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ALBERT RESIS
AMONG ALL THE BOOKS ON WORLD WAR ii published since I 945, none can
challenge the supremacy of Winston Churchill's six-volume TheSecondWorld
War. A unique blend of memoir, document, and narrative, his work-pub-
lished between 1948 and 1953-continues to dominate the field. And rightly
so, unmatched as the work is in color, sweep, and power. In all the historyof
diplomacy surely no passage is more dramatic or more shocking than Church-
ill's account of the meeting he held withJoseph Stalin in the Kremlin on the
evening of October 9, 1944. Churchill tells us that, immediately aftera brief
discussion on Poland, he and Stalin moved to Balkan problems. No para-
phrase can do justice to Churchill's own account. Churchill said to Stalin,
"Let us settleabout our affairsin the Balkans. Your armies are in Rumania and
Bulgaria. We have interests,missions,and agents there.Don't let us get at cross-
purposesin small ways. So faras Britainand Russia are concerned,how would it do
foryou to have ninetyper centpredominancein Rumania, forus to have ninetyper
cent ofthe say in Greece,and go fifty-fifty
about Yugoslavia?" While thiswas being
translatedI wroteout on a half-sheetof paper:
Rumania
Russia 90%
The others lo%
Greece
GreatBritain(in accordwithU.S.A.) 90%
Russia Io
Yugoslavia 50-50%
Hungary 50_50%
Bulgaria
Russia 75%
The others 2s%
I pushed thisacross to Stalin,who by thenhad heard the translation.There was a
slightpause. Then he tookhis blue penciland made a largetickupon it,and passed it
back to us. It was all settledin no moretimethan it takes to set down.
The author wishes to express his appreciationto the PhotographicDepartmentof the Public Record
Office,London, forthe kind assistance in photocopyingPRO materialsused in this article.
368
Then, Churchill reports,therewas a long silence while the penciled paper lay
on the center of the table. "At length I said, 'Might it not be thought rather
cynical ifit seemed we disposed of these issues, so fatefulto millions of people,
in such an off-handmanner? Let us burn the paper.' 'No, you keep it,' said
Stalin. "'
Churchill leaves the distinct impression that Stalin fullyagreed with this
arrangement. Not until I958, fiveyears afterChurchill published his account,
did Soviet authoritiesor historianscomment on this claim. Then they bitterly
denied and continue to deny that Stalin had accepted this imperialist
proposal. According to I. Zemskov, a leading Soviet diplomatic historian,the
Soviet record of the Churchill-Stalin meeting of October 9, I944, states,
"Churchill announced that he had prepared a rather dirty,crude [grubyi]
document that showed the distribution of Soviet and British influence in
Rumania, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. The table was drawn up by him
to show what the British think about the question." Dividing southeastern
Europe into spheres of influence was, according to this Soviet historian, an
obsession of Churchill and the British government.Churchill actually made
the proposal. But Churchill's assertion that Stalin had given his assent was
belied by the absence of a copy of Churchill's table in the Soviet record. Nor
did Churchill and Stalin in theirsubsequent meetings ever again allude to the
alleged deal.2 In short, the Soviets claim that Stalin treated the proposal as
unworthyof his notice.
Churchill's account and the Soviets' repudiation ofit prompt serious histor-
ical questions. Was the agreement in factconcluded as Churchill described it?
If the agreement was so concluded, what exactly did its sibylline terms
mean percentages of what? What was the intended duration of the agree-
ment? What, ifany, was the character and extent of Franklin D. Roosevelt's
involvement?Answers to these questions would throw light not only on the
reliability of Churchill's account but also on wartime diplomacy and the
immediate causes of the Cold War in southeastern Europe. In addressing
these questions, the inaccessibility of the Soviet archives and the non-
publication of the relevant Soviet documents preclude definitive answers.
