The Duke
JohnD.Ford
Junior Chimp
Posts: 9,270
Political Matrix
E: 0.13, S: -1.23
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« on: August 31, 2009, 04:31:27 PM » |
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First, FDR said that because it served the purposes of keeping his alliance together. There is almost no chance he believed a word of it. In fact, one of the reasons FDR pushed for an invasion of France as soon as possible was that he feared if the US/UK did not secure France, the Russians would march all the way to the Bay of Biscay and all of Europe would fall under Stalin's dominion.
Further, Yalta merely ratified what had already happenned. We had no power to dislodge the Russians from Eastern Europe except by force. To pretend that somehow FDR gave away Eastern Europe is madness. No one gave it away. Stalin just took it.
And for conservative Churchill lovers, consider the following: Yalta did not occur until February of 1945, but in October of 1944, Churchill had already cut a secret agreement with Stalin to divide Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. In this so-called "percentages agreement", Churchill conceded to the USSR 90% control of Romania, 80% control of Bulgaria and Hungary, and 50% control of Yugoslavia. In exchange, Britain got 90% control of Greece. Controlling Greece would secure British shipping lines in the Eastern Mediterranean through the Suez Canal and on to India. Churchill cut a secret agreement with Josef Stalin that traded away the freedom of several Eastern European countries in exchange for protection of British Imperial interests. It was not FDR who appeased Stalin over Eastern Europe. It was Churchill.
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