It's February 1945. War in Europe is still raging, but the end is in sight. Nazi Germany is surrounded by the allied armies. Hitler has sought sanctuary in his bunker under the ruins of his chancellery in Berlin never to be seen in public again. Meanwhile the war in the Pacific rumbles on. A vicious war of island hopping marked by dogged Japanese resistance.
But meeting here today at a holiday resort on the black sea are the big three: Churchill, Roosevelt & Stalin - meeting together to agree on the future shape of a post war Europe.
Representing Churchill is Historian Alexandra Churchill, taking the perspective of Roosevelt is War Historian & policy adviser at Cornell University James Rodgers and finally - filling the shoes of Stalin is Historian and Author Iain MacGregor.
Who were the victors, who were the losers? Let's find out.
Welcome to the Room Where It Happened - The Yalta Conference.
__________________________________
Find out more about this episode's expert historians:
Alexandra Churchill is Military Historian and author of best-selling books on the Battle of the Somme, the boys of Eton College and the First World War. She is the co-founder and host of the podcast History Hack and runs the charity The Great War Group, founded to preserve the memory of, and promote learning about the war.
- https://www.alexchurchill.co.uk/
Iain MacGregor is the author of 'The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth at the Heart of the Greatest Battle of World War II' and 'Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, The Berlin Wall, and the Most Dangerous Place On Earth'
James Rogers is a war historian, broadcaster, and policy adviser at Cornell University. An expert on drone technologies, weaponry, and the history of war, James is the Executive Director of the Cornell Brooks Tech Policy Institute and advises the UN Security Council and NATO on the global proliferation of high-tech weapons systems.
Up Next in World War Two
-
The Lost Sailors - Solving a World Wa...
During WWII, the sailors of the British merchant navy played a vital role keeping the UK fed and armed. They carried essential supplies across the treacherous Atlantic - and many paid with their lives. What's less well known is that many of those sailors were Chinese - volunteers who came to Brit...
-
Hitler vs Stalin: Last Man Standing
After four months of heavy fighting, German commander Paulus and his troops had succeeded in pushing the Soviet's from out of the centre of the city and to within 800 metres of the Volga.
Victory seemed within their grasp, but what Paulus and Hitler didn't know was that Zhukov and Stalin were pl...
-
Hitler vs Stalin: Not One Step Back
80 Years ago the armies of Hitler and Stalin went head to head in the bloodiest battle of the Second World War.
Fought over five months through the bitter Russian Winter, the Battle for Stalingrad would serve as a turning point in the course of the Second World War and would mark a drastic chang...
7 Comments