1945 was deemed important because of:

  • Yalta
  • Potsdam and the new restructuring of Europe
  • the emergence of the Iron Curtain
  • the emerging power blocs and the Cold War
  • the shifting political balance within Europe
  • also the beginning of the end of Western Europe's colonial period.
     

Yalta Conference, 2-4 October 2003

The aims of the conference were to:

  • look at the political developments which followed the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences of 1945 in the light of recent and ongoing research (particularly in the archives opened in the last decade);
  • provide an overview on the different perspectives on the Allied discussions and preparations in 1945 for the post-war peace and reconstruction;
  • explore the changes in the historiography of 1945 and the origins of the Cold War;
  • explore the traces of 1945 in present-day international relations.
     

Presentations

The keynote lecture, ‘Yalta, Potsdam and the emergence of the Cold War’, was given by the Norwegian academic, Professor Odd Arne Westad, who is currently based at the London School of Economics.

Other presentations included:

  • ‘Yalta, Potsdam and the emergence of the Cold War: an overview from the United Kingdom in the light of the latest research’, by Dr Martin McCauley, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London;
  • ‘Yalta, Potsdam and the emergence of the Cold War: an overview from the Russian Federation in the light of the latest research’ by Academician Alexander Chubaryan, Director of the Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences
  • ‘Yalta, Potsdam and the emergence of the Cold War: an overview from the United States in the light of the latest research’ by Professor Christian Ostermann, Director of the Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Centre, Washington
  • ‘Yalta, Potsdam and the emergence of the Cold War: an overview from Poland in the light of the latest research’ by Professor Wlodzimierz Borodziej, Institute of History, Warsaw University
  • ‘Yalta, Potsdam and the emergence of the Cold War: an overview from the Ukraine in the light of the latest research’ by Professor Georgiy Kasyanov, Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
  • ‘Yalta, Potsdam and the emergence of the Cold War: an overview from Germany in the light of the latest research’ by Professor Wolfgang Krieger, Marburg University, Germany.