Tehrān Conference

(Nov. 28–Dec. 1, 1943) Meeting of Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin in Tehrān during World War II to discuss military strategy and political issues.

Stalin agreed to launch a military offensive from the east to coincide with a planned invasion of German-occupied France from the west. Also discussed but not settled were eastern Europe's postwar borders, including Poland's postwar status, and a postwar international organization.

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▪ World War II

  (November 28–December 1, 1943), meeting between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Roosevelt, Franklin D.), British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Churchill, Sir Winston), and Soviet (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) Premier Joseph Stalin (Stalin, Joseph) in Tehrān during World War II. The chief discussion centred on the opening of a “second front” in western Europe. Stalin agreed to an eastern offensive to coincide with the forthcoming Western Front, and he pressed the western leaders to proceed with formal preparations for their long-promised invasion of German-occupied France.

      Though military questions were dominant, the Tehrān Conference saw more discussion of political issues than had occurred in any previous meeting between Allied governmental heads. Not only did Stalin reiterate that the Soviet Union should retain the frontiers provided by the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact of 1939 (German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact) and by the Russo-Finnish Treaty of 1940, but he also stated that it would want the Baltic coast of East Prussia. Though the settlement for Germany was discussed at length, all three Allied leaders appeared uncertain; their views were imprecise on the topic of a postwar international organization; and, on the Polish question, the western Allies and the Soviet Union found themselves in sharp dissension, Stalin expressing his continued distaste for the Polish government-in-exile in London. On Iran, which Allied forces were partly occupying, they were able to agree on a declaration (published on December 1, 1943) guaranteeing the postwar independence and territorial integrity of that state and promising postwar economic assistance.

Additional Reading

The Tehrān Conference is discussed in Keith Eubank, Summit at Teheran (1985); Keith Sainsbury, The Turning Point: Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-Shek, 1943 (1985); and Paul D. Mayle, Eureka Summit: Agreement in Principle and the Big Three at Tehran, 1943 (1987).

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