Peace Treaties of World War II

We explain what the Peace Treaties of World War II were. In addition, its characteristics and consequences.

What were the peace treaties of World War II?

The Peace Treaties of World War II They were postwar agreements signed among the winning countries (that is, the allies led by the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France and China) And the defeated countries (Axis powers and their satellite states).

In general, the winning armies kept the defeated countries occupied until the treaties were signed, which They decided the new borders and the conditions for peace. The general principle was to return to the borders of 1937, but in some cases this was not fulfilled. In addition, the signing of the treaties soon mixed with the conflicts of interest that originated the cold war.

The main treaties were signed in Paris in 1947 And they decided the borders and war repairs of Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, Italy and Romania. Since Germany was partitioned in two states, the final treaty with this nation did not occur until 1990 (when the reunification was carried out).

The San Francisco Treaty between the United States and Japan was signed in 1951 and formalized the reduction of Japanese territory.

See also: World War II alliances

The process that led to peace treaties

The negative results of the peace treaties signed after World War I, added to the obvious fact (at least since 1943) that the allies were going to win World War II motivated that even, even Before the war ended, future victors began to build a legal framework to design the postwar world.

The main documents and commitments adopted by the allies were the following:

• The Atlantic letter. It was signed on August 14, 1941 by Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (president of the United States). This document expressed the rejection of territorial ambitions and proposed international cooperation and respect for the forms of government chosen by peoples. Was included in the United Nations Declaration approved on January 1, 1942.
• The minutes of the various conferences that were held throughout the war. They collected the decisions taken by the “three great” (that is, the leaders of the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom): Moscow (October 1943), Tehran (December 1943), Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July and August 1945). Also the minutes of the Conference of Cairo (November 1943), held by the leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom and China.
• The Charter of the United Nations Organization. His first draft was written at the Dumbarton Oaks conference (August 1944), and which was finally approved at the San Francisco conference on June 26, 1945.
• Unconditional capitulation certificates signed by Germany on May 7 and 8, 1945 and Japan on September 2, 1945.

These agreements created two institutions that they should be responsible for ensuring peace in the postwar world:

• The Board of Tres Great. He was born at the Moscow Conference in October 1943, when the United States governments, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union committed to maintain the unity of action to maintain international peace and security through the so -called Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, based in London, which had to gather the foreign ministers of the winning countries. This commitment was reaffirmed in the conferences of Yalta and Potsdam.
• The United Nations Organization (UN). He was born at the San Francisco Conference in June 1945. This international organization, which came to replace the failed Society of Nations created in 1919, set the objective of guaranteeing the peace and security of nations from the principle of international cooperation.

This legal apparatus prepared by the victors for the organization of La Paz found an obstacle when, After the war concluded, the unit was broken on the side of the allies and the cold war began.

Who were the defeated and the victors in World War II?

The defeated

In Europe, the defeated in World War II were Germany, Italy, Finland, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. The immediate result, before the signing of peace treaties, was generally the military occupation of these countries:

• Germany It was occupied by the three winning powers (United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union), to which France joined.
• Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria They were occupied by the Soviet Union.
• Italy It was occupied by the United States and the United Kingdom.
• Finlandafter signing the armistice with the Soviet Union in 1944, it was not militarily occupied.

The case of Austria. A particular case was that of Austria. At the Potsdam conference it was agreed that, Despite being considered a victim of Nazism, its independence was already recognized, the country should be occupied by the allies under an allied commission. In November 1945, legislative elections were held, but the country continued divided into occupation areas and the Allied Commission continued in charge of various functions (such as decay) until the final signature of a treaty (which took place ten years later).

In Asia, the defeated were Japan and Thailand (Siam):

• Japan It was occupied by Americans.
• Thailand It was occupied by the British.
• Korea, Old territory dominated by the Empire of Japan, was divided into two areas of occupation: the Soviet to the north and the Americans to the south.

Regarding The old European colonies in Asiawhich had fallen under Japanese domain and were now released from this domination, multiple situations were given: The Soviet Union occupied Manchuriain addition to northern Korea, and The ancient French Indochina was occupied north of the 16th parallel by China and to the south by the United Kingdom.

