Home >> Romanovs in Crimea >> Yalta Conference 1945 in Livadia Palace

Yalta Conference 1945 in Livadia Palace

In 1945 White Palace of Livadia hosted Yalta Conference for the Big Three (President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and General Secretary Joseph Stalin), the leaders of the Great Alliance countries USA, the UK and the USSR. The countries were discussing post-war reorganization of Europe.

Key points of Yalta Conference

 Codenamed Argonaut Conference, Yalta (or Crimea) Conference 1945 was a wartime meeting known for accepting several important post-war decisions such as the Declaration of Liberated of Europe enabled the nations freed from Nazi occupation to choose their own form of government. The future of Germany, Eastern Europe and the United Nations was discussed on Yalta conference.

The leaders ratified some previously composed agreements about post-war occupation zones and control council for Germany. Dismemberment of Germany and reparation was discussed. Nazi war criminals were to be hunted down and brought to justice.  

The status of Poland, Yugoslavia and Southeasten Europe was discussed. It was agreed to reorganize the communist government of Poland that had been installed by the Soviet Union "on a broader democratic basis." 

Roosevelt obtained a commitment by Stalin to participate in the UN.   Stalin agreed to enter the fight against the Empire of Japan within 90 days after the defeat of Germany (acquiring in the process islands in Kurile chain near Japan). 

The Yalta Conference represented the high-water mark of Allied wartime collaboration but at the same time it revealed cracks in the Grand Alliance, as historians said.  It was at Yalta, between 4 and 11 February 1945, when alliance between democracy and communism began transforming into rivalry and hostility before the oncoming Cold War. Only the common objective of defeating Hitler had kept the countries together.

The delegates of the Grand Alliance participating in the Conference stayed in three palaces in South Crimea. The U.S. delegation stayed at the Livadia Palace, the British delegation were accommodated at Alupka Palace and the USSR delegation were housed at the Yusupov Palace in Koreyiz.