18.

Yalta Conference

Yalta Conference, the official meeting of the three major powers leaders, Iosif
Visarionovici Stalin URSS, Franklin D. Roosevelt USA, Winston S. Churchill Great
Britain (codename Argonaut) had a decisive role in the geopolitical evolution of post-war
Europe. Yalta was the decisive moment of Europes influence spheres division, between the
Soviets and the Anglo-Americans.
Regarding the impact of the Yalta agreements between the Big Three on Romania,
the Balkans and East Europe (leaving the cases of Poland and Germany aside), it should be
noted that they have never resumed what was previously established. Thus, historian Nicolae
Baciu, the author of a well-known monograph called Yalta and the crucifixion of Romanians,
mentions that: Contrary to an opinion that has been rooted for almost three decades, the fate
of Eastern Europe has been debated at Yalta for too little (with the exception of Poland and,
vaguely, of Yugoslavia), so it does not even figure on the agenda of the Conference [].
Major decisions were acknowledged before this and the Big Three tacitly accepted them
(since Tehran and Moscow AN). Romanias matter was neither discussed nor decided at
Yalta. Its fate had been decided beforehand1.
The Yalta File As it was called by historian Gh. Buzatu (perhaps the most
circumspect Romanian historian regarding the matters of Second World War) was as vast as it
was complex. There were many official documents, as well as secret ones, some of which
were released to the masses starting from 13th of February, 1945. However, most of them
started appearing after the disappearance of the Big Three2. Thereby, if URSSs agreement
regarding participating in the war against japan was released in February, 1946, the Yalta
Protocol, signed by the State Secretaries of the three great powers appears only in 1955.
The attitude of the Big Three towards the agreements signed at Yalta subsequently
different. Thus, if from the beginning Roosevelt declared himself as being deeply
disappointed by the results and told his adviser that Stalin behaved brutally in Romania and
Poland, the soviet leader, Stalin, was delighted to meet his objectives. Churchill, after having
lost the election, sought to exculpate any accusation that was brought to him, regarding the
possible collusions that were made with the occasion of the Yalta agreements.
A significant part of English and American media claimed that the Yalta Conference
would prove to be a time bomb, and the idea was taken shortly after, as an appreciation, by
the authors of the events that took place in February 1945, in their memoirs. As a number of
reputable historians have demonstrated, the Yalta agreements meant the division of the world
between the potential winners, a decisive step towards the outbreak of the Cold War3.
The declaration of Liberated Europe perhaps one of the most important of Yalta
agreements was received with enthusiasm and optimism by public opinion at first,
especially due to the principles written in the document. This attitude was noticed as well in
1 Nicolae Baciu, Yalta and the crucifixion of Romanians, op. cit., p. 178.
2 I. Scurtu, Gh. Buzatu, The history of the Romanians, op. cit., p. 507.
3 Arthur Funk, De Yalta a Postdam. Des illusions la guerre froide, Paris, 1982, p. 84.

Romania, in the political circles of the democratic forces. Even king Mihai I considered the
Yalta agreements a guarantee of the democracy in Liberated Europe, in the discussions he had
with Moscows special envoy, Andrei I. Vinski. In reality, Europe was already enslaved by
the Soviet military occupation.
For the Romanian communists intensely supported from Moscow Yalta meant the
beginning of the assault for taking the power. Thereby, Al. Cretzianu remarked at the time:
The action initiated by the Communist Party and its affiliates, in early February, had stepped
up after the publication of the Yalta bulletin. The attacks against General Rdulescu and Mr.
Maniu turned into the most blatant forms of bad faith and of the greatest violence. Obviously,
quick action needed to be taken, and it needed to be done so as to be facing an accomplished
fact before the time of implementation of the principles proclaimed at Yalta4. In fact, the
Romanian reality at that time proved that the principles proclaimed at Yalta in The
Declaration of Liberated Europe were never translated into reality. The fragment captures
one of the elements that led to the establishment of the first pro-communist government in
Central and Eastern Europe, the Petru-Groza government, which was in direct subordination
to Stalinist Moscow.
Andrei Ianuarevici Vinski, deputy foreign minister, had been sent by Stalin to
Bucharest to apply the spirit of Yalta on the spot, given the fact that the representatives of
the Anglo-American diplomacy in Romania continued to have a secondary role in Romanian
matters. Andrei Vinski acted so brutally, far beyond the limits of diplomacy, that many
historians attributed to him a famous formula, which, however, he never pronounced, but
rather illustrated it as a representative of Stalin: Yalta is me!5. The historical reality refers
to the meeting that took place in the evening of 27th of February, 1945, between King Mihai I
and Andrei Vinski, in which, the Romanian king appealed to the spirit of the Yalta
agreement, in order to defend democracy. Mr. Vinski declares to the king: It is true that
only elections decide the real will of the people [] but Your Majesty will have to take a
decision (the king should appoint the Groza government, at Moscows demand - AN). His
Majesty: We must take the decision of Yalta into account as well (regarding free elections in
Liberated Europe AN). Mr. Vinski: Rdescu government is not mentioned in the Yalta
decision6. The meeting in which Romanias king appeals to the spirit of Yalta, to the fact
that Rdescu government made up of representatives of all parties is in full compliance
to the decisions taken at Yalta is extensively reported to us by Constantin Vioianu as well, a
witness to all of the conversations King Mihai I had with Moscows envoy7.
The immediate consequence of applying the spirit of Yalta in Romania was the
imposition of the pro-communist government of dr. Petru Groza by Moscow, a government
concerned exclusively about the promotion of those measures that would accelerate the
communization of the country. From now on, the influence of the Red Empire, from the East,
4 Cited I. Scurtu, Gh. Buzatu, op. cit., p. 498.
5 Nicolae Baciu, Yalta and the sacrifice of Romania, p. 185
6 Cited Mircea Ciobanu, Talks with Mihai I of Romania, Bucharest, 1991, p. 270.
7 See C.V.R. Schuyler, Difficult mission. Journal, op. cit., p. 49.

was obvious to everyone and it gradually overwhelmed the whole Central and Eastern
Europe8. Thus, the realities that resulted from the spirit of the Yalta agreements (made in
February 1945), proved to be more tough and serious than the myth of a beneficial Yalta,
while persistent for four and a half decades. For Romania, at least, this was the moment of
sacrifice.

8 See in detail Joseph Rothschild, Back to diversity. The political history of Central and Eastern
Europe after the Second World War, Bucharest, 1997.