Nevertheless, the large body of memoir literature now available and, above
all, the release to the public of the top-secret British record of the Churchill-
Stalin meetings afforda much clearer picture of the Moscow talks of October
1944 than that previously possible.3
Churchill did not, however, send the letter, "deeming it wiser to leave well
alone," but he did reprint it to present an "authentic account" of his
thoughts.6He pointed out to Stalin that any agreement between them should
be acceptable to the United States and could only be preliminary to agree-
ment at the peace table. Nevertheless, Britain and the Soviet Union were
bound by a twenty-year alliance, and it was imperative that they reach
"understandings" and in some cases "agreements" that would smooth the
way through present emergencies to a lasting peace. The "percentages" were
no more than "a method by which in our thoughtswe can see how near we are
together" and then decide upon the steps required to attain fullagreement. As
Churchill understood the agreement,neitherside should impose its systemon
another people. The British, however, had special obligations toward the
kings of Greece and Yugoslavia. Of course, the peoples, once liberated, should
be freeto choose any kind of governmentthey wanted except fascism. But,
once tranquility had been restored, Britain and Russia should not have to
worry about or interferewith these governments. Finally, he wrote, the
"'percentages" were designed to indicate the degree of interesteach side took
in these countries "with the full assent of the other" and subject to the
approval of the United States.7
Writingto the War Cabinet on October 12, 1944, Churchill denied that the
"'percentages" were intended to prescribe the number of members sittingon
commissions for the differentBalkan countries or to set up a rigid systemof
spheres of interest. But it was only right that Britain show "particular
respect" to the Russians' desire to take the lead in Rumania, which had
attacked the Soviet Union, and in Bulgaria, with which the Russians had
ancient ties. Similarly, the Soviet Union was prepared to concede to the
British the same role in Greece that Britain conceded to the Russians in
Rumania. Thus, a civil war in Greece with Britain and Russia each taking
opposing sides could be prevented. The fifty-fifty agreement for Yugoslavia
entailed joint action on agreed policy there to foster a united Yugoslavia.
Since the Soviet armies were in Hungary, the Soviet Union would naturally
take the "lead" there, subject to the assent of Great Britain and probably the
United States. Nevertheless, the Balkan arrangement was "only an interim
guide for the immediate wartime future. ..."8
Thus, after implying that he and Stalin had entered into an agreement
worthyof eighteenth-centurymonarchs or nineteenth-centuryempire-build-
ers, Churchill strained to persuade his associates and his readers that the
agreementwas not what it seemed. Instead, this temporary,wartime measure
merely delimited zones of military and political responsibilityand entailed
neither partition of third countries nor old-fashioned spheres of influence.
And any agreement he and Stalin reached was subject to approval by the
6
Ibid., 200. He did not reprintthe memorandum,nor did he send the letter,because Ambassador
Harrimantold him that PresidentRooseveltand Secretaryof State Cordell Hull would repudiateit; W.
andStalin,194I-1946
AverellHarrimanand Elie Abel, SpecialEnvoytoChurchill (New York, 1975),358.
7 Churchill,Triumph and Tragedy,200-01.
8 Ibid., 202-03.
president of the United States. The British record shows, however, that both
Churchill's account of the "percentages" agreement in Triumphand Tragedy
and the Soviet claim that Stalin had tacitly dismissed the proposal do not
correspond with the evidence now available. Churchill and Stalin did reach
an agreement; but it was an agreement both on less and on more than
Churchill revealed in his published account: the deal was not concluded with
the extreme ease, with the entire purport, or with the specific reservations
claimed by Churchill.
THE BRITISH RECORD REPORTS that Churchill, in his meeting with Stalin in the
Kremlin on October 9, I944, aftera briefexchange with Stalin on the Polish
question,9 turned to the Balkans. There were two countries,he said, in which
the British had a particular interest. Rumania "was very much a Russian
affair" and the armistice terms that the Soviet governmenthad proposed to
Rumania in September were "reasonable and showed much statecraftin the
interests of general peace in the future." But Greece was another matter.
