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[[Image:Teheran conference.jpg|right|thumb|300px|(L-R) Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill on the portico of the Russian Embassy in Teheran, during the conference.]]

[[Image:Teheran conference.jpg|right|thumb|300px|(L-R) Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill on the portico of the Russian Embassy in Teheran, during the conference.]]

The '''Teheran Conference''' was most significant conference between the [[Big Three]] Allied leaders during World War II. It was held in Teheran, Iran (Persia) from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It brought together for the first time [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] and Soviet dictator [[Joseph Stalin]].  The main achievement was a growth in mutual trust between the Soviets and the Americans, with the British left out in the cold.  At the conference the leaders agreed to concentrate their combined power in 1944 in a giant East-West pincer movement against Germany. To fulfill this pledge, the Americans and British promised to launch the invasion of northern France--Operation Overlord--in May, 1944. The Soviets promised a supporting attack on the Germans--Operation Bagration--from June through September. Roosevelt, with Stalin's help, put pressure on Churchill to support the cross-channel invasion, reducing the Mediterranean to a secondary theater. The Soviets also agreed to American requests to enter the war against Japan as soon as Germany was defeated.  Stalin also agreed to vague plans Roosevelt had for a postwar United Nations.  All the promises were kept. Conservatives have criticized Roosevelt for trusting Stalin too readily, and for not realizing Stalin's plans to rule Eastern Europe using the Red Army and the Communist party.

The '''Teheran Conference''' was most significant conference between the [[Big Three]] Allied leaders during World War II. It was held in Teheran, Iran (Persia) from 28 November to 1 December 1943. It brought together for the first time [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] and Soviet dictator [[Joseph Stalin]].  The main achievement was a growth in mutual trust between the Soviets and the Americans, with the British left out in the cold.  At the conference the leaders agreed to concentrate their combined power in 1944 in a giant East-West pincer movement against Germany. To fulfill this pledge, the Americans and British promised to launch the invasion of northern France—Operation Overlord—in May, 1944. The Soviets promised a supporting attack on the Germans—Operation Bagration—from June through September. Roosevelt, with Stalin's help, put pressure on Churchill to support the cross-channel invasion, reducing the Mediterranean to a secondary theater. The Soviets also agreed to American requests to enter the war against Japan as soon as Germany was defeated.  Stalin also agreed to vague plans Roosevelt had for a postwar United Nations.  All the promises were kept. Conservatives have criticized Roosevelt for trusting Stalin too readily, and for not realizing Stalin's plans to rule Eastern Europe using the Red Army and the Communist party.

==Goals==

==Goals==

==Invading France==

==Invading France==

At the outset Stalin was concerned that vague Allied promises about a landing in France would never come about. The Conference reassured him that Overlord was real--and indeed it began on June 6, 1944 (slightly later than the promised May date). Stalin wanted the Allied forces in the Mediterranean to be used in an invasion of southern France, thus making victory in France over the Germans more likely.

At the outset Stalin was concerned that vague Allied promises about a landing in France would never come about. The Conference reassured him that Overlord was real—and indeed it began on June 6, 1944 (slightly later than the promised May date). Stalin wanted the Allied forces in the Mediterranean to be used in an invasion of southern France, thus making victory in France over the Germans more likely.

General [[Mark Clark]] reported after the war that Stalin "throughout the Big Three Meeting and negotiations at Teheran was one of the strongest boosters of the invasion of southern France. He knew exactly what he wanted in a political as well as a military way; and the thing that he wanted most was to keep us out of the Balkans, which he had staked out for the Red Army.... I never could understand why, as conditions changed and as the war situation changed, the United States and Britain failed to sit down and take another look at the overall picture with a view to eliminating or reducing the scope of [[Operation Anvil|Anvil]] if something better was offered.... A campaign that might have changed the whole history of relations between the Western world and Soviet Russia was permitted to fade away." <ref>Mark Clark, ''Calculated Risk'', Mark Clark, New York : Harper and Row, 1950, pp. 368-71.</ref>

General [[Mark Clark]] reported after the war that Stalin "throughout the Big Three Meeting and negotiations at Teheran was one of the strongest boosters of the invasion of southern France. He knew exactly what he wanted in a political as well as a military way; and the thing that he wanted most was to keep us out of the Balkans, which he had staked out for the Red Army.... I never could understand why, as conditions changed and as the war situation changed, the United States and Britain failed to sit down and take another look at the overall picture with a view to eliminating or reducing the scope of [[Operation Anvil|Anvil]] if something better was offered.... A campaign that might have changed the whole history of relations between the Western world and Soviet Russia was permitted to fade away." <ref>Mark Clark, ''Calculated Risk'', Mark Clark, New York : Harper and Row, 1950, pp. 368-71.</ref>

President Roosevelt's son, Elliot Roosevelt commented about the reaction to those present at the Teheran conference to Churchill's proposal:

President Roosevelt's son, Elliot Roosevelt commented about the reaction to those present at the Teheran conference to Churchill's proposal:

