The Potsdam Conference (17 July – 2 August 1945) was the last meeting of the ‘Big Three’ Allied leaders during the Second World War. At Yalta in February 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, American President Franklin D Roosevelt and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin had agreed to meet again following the defeat of Germany, principally to determine the borders of post-war Europe and deal with other outstanding problems.

Despite many disagreements, the British delegation, Stalin and Truman did manage to conclude some agreements at Potsdam. It was decided that Germany would be occupied by the Americans, British, French and Soviets. It would also be demilitarized and disarmed. German industry capable of being used for military purposes was to be dismantled and the defeated country’s educational and judicial systems to be purged of Nazi influence. Nazi racial laws and other legislation were to be repealed and war criminals tried and punished. German society was to be reshaped on democratic lines but the reconstitution of the country as a sovereign state was postponed indefinitely. In the meantime, ` Germany was to be run by an Allied Control Commission made up of the four occupying powers.