11 Februrary 2005

HAMBURG - In an old summer residence of the tsars, the Livadia Palace in the Crimean resort of Yalta, three men met 60 years ago to sign the documents which sealed the strategy for the final phase of World War II and the shape of Europe to come.

The Big Three, allied leaders US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, had gathered to decide on arrangements for the postwar world which were to last for a half a century.

It was a meeting Churchill was at first reluctant to attend, telling Roosevelt in a telegram that Yalta was "a paradise for lice" and that a worse place could hardly have been found.

He was also mindful of the fact that Stalin was in a strong negotiating position. At the time, Germany was close to defeat. British, US and Canadian troops were still west of the Rhine while the Red Army had broken through on the eastern front following a winter offensive.

Despite the reservations the three leaders gathered on 4 February with the aim of consolidating decisions taken when they met for the first time at the Teheran Conference 14 months earlier.

However Yalta revealed cracks in the unequal alliance. Stalin's objective was to bring as much territory as possible under Soviet hegemony. Churchill was wary of a new Soviet threat after the impending defeat of Hitler and did not want to give way, leaving an ailing Roosevelt to fall into the role of mediator.

There was surprisingly little preparation for the conference. No agenda was followed and there was no clear list of problems to be dealt with. Instead the leaders met in a more or less formal fashion but also negotiated bilaterally - leaving the third party out of their talks.

The extension of Soviet influence was a contentious issue, especially in Poland where Stalin insisted the borders would be to his liking. He had already installed a provisional government in Poland and was ignoring the government-in-exile which had been operating throughout the war in London.

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