Why did the potsdam conference

Nuclear threat:. Just before the Conference began, on 16 July , the USA had successfully exploded an atomic bomb at their test site in the New Mexico desert. When first told about the success of the experiment, Truman is said to have remarked: if it works At Potsdam, Truman chose to inform Stalin that the US possessed a new weapon of unusual destructive force.

Although Stalin already knew details about the Manhattan Project through his spy networks, he was able to complain at this treatment and the fact that there were secrets between supposed Allies. Expansion of communism:. Despite agreeing at Yalta that free elections would be held in Eastern Europe after the defeat of Nazi Germany, there was little evidence at Potsdam that Stalin intended to allow them.

Focus on Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the USA Key Points A few months after the surrender of Germany and the end of the war in Europe, te Allied leaders from the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom met in Potsdam, Germany to confirm the agreements decided at the Yalta Conference and discuss other post-war issues.

America had won decisive battles against Japan, but the Pacific war still continued. Since the Yalta Conference, Harry S. Truman succeeded Roosevelt after his death and Clement Attlee succeeded Churchill after the general election in the UK, shifting some of the existing dynamics among the nations. The Potsdam Agreements resulted in the military occupation and reconstruction of Germany and the entire European theater of War territory. Yalta Conference A meeting in February between the three heads of the main Allied forces in WWII, intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe.

Just before the Conference began, on 16 July , the USA had successfully exploded an atomic bomb at their test site in the New Mexico desert.

When first told about the success of the experiment, Truman is said to have remarked: if it works.. At Potsdam, Truman chose to inform Stalin that the US possessed a new weapon of unusual destructive force. Despite agreeing at Yalta that free elections would be held in Eastern Europe after the defeat of Nazi Germany, there was little evidence at Potsdam that Stalin intended to allow them.

The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences. They also approved the formation of a Council of Foreign Ministers, which would act on behalf of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China to write peace treaties with former German allies, such as Italy and Bulgaria. Another important purpose of the Potsdam Conference was to pressure Japan, which was still in the war. In exchange, Japan would be allowed to maintain industries that were unrelated to war and have access to raw materials, and eventually would be permitted to resume international trade.

Just before the conference began, Truman got the secret news of the successful U. At the close of an afternoon meeting of July 24, Truman walked over to Stalin and told him quietly that the U. The reason behind Stalin's mild reaction was that he had at least two spies inside the Manhattan project and already knew about the U. Potsdam was the final time that leaders of the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union, who had maintained a tense alliance despite their differences during the war, would meet to discuss postwar cooperation.

Department of State. Truman , by David McCullough, , June But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!