The Chinese civil war and the communist triumph in 1949 further complicated the situationand both France and the Netherlands had great difficulties in recovering control of their former colonial territories in Indochina (which finally expelled the French in 1954) and Indonesia (who saw their independence recognized with respect to the Netherlands in 1949).

The victors

The victors in World War II were the allies: the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France and China.

The first four countries They occupied Germany and Austriathat in the postwar period they remained divided into two large areas, one under the control of western powers and another under Soviet control).

The allies They also occupied other defeated countries for a while, both in Europe (Italy and some Eastern Europe countries) As in Asia (Japan, Thailand, Korea and other territories linked to the missing empire of Japan).

China was able to recover some territories previously occupied by Japan (such as Taiwan), But the civil war between the Nationalist Army and the military forces of the Chinese Communist Party, headed by Mao Zedong, which culminated with the communist triumph in 1949.

The Treaties of Paris (1947)

In September 1945, once the Second World War is completed, the United States Foreign Ministers, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union and China constituted in Permanent advice And, as the Potsdam Conference had stipulated, They gathered in London to write the peace treaties with the defeated.

The meeting was a failure, which led in December to a new meeting in Moscow, this time of the United States Foreign Ministers (James F. Byrnes), the Soviet Union (Vyacheslav Molotov) and the United Kingdom (Ernest Bevin). Over there The procedures to write the peace treaties were agreed.

In 1946 a conference of the United Kingdom Foreign Affairs, the Soviet Union, the United States and France met in Paris. Subsequently, from July to October 1946, it was celebrated The Peace Conference of Paris attended by the representatives of the twenty -one United Nations Member States who had effectively fought in the war against the axis: United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United States, France, China, Belgium, Greece, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South African Union, Brazil, Ethiopia, Belarus and Ukraine Soviet were recognized individually).

The process culminated in Europe with the signing of the Treaties of Paris on February 10, 1947 between the victors and the satellite countries of Nazi Germany (Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland).

The Treaty of San Francisco (1951) and the Austrian State Treaty (1955)

In the case of the peace treaty with Japanthe triumph of the communist revolution in China in 1949 and the arrival of Mao Zedong complicated the process, which culminated only with the signing of the San Francisco Treaty in 1951. This treaty was signed by Japan and forty -eight countries of the Allied side (led by the United States but without the participation of the Soviet Union, India and China), and reduced Japan to its borders of 1854.

The so -called Moscow statement of 1956, signed by the prime ministers of Japan and the Soviet Union, ended the state of war that still officially existed between both states.

In 1955, the Austrian state treaty, which ended the allied occupation of Austria. This country recovered its independence for the first time from the Anschluss (German annexation of Austria) of 1938. Also in 1955, the allies abandoned the Federal Republic of Germany and recovered their sovereignty.

The partition of Germany (1949) and the Treaty 2+4 (1990)

In Germanythe undertaking of May 7 and 8, 1945 and the occupation of its territory by the allied powers (United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union) were followed by important territorial losses and the payment of compensation. However, the outbreak of the Cold War led to results not foreseen by the allies.

In 1949, The Germany partition in two states faced with each other, each aligned with one of the two winning superpowers (United States and the Soviet Union), It was formalized with the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany (RFA) and the German Democratic Republic (RDA). This situation YoMpido the signing of a peace treaty between the victors and Germany.

The treaty between the winning powers (United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France) and Germany was signed only on September 12, 1990 and took the name of Treaty 2+4, as they signed it The four winning powers with the two German states: The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. The treaty granted full independence to Germany, which met on October 3, 1990 (45 years after the defeat in World War II).

Ernest Bevin

Ernest Bevin (1881-1951) was a British trade unionist and politician who assumed as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom in July 1945. He abandoned his optimistic attitude towards the Soviet Union and manifested against the recognition of the Prosovietic governments established in the Balkans.

In 1946 he promoted with his couple in the United States, James F. Byrnes, The integration of US and British occupation zones in Germanyin force since January 1947 and known as Bizona. A year later the French zone was also integrated until in 1949 the Federal Republic of Germany or West Germany was founded.

To facilitate the economic and military recovery of Western Europe, Bevin promoted in 1948 the Treaty of Brussels, an alliance of the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and the creation of the OEC (European Organization for Economic Cooperation). The following year was One of the signers of the North Atlantic Treaty that gave rise to NATO.