"It was quite obvious to everyone in the room what he really meant. That he was above all else anxious to knife up into central Europe, in order to keep the [[Red Army]] out of Austria and Romania, even Hungary if possible. Stalin knew it, I knew it, everybody knew it...Trouble is, the P.M. is thinking too much of the  postwar, and where England will be. He's scared of letting the Russians get too strong." <ref>''As He Saw It'', Elliot Roosevelt, New York : Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1946, pp.. 184-85. </ref>

"It was quite obvious to everyone in the room what he really meant. That he was above all else anxious to knife up into central Europe, in order to keep the [[Red Army]] out of Austria and Romania, even Hungary if possible. Stalin knew it, I knew it, everybody knew it...Trouble is, the P.M. is thinking too much of the  postwar, and where England will be. He's scared of letting the Russians get too strong." <ref>''As He Saw It'', Elliot Roosevelt, New York : Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1946, pp.. 184-85.</ref>

==Private meetings==

==Private meetings==

Churchill flushed, leaped to his feet. He declared that any such mass murder was contrary to the British sense of justice. He was opposed to anybody, Nazi or anyone else, going before a firing squad without a proper legal trial.  

Churchill flushed, leaped to his feet. He declared that any such mass murder was contrary to the British sense of justice. He was opposed to anybody, Nazi or anyone else, going before a firing squad without a proper legal trial.  

Roosevelt said : "Clearly there must be some compromise ... Perhaps we could say that instead of summarily executing 50,000 we should settle on a smaller number, say 49,500." The Americans and Russians laughed. The British remained silent "in the presence of Churchill's mounting fury."  Stalin called on everyone present for an opinion. Elliott said "Our armies will settle the matter for most of those 50,000 and perhaps a hundred thousand more." Stalin, greatly pleased, walked around the table to Elliott, put his arm around his shoulder and drank to his health. Churchill, infuriated, rushed to Elliott, shaking his finger in his face and crying: "Are you interested in damaging relations between the allies? Do you know what you are saying? How can you dare to say such a thing?" Elliott says he had a good reason to believe Churchill never forgot the incident but that his father, Franklin Roosevelt, was greatly amused by it. <ref>Elliot Roosevelt, op.cit., p. 186-194, 202.</ref>

Roosevelt said : "Clearly there must be some compromise ... Perhaps we could say that instead of summarily executing 50,000 we should settle on a smaller number, say 49,500." The Americans and Russians laughed. The British remained silent "in the presence of Churchill's mounting fury."  Stalin called on everyone present for an opinion. Elliott said "Our armies will settle the matter for most of those 50,000 and perhaps a hundred thousand more." Stalin, greatly pleased, walked around the table to Elliott, put his arm around his shoulder and drank to his health. Churchill, infuriated, rushed to Elliott, shaking his finger in his face and crying: "Are you interested in damaging relations between the allies? Do you know what you are saying? How can you dare to say such a thing?" Elliott says he had a good reason to believe Churchill never forgot the incident but that his father, Franklin Roosevelt, was greatly amused by it.<ref>Elliot Roosevelt, op.cit., p. 186-194, 202.</ref>

==Presidential politics==  

==Presidential politics==

Soon details about how the conference at Teheran captured the attention of the American public. All the little liberated countries to which Roosevelt had made such definite promises and whose people in this country had been so solicitously courted during the [[Presidential election of 1944]] had been betrayed at Teheran. Roosevelt had scrapped the [[Atlantic Charter]]<ref>''The Roosevelt Myth'',  John T. Flynn, Fox and Wilkes, 1948, Book 3, Ch. 12, [http://www.rooseveltmyth.com/book/fdrmyth_Chapter_Twelve___The_Atlantic_Ch.htm The Atlantic Charter Is Scrapped '']</ref> which asserted the "desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed desires of the peoples concerned, that they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live and they wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them." The Teheran agreement violated this pledge.     

Soon details about how the conference at Teheran captured the attention of the American public. All the little liberated countries to which Roosevelt had made such definite promises and whose people in this country had been so solicitously courted during the [[Presidential election of 1944]] had been betrayed at Teheran. Roosevelt had scrapped the [[Atlantic Charter]]<ref>''The Roosevelt Myth'',  John T. Flynn, Fox and Wilkes, 1948, Book 3, Ch. 12, [http://www.rooseveltmyth.com/book/fdrmyth_Chapter_Twelve___The_Atlantic_Ch.htm The Atlantic Charter Is Scrapped '']</ref> which asserted the "desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed desires of the peoples concerned, that they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live and they wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them." The Teheran agreement violated this pledge.     

    

    

==External links==

==External links==

*[http://nobsopus.blogspot.com/2007/01/materials-of-teheran-conference.html Materials of the Teheran conference], 28 November - 1 December, 1943.

*[http://nobsopus.blogspot.com/2007/01/materials-of-teheran-conference.html Materials of the Teheran conference], 28 November - 1 December 1943.

[[Category:World War II]]

[[Category:World War II]]

[[Category:Diplomacy]]

[[Category:Diplomacy]]