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==Introduction==
This article will discuss the goals of Stalin and the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Second World War. The Soviet Supreme leader was a very ambitious man and had great hopes for the expansion of his Empire, after the defeat of the Third Reich and the Empire of Japan. The article will discuss the goals of Stalin after the successful conclusion of the war and how he went about attaining his objectives. It will argue that Stalin sought several key objectives, these were the security of the Soviet Union, the expansion of Communism and the creation of puppet regimes around the world. All of these objectives contributed to the start of the Cold War.
==Teheran and Yalta Conferences: Iron will of Stalin and Soviet dictator’s agenda for post-war USSR zone of influence and interest==
Stalin skillfully started to jostle for his regime's post-war position with , while he and the other allied countries against western allies were engaged in an all-out war NAZI Germany. Between November 28 and December 1, 1943, Stalin took part in the so-called Tehran Conference. The chief discussion of the meeting, held by the US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Stalin, centered on the opening of a “second front” in Western Europe. Stalin agreed to conduct an eastern offensive operations to coincide with the forthcoming Western Front, and in return , he asked the western leaders to proceed with formal preparations for their long-promised invasion and regaining of German-occupied France. Stalin also insisted on retaining the territories provided by the German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact of 1939 and additionally requested the Baltic coast of East Prussia as a compensation for the USSR’s enormous role and great a greater number of casualties. <ref>Teheran Conference - http://www.britannica.com/event/Tehran-Conference</ref> The western allies, especially Churchill did not like what Stalin proposed and saw it as opportunistic. However, they reluctantly agreed to Stalin's demands as they needed to keep the alliance strong in order to decisively defeat the Third Reich. In implementation of accordance with decisions taken at the Tehran Conference decision, in May 1944 joint Britain and US troops launched an invasion of France, opening the so-called “second front” in the West. Their actions allowed the Soviet Union to make significant advances across Eastern Europe toward Germany. In particular, they advanced upon the territories that they had lost during the German invasion. The end of the war was near and the changing geopolitical situation, especially in Europe meant that it was time for another meeting of the Allies.
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The Yalta Conference took place in February, 1945. This was the second wartime meeting of the “Big Three” the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin , and US President Franklin Roosevelt). Each brought his own agenda to the Yalta Conference. The British wanted to maintain their empire, the Soviets wished to secure and obtain more land and secure positions in their new zones of influence and interests, and the US wanted to insure ensure the Soviet’s entry into the Pacific war and discuss postwar settlement. From the very opening, Stalin made it clear that his demands regarding Poland were not negotiable: the Soviets were to gain “their territory” from the eastern portion of Poland and Poland was to compensate for that by extending its Western boardersborders, thereby forcing out millions of Germans. Negotiators even signed a declaration forcing the Polish to provide inclusion of Soviet Communists in their postwar national government. Moreover, Roosevelt main goal was to obtain a commitment from Stalin to participate in the United Nations in order to secure future peace and alliance. As for the other Eastern European countries, the Americans and the British generally agreed that the future governments of the nations bordering the Soviet Union should be “friendly” to the Soviet regime as long as the Soviets pledged to allow free elections in all territories liberated from Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, neither Poland, nor any other Eastern European country had the opportunity of holding free elections for the next almost 50 years.
Moreover, Roosevelt main goal was to obtain a commitment from Stalin to participate in the United Nations in order to secure future peace and alliance. As for the other Eastern European countries, the Americans and the British generally agreed that the future governments of the nations bordering the Soviet Union should be “friendly” to the Soviet regime as long as the Soviets pledged to allow free elections in all territories liberated from Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, neither Poland nor any other Eastern European country had the opportunity of holding free elections for the next almost 50 years<ref>Yalta Conference - http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/yalta-conference</ref>
Furthermore, the Big Three agreed to require Germany’s unconditional surrender and ratified their agreements regarding NAZI Germany postwar division: there were to be four zones of occupation, one zone for each of the three dominant nations plus one zone for France. Berlin itself, although within the Soviet zone, would also be divided into four sectors, and would eventually become a major symbol of the Cold War socialists-capitalists separation due to the infamous Berlin Wall, which was constructed and maintained by the Soviets.
The Soviets led by Stalin were keen on regaining lost territories and Yalta Conference was their best chance to do that. As a result Stalin even agreed to enter the Pacific war against Japan in exchange for more territories granted, including portions of Sakhalin, Port Arthur, Manchurian railroads and the Kurile Islands. However, already in poor health, President Roosevelt failed to acknowledge Stalin’s true objectives. Roosevelt readily met Stalin’s conditions, since the Soviets eventually agreed to join the United Nations and Pacific war. The two leaders even secretly negotiated a voting formula with a veto power granted solely to the permanent members in the UN Security Council, providing themselves with more control in the world affairs and greatly weakening the UN power in the oncoming disputes. Overall, Roosevelt and the other Allies felt confident that Yalta had been successful. Nevertheless, the true Conference winner was once again Joseph Stalin.
