Potsdam conference
Potsdam conference, 16 July–2 August 1945. This overlapped a British general election, Churchill and Eden being replaced midway by Attlee and Bevin (Labour). The Americans and Russians, however, observed no significant change in British policy, with both struck by Bevin's pugnacity. A compromise was reached on German reparations—the Treasury having earlier expressed its concern at the cost of the British occupation zone unless reparations were restricted and Germany treated as one economic unit. Churchill hoped that the acquisition of the atomic bomb by the USA would increase the bargaining power of the West with the USSR as well as hasten the end of the war with Japan.
C. J. Bartlett
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Potsdam conference