His plans to get an Arab-Israeli Federation or a different Palestine partition failed before the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Unlike the United States, Bevin made the United Kingdom recognize the People's Republic of China in 1950. Health reasons motivated his resignation in 1951.

James F. byrnes

James F. Byrnes (1879-1972) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who was part of the group of counselors who He advised President Roosevelt during the New Deal. Shortly after the entrance of the United States in World War II, he was appointed director of the War Mobilization Office.

Between 1945 and 1947 He served as Secretary of State for the Government of Harry Trumanwhom he accompanied at the Potsdam conference (1945). His experience in dealing with the Soviets, especially on the complicated issue of German reunification, made it happen to be a supporter of a friendly relationship with Moscow to become a hardline defender in the nascent cold war.

Defended the maintenance of US troops in Europe to stop the Soviet expansion in the continent and promoted with Ernest Bevin the creation of the bizona that integrated the occupation zones of the United Kingdom and the United States in Germany. Byrnes resigned in 1947 for disagreements with Truman. He continued his political career in the fifties and died in 1972.

Territorial changes after World War II

The general principle that governed the agreements and treated after World War It was the return to the European borders of 1937 (that is, before the expansion of the axis powers began). However, there were three exceptions Main: the reduction of the territory of Germany, the aggrandizement of the Soviet territory and the “displacement” of the Polish territory around 225 kilometers west. These three exceptions were closely related to each other.

These were the main territorial changes in Europe:

The Soviet Union obtained:

• Of Finland: Much of the Carelia region (with the city of Vyborg) and, in the north, the port of Petsamo (Pechenga), which caused the Soviet Union to have a border with Norway.
• The three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), which had been independent from 1918 to 1940.
• From Germany: The northern part of Eastern Prussia, with the city of Königsberg (current Kalinningrad).
• Of Poland: The regions east of the so -called Curzon line.
• Of Czechoslovakia: Subcarpatic Ruthenia.
• From Romania: Besarabia (called Moldavia) and Bukovina del Norte.

Polandas compensation for their oriental losses, obtained territories that had belonged to Germany:

• The southern part of Eastern Prussia and the regions of Pomerania and Silesia to the Oder-Neisse line. Although Poland lost territory, he managed to acquire richer areas and a great output to the Baltic with the old German ports of Danzig (renamed Gdansk) and Stettin (Szczecin).

Germany He lost again the regions of Alsace and Lorena in the west, which had been annexed by Hitler in 1940 and now returned to French hands. In addition, he lost important territories in the east for the benefit of Poland. It was reduced to 356,272 square kilometers, in contrast to the 472,034 of 1919 and 540,521 of 1914.

Italyalthough he limited his losses by signing the armistice with the allies in 1943, he gave up some small territories:

• Istria's peninsula with the city of Fiume (Rijaka) passed to Yugoslavia, but Italy managed to keep trieste.
• The island of Rodas and the Dodecanese archipelago were delivered to Greece.
• Albania recovered its independence and Italy lost its colonies in Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea and Libya).

The changes in Oriental and the Pacific They had to do basically with the disappearance of the Empire of Japan:

• The Soviet Union annexed the island of Sajalín and the Kuriles.
• Japan had to leave their conquests in China, Korea and the island of Formosa (Taiwan). In addition, 7 million Japanese scattered throughout the ancient empire of Japan had to return to the Japanese archipelago.

Population displacements

Although the territorial changes were lower than those that occurred after World War I, They were accompanied by huge population displacements who added greater drama to the postwar years:

• Between 11 and 12 million Germans were expelled from the areas annexed by the Soviet Union and Poland, as well as the Sudetes in Czechoslovakia and the German communities of the Balkans.
• 2 million Poles of the eastern areas assigned to the Soviet Union were realized in the “New Western Poland.”
• Between 400,000 and 500,000 Finnish were expelled from the territories annexed by the Soviet Union.
• A part of the Hungarian population of Slovakia was expelled of this region.

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References

• Beevor, A. (2012). World War II. Past and present.
• Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2022). Cold War. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
• Hughes, Ta & Royde-Smith, JG (2022). World War II. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
• Powaski, Re (2000). The Cold War: the United States and the Soviet Union, 1917-1991. Criticism.
• Stone, N. (2013). Brief history of World War II. Ariel.