Potsdam Conference (July-August 1945)

Met at Potsdam outside Berlin in occupied Germany. By this time the alliance was visibly fraying. Roosevelt had died in April; Harry Truman represented the U.S. and was far less willing than Roosevelt to accommodate Soviet demands. Churchill was replaced mid-conference by Clement Attlee after losing the British election. Stalin remained. The atomic bomb had just been successfully tested. Truman informed Stalin (already knew through espionage). Decisions at Potsdam included:

• Confirmation of German occupation zones and de-Nazification
• Demand for unconditional Japanese surrender (the Potsdam Declaration)
• Disputes over reparations from Germany and the future of Poland's government