Most of them merely exchanged Nazi occupation for Soviet occupation. Poland was the first nation to be sacrificed by the Allies in the name of peace. |
