9/24/2019, ““Comrades and brothers” Churchill, Stalin and the Moscow Conference of 1942,” Columbia University, Joshua Greenberg
Image: Churchill and Stalin in Moscow, 1942, WinstonChurchill.org
“A fateful and secretive mission to Moscow by Winston Churchill to meet for the first time with Joseph Stalin, would lay the groundwork for the wartime coalition now known as the ‘Big Three’. In the historiography of the Second World War, much more attention has been paid to the meetings of the Big Three at Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam. Historians have argued that these meetings were more important in the grand scheme of the Second World War. However, without Churchill’s establishing a personal relationship with Stalin, it is doubtful that future conferences would prove to be fruitful. The Moscow Conference of 1942 preceded any meetings of the Big Three and formed a basis for future interaction between the UK, USA and USSR. Furthermore, Churchill’s personal involvement in the conference was crucial to building a wartime alliance with Stalin. Without Churchill’s involvement, it could have been the case that the allies would have fought on each front as a separate conflict with little cooperation or coordination between their armies. Through careful diplomacy, Churchill, a staunch anti-communist, was able to embrace Stalin and the USSR as close allies, even ‘comrades’, leading to closer future relations. As this paper seeks to demonstrate, the Moscow Conference of 1942 was decisive in forging the Grand Alliance and the outcome of the Second World War as we know it today.”
Image: 11/28/1943, Tehran conference, Stalin, FDR, Churchill: “President Franklin D. Roosevelt joined British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin at a conference in Tehran. AP Photo, 11/27/2016, “FDR attends Tehran conference: Nov. 28, 1943,” Politico, Andrew Glass
No comments:
Post a Comment