==Post war doctrines, conference reactions and consequences==
Although, the initial reaction to the Yalta agreements was celebratory, it was also very short lived. In 1945, the administration of the new US president Harry Truman clashed with the Soviets over their influence in Eastern Europe, and over the United Nations. Many Americans began to criticize Roosevelt’s handling of the Yalta negotiations due to the following lack of Soviet cooperation and even giving Eastern Europe and Northeast Asia away to the Soviet Union. Numerous Central European nations also often regard the Conference in Yalta as the “Great Western betrayal” since it allowed the USSR to intervene freely in their domestic affairs, abandoning democratic policies and turning them into Soviet satellites, effectively introducing Communist regimes with impunity. At the Yalta conference, the Big Three “attempted to sacrifice freedom for the sake of stability”, and many believe the decisions and concessions of Roosevelt and Churchill during the summit led to the following power struggle during the Cold War. Nevertheless, Stalin essentially got everything he wanted: a significant territorial sphere of influence and interest as a buffer zone.
The German invasion in the USSR and pressing back to victory in the East required a tremendous sacrifice by the Soviet Union. And Stalin skillfully used that during the wartime conferences in pursue of his postwar Soviet empire expansion. Soviet military casualties totaled approximately 35 million with over 15 million killed, missing or captured. One in four Soviets was killed or wounded. More than 1 700 towns and 70 000 villages were destroyed and the Soviet civilian death toll reached over 25 million. Thereafter, Stalin was often referred to as one of the most influential men in human history. Although, Stalin was responsible for the deaths of over 20 million people during his brutal rule, he was even nominated for Nobel Peace Prize twice – in 1945 and 1948. He continued to prosecute a reign of terror, purges, executions, exiles to labor camps and persecution in the postwar USSR, suppressing all dissent and anything that represented foreign–especially Western–influence. Stalin established communist-satellite governments throughout Eastern and Central Europe.
However, despite all, Soviet dictator’s iron will and deft political skills let Stalin play the loyal ally while never abandoning his true vision of an expanded postwar Soviet empire.
==Stalin and the security of the Soviet Union==
Stalin prime aim at the various wartime conferences and in the immediate aftermath of the war, it has been argued was the defene of the Soviet Union. The Communist country had suffered greatly during the war and had suffered millions of casualties. Furthermore, Russia had been invaded during the First World War and had been invaded many times in its history. Stalin, a key student of histroy was very aware of this and he wanted to protect the Soviet Union, from further invasions. This partly expalined his apparently inexhaustable hunger for land and territory. Stalin may have driven the Germans from eastern Europe and after a brief war, drove the Japanese out of Northern China and Norhtern Korea, however, he did not free these countries. In effect these countries had communist regimes imposed on them. Local communists, were elevated to positions of power in the liberated regiosn and nations and with the support of Stalin, they eventualy became part of the Communsit Bloc, which was led by Stlain, in Moscow. Stlain was eager to extend the terriories under his control in order to establish friendly nations on his borders. The Soviet Supreme leader knew that if friendly governemnts ruled the territories surrounding his country, that they would be less likely to assist any enemy in attacking Russia. Furthermore, Stalin wanted frindly governments around his nations, in order to act as a buffer and to protect the Soviet Union from any invasion. Stalin also wanted to control countries that traditionally had threatened Russia and later the Soviet Union, such as Poland and Germany. This was all done to protect the Soviet Union from further attacks and invasions.
==Expansion of Communism==
Stalin is often portrayed as a blood thirsty and power mad dictator. This is true, but he was also a committed communist and was a firm beleiver in the tenets of Marxism-Lenninism. This Communist doctrine foresaw a global revolution in which all the nations of the world would become communists and property and wealth would be distributed equally. The ultimate aim of Communism was to reform society and transform humanity by the common sharing of goods, which would end exploitation and conflict. Stalin, had previously favoured developing communism in the Soviet Union, in opposition to the call of Trostsky, to export communist revolution around the world. By 1944-1945, Stalin was well-aware that the Red Army and its victories allowed an unprecedent opportunity to expand Communism. This led him to adopt the policy of supporting Comunist parties in eastern Europe. In the years after the Soviet liberation of countries, such as Bulgaria, Romanina and Hungary, the Soiet Supreme leader, staged coups that deposed often democratically elected governments, often pro-western and replaced them with Communist adminstrations. Stalin went to great lengths that the new governemnts were sympathetic to the particular brand of Communism espoused by him. He made sure that the Comunist governments carried out his wishes and conformed to his repressive form of Communism. The desire to expand communsim was one of the m key drivers of Soviet policy in the aftermath of the end of the war. However, this alarmed the west, especially Washingtom and this persuaded them to see Moscow as its chief enemey.
