Why were there more disagreements at the potsdam peace conference than the yalta peace conference?

Answer 1

In Yalta, the Americans needed the USSR's help in the Pacific war, and so were prepared to agree to nearly all of Stalin's demands. This included allowing the USSR to expand their 'sphere of influence' in Eastern Europe to countries like Poland as well as the Baltic States. Roosevelt was also present in Yalta and was more tolerable to Stalin and Communism in general. Many of the countries involved (mainly USSR) went away relatively happy.

However, in Potsdam, things had changed.

The Americans has developed and tested their first atomic bomb, and so things were much more tense between America and the USSR. The former has a huge military advantage, and Stalin knew this. As well as this, Roosevelt has died a few weeks prior and Harry Truman took his place. Truman was a lot more anti-communist and less tolerant to Stalin, and so immediately it was obvious things would go less smoothly. Also, Stalin refused to remove his troops from many countries in Eastern Europe (Hungary, Czecholsovakia, Bulgaria etc) and so Communism was spreading very quickly. Truman didn't agree with this obviously and so would have resisted the USSR's demands to expand.

Finally, during the Potsdam Conference, there were many disagreements such as what the Allies should do about Germany, the reparations to ask of it as well as Soviet Policy in Eastern Europe. America and Britain agreed that the USSR were being too harsh, and they also suspected that its invasion of central Europe was imminent.

In conclusion, Stalin did not really get his way in Potsdam, and Truman had subtly hinted at America's new weapon so things were a lot more tense. In Yalta, civilness between the Allied countries was quite strong, however by Potsdam this has evaporated and they no longer had a common enemy to be united against (Germany). Therefore it was much less succcessful.

Answer 2

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