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The Fourth Moscow Conference, [1] also known as the Tolstoy Conference [2] for its code name Tolstoy, [3] was a meeting in Moscow between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin from 9 to 19 October 1944.
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The Fourth Moscow Conference, [1] also known as the Tolstoy Conference [2] for its code name Tolstoy, [3] was a meeting in Moscow between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin from 9 to 19 October 1944.
According to Churchill's memoirs, Churchill made a secret proposal on a scrap of paper to divide postwar Europe into Western and Soviet spheres of influence. [4] Stalin apparently examined the scrap of paper and pondered it for a moment, wrote a large check in blue pencil and handed it back to Churchill. [4] Churchill commented: "Might it not be thought rather cynical if it seemed we had disposed of such issues, so fateful to millions of people, in such an offhand manner? Let us burn the paper". Stalin counselled, however, to save the historic scrap of paper. Churchill called the scrap of paper a "naughty document", [5] which came to be known as the "Percentages agreement".
These originally-proposed spheres of influence that Churchill were nominated to Stalin in percentages:
The US ambassador to the Soviet Union, representing President Roosevelt, Averell Harriman, was not present for the discussions, but Churchill informed Roosevelt on 10 October of an agreement after more deliberations. However, it is not certain to what extent the true details were made known at the time. [4] Roosevelt was conditionally supportive but was ultimately unhappy with the level of US influence in the Balkans, specifically Bulgaria, which was the sticking point for the discussion. That resulted in the original percentages being haggled over for some days. [4]
A significant consequence of the agreement was the Cold War, according to Resis, [4] because of its prewar imperialist thought of Churchill and Stalin. It removed the free choice of Eastern Europe and Mediterranean peoples from choosing their own path forward free from Nazi occupation.
The proposed percentage division was never mentioned at Yalta Conference or other meetings. [6] Norman Naimark states that it "confirmed that Eastern Europe, initially at least, would lie within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union". [7] However, the British historian Andrew Roberts stated:
Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan, and the British agreed to return to the Soviets all former Soviet citizens who had been liberated from the Germans. [9]
There has never been a confirmation of this agreement and the sole source is Churchill's memoirs. [10] As early as 1958, the authenticity of Churchill's claim has come into question. [11]
The chief representatives for the Soviet Union at the conference were Joseph Stalin, the Soviet premier, and Vyacheslav Molotov the Soviet foreign minister. The United Kingdom's principal representatives were Winston Churchill, the prime minister, and Anthony Eden, the foreign secretary. The Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke was also present, as were the United States ambassador to Moscow, Averell Harriman, and General John R. Deane, head of the United States Military Mission in Moscow as observers.
Also at the conference were delegations from both the London-based Polish government-in-exile and the communist Lublin-based Polish Committee of National Liberation. [12] [13]
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The Yalta Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. The three states were represented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Secretary Joseph Stalin. The conference was held near Yalta in Crimea, Soviet Union, within the Livadia, Yusupov, and Vorontsov palaces.
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Maxim Maximovich Litvinov was a Russian revolutionary and prominent Soviet statesman and diplomat who served as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs from 1930 to 1939.
William Averell Harriman, better known as Averell Harriman, was an American politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was a founder of investment bank, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman, and was the 48th governor of New York. He sought the Democratic Party nomination for president in 1952 and 1956 but was unsuccessful. Throughout his career, he was a key foreign policy advisor to Democratic presidents.
Western betrayal is the view that the United Kingdom, France, and sometimes the United States failed to meet their legal, diplomatic, military, and moral obligations with respect to the Czechoslovak and Polish states during the prelude to and aftermath of World War II. It also sometimes refers to the treatment of other Central and Eastern European states at the time.
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The First Moscow Conference of World War II took place from September 29, 1941 to October 1, 1941.
The Second Moscow Conference between the major Allies of World War II took place from August 12, 1942, to August 17, 1942.
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The percentages agreement was a secret informal agreement between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin during the Fourth Moscow Conference in October 1944. It gave the percentage division of control over Eastern European countries, dividing them into spheres of influence. It is also known as the naughty document, a nickname coined by Churchill himself due to his concerns regarding American reaction to any deal with such strong imperialist undertones, although in reality U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt was consulted tentatively and conceded to the agreement. The content of the agreement was first made public by Churchill in 1953 in the final volume of his memoir. The US ambassador Averell Harriman, who was supposed to represent Roosevelt in these meetings, was excluded from this discussion.
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