The Potsdam Conference

Okay, so for my topic I chose the Potsdam Conference. The conference took place in Potsdam, Germany, near Berlin. The "Big Three" leaders (Truman, Stalin, Churchill, and Attlee after Britain's election) met there to discuss and come to agreements about how to deal with post-war arrangements in Europe. The meeting, which ran from 16 July 1945 to 2 August 1945, was recorded in history as the last true conference of World War II. The leaders had trouble agreeing on most of the topics (reparations, the Oder/Neisse Line, how to deal with Japan, Russia joining the war in the Far East, and Allied control of defeated Germany), but did come to a concise decision when it came to Japan. During the conference, the leaders released the Potsdam Declaration, which demanded the Japan agree to their terms of an unconditional surrender, or face "prompt and utter destruction". Truman had told those at the meeting that the United States had created a weapon of awesome power, but that seemed an insignificant detail to leaders with millions of troops stationed in Eastern Europe. The Potsdam Declaration contained no direct reference to the atomic bombs, only that doom awaited Japan if she did not surrender. The warning went unheeded, and the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan about one week later.