Moscow Conference (1944)

The '''Fourth Moscow Conference''',<ref>Some British sources call it the '''Second Moscow Conference''' as it was the second time Churchill and Stalin had met at a conference in Moscow. The previous time was for the 1942 Conference (see [http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1144874.shtml Fact File: Second Moscow Conference 9 to 19 October 1944] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820114139/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1144874.shtml |date=20 August 2010 }} BBC)</ref> also known as the '''Tolstoy Conference'''<ref>{{cite web | url=https://codenames.info/operation/tolstoy/ | title=Tolstoy | Operations & Codenames of WWII }}</ref> for its code name ''Tolstoy'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1144874.shtml|title = BBC – WW2 People's War – Timeline}}</ref> was a meeting in Moscow between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin from 9 to 19 October 1944.

==Procedures== {{main|Percentages agreement}}

thumb|The percentages agreement

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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Resis |first=Albert |author-link=Albert Resis |date=April 1978 |title=The Churchill-Stalin Secret 'Percentages' Agreement on the Balkans, Moscow, October 1944 |journal=American Historical Review |volume=83 |issue=2 |pages=368–387 |doi=10.1086/ahr/83.2.368 |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0" /> 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",<ref>"The Untold History of the United States", Stone, Oliver and Kuznick, Peter (Gallery Books, 2012), p. 114, citing ''The Second World War Triumph and Tragedy'', Churchill, Winston, 1953, pp. 227–228, and ''Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Nineties'', Johnson, Paul (New York: Perennial, 2001), p. 434</ref> which came to be known as the "Percentages agreement".

These originally-proposed spheres of influence that Churchill were nominated to Stalin in percentages:

* Romania = 90% Russian and 10% The Others,<ref name=":0" /> * Greece = 90% Great Britain (in accord with US) and Russian 10%,<ref name=":0" /> * Yugoslavia = 50–50%,<ref name=":0" /> * Hungary = 50–50%,<ref name=":0" /> * Bulgaria = 75% Russian and 25% The Others,<ref name=":0" /> and * Poland is 'briefly discussed before moving on to the Balkans' – according to the 1974 journal article by Albert Resis on the 1953 vol. 6 memoirs, ''Triumph and Tragedy,'' by Winston Churchill.<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" />

A significant consequence of the agreement was the Cold War, according to Resis,<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref>Siracusa, ''The Night Stalin and Churchill Divided Europe: The View from Washington'' {{ISBN?}}{{page?|date=December 2024}}</ref> Norman Naimark states that it "confirmed that Eastern Europe, initially at least, would lie within the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union".<ref>{{cite book |last=Naimark |first=Norman |author-link=Norman Naimark |chapter=The Sovietization of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=933uBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA175 |editor-last1=Leffler |editor-first1=Melvyn P. |editor-link1=Melvyn P. Leffler |editor-last2=Westad |editor-first2=Odd Arne |editor-link2=Odd Arne Westad |date=2010 |title=Origins |series=The Cambridge History of the Cold War |volume=I |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-60229-8 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521837194.010 |page=175}}</ref> However, the British historian Andrew Roberts stated:

:The Second Moscow Conference was not able to resolve major issues and Eastern Europe, and when Churchill did complete his percentages deal with Stalin, it was not ratified by the Americans.<ref>{{cite book|author=Andrew Roberts|title=Masters and Commanders: The Military Geniuses Who Led The West To Victory in World War II|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ik0hRG3x0goC&pg=PT793|year=2009|page=527|publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=9780141937854}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite book |author=Tolstoy, Nikolai | author-link = Nikolai Tolstoy | title=The Secret Betrayal| year = 1977 | publisher=Charles Scribner' Sons | page=75| isbn=0-684-15635-0}}</ref>

There has never been a confirmation of this agreement and the sole source is Churchill's memoirs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Geoffrey |title=Beware Greek Gifts: The Churchill-Stalin Percentages Agreement of October 1944 |url=https://www.academia.edu/21832177}}</ref> As early as 1958, the authenticity of Churchill's claim has come into question.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reiss |first=Albert |date=April 1978 |title=The Churchill-Stalin Secret 'Percentages' Agreement on the Balkans, Moscow, October 1944 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1862322 |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=83 |issue=2 |page=369 |doi=10.2307/1862322 |jstor=1862322 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Representatives present== 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.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1144874.shtml Fact File: Second Moscow Conference 9 to 19 October 1944] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100820114139/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1144874.shtml |date=20 August 2010 }} BBC</ref><ref>Stanly Smith [http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=89 Part 1: The Polish Government: Could Churchill have done more to save Poland from Communism?]</ref>

==References== <references/>

==Further reading== *{{cite book |last= Ehrman |first= John | author-link = John Ehrman |title= Grand Strategy Volume VI, October 1944–August 1945 |year= 1956 |publisher= HMSO (British official history) |location= London |pages=213–219 }} * Resis, Albert. "The Churchill-Stalin Secret 'Percentages' Agreement on the Balkans, Moscow, October 1944." ''American Historical Review'' 83.2 (1978): 368–387. {{JSTOR|1862322}} * Siracusa, Joseph M. "The Meaning of Tolstoy: Churchill, Stalin, And The Balkans Moscow, October 1944." ''Diplomatic History'' 3#4 (1979): 443–444. Includes British minutes. {{JSTOR|24910227}} * Siracusa, Joseph M. "The Night Stalin and Churchill Divided Europe: The View from Washington." ''Review of Politics'' 43#3 (1981): 381–409. {{JSTOR|1406941}}

{{Diplomatic history of World War II|state=collapsed}} {{Soviet Union–United States relations|state=collapsed}} {{Joseph Stalin}} {{Winston Churchill}}

Category:Moscow conferences of World War II Category:Soviet Union–United Kingdom relations Category:Soviet Union–United States diplomatic conferences Category:1944 in the Soviet Union Category:1944 conferences Category:1944 in international relations Category:1944 in Moscow Category:October 1944 in Europe Category:Anthony Eden Category:Joseph Stalin Category:Winston Churchill