1945 Yalta Conference

From 4 to 11 February 1945, Winston Churchill ; Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin gathered to discuss the fate of Germany, over three months before their actual surrender.

The chosen location: Yalta on the Crimean sea shows the negotiating power of Russia at that moment. Germany was to be divided into parts controlled by the Allies. The treaty implied Central and Eastern Europe countries would hold elections to establish democratic governments.

Stalin would soon break his word and Prague, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, Sofia to name a few capitals of the ancient states of Europe became satellites of the USSR. As Churchill described in his famous 1946 speech: "An iron curtain has descended across the continent"... The Allies had just celebrated their victory on Nazi Germany, the Cold War had already begun.