"Britain must be the leading Mediterranean power," Churchill said, "and he
hoped Marshal Stalin would let him have the firstsay about Greece" in the
same way as Marshal Stalin had in Rumania. The British governmentwould
of course keep the Soviet governmentinformedon events in Greece."0 Stalin
for his part sympathized with Churchill for the hardships Britain suffered
owing to the severance of Britain's Mediterranean communications by the
Germans. Stalin agreed that, in order to safeguard these lines, Britain
"'should have the firstsay in Greece. " Having traded offRumania forGreece,
Churchill said it would be better to avoid the phrase "dividing into spheres"
because that might shock the Americans. "But as long as he and Stalin
understood each other he could explain matters to the President."" This
trade, in effect,extended into perpetuity the Anglo-Soviet agreement of May
I944, which allowed Britain the predominant voice in Greek affairsand the
Soviet Union the predominant voice in Rumanian affairs-an agreement to
which in June President Roosevelt had consented to give a "three months trial
period," afterwhich it would be reviewed by the three great powers.'2
Warming to his subject, Churchill proceeded to sound out Stalin on still
wider spheres of interest.Regarding disputes involvingthe great powers in the
futureUnited Nations Organization, Churchill said that he now favoredthe
Soviet view: a great power should not be excluded froma vote in a dispute to
'"Anglo-Russian Political Conversations,"4-5. The record reveals littlethat is new on the Polish
question,exceptto show thatChurchillwas farmoreexasperatedwiththe anti-Sovietpredilectionsofthe
London Poles than was generallybelieved.He evenexpressedsatisfaction that GeneralTadeusz Bor, the
commanderof the Warsaw uprisingwho had just surrenderedto the Germans,would no longerbe a
problemforChurchilland Stalin. "The Germanswere lookingafterhim." Ibid.,4-5.
15 Ibid., 5.
Ibid.
12 On this agreement, see ForeignRelationsofthe UnitedStates: DiplomaticPapers (hereafter cited as FRUS),
1944, 6:fi o- i l, 5: 112-2 1; Churchill, Triumphand Tragedy,62-69; and Cordell Hull, The Memoirsof Cordell
Ilull, 2 (New York, 1948): 1451-58.
Ercoli, Stalin assured Churchill, had said that he would collaborate with the
king "if the King stood by the people."20
So far Churchill and Stalin had agreed to recognize the other's primacy in
the Mediterranean and the Black Sea areas respectively.For that veryreason,
Bulgaria, which had been both a Black Sea and a Mediterranean state, and
Turkey, which still was both, posed great difficulties.Stalin turned to Bul-
garia. He had just implied that he had no intention of communizing Italy,
which lay in the British sphere. Now he also claimed that he had even put a
stop to the communization of Bulgaria, which lay in the Soviet sphere.
Bulgarian Communists, Stalin said, had proceeded to organize soviets in the
wake of the Red Army, but the Red Army stopped them. The Bulgarian
Communists had arrested the Bulgarian police, but the Red Army freed
them.2' Bulgaria, afterall, was a Black Sea country. Why did Britain demand
a greater say in Bulgaria than in Rumania? The Soviet Union intended
neither to attack Turkey by way of Bulgaria nor to treat Bulgaria too
leniently,forthat countryhad to be punished forher two wars on the side of
Germany. Anthony Eden interjected that Britain had been at war with
Bulgaria for three years and, accordingly, wanted a "small share" in the
control of that countryafterGermany's defeat. Churchill suggested that Eden
and Viacheslav Molotov thresh out the details of a settlementon Bulgaria,
and Stalin agreed.22
On the evening of October io, Eden and Molotov met to work out the
details of the "percentages" agreement reached by their chiefs the night
before. The Russians now retracted their assent to a fifty-fifty agreement
respecting Hungary. Molotov said that Stalin now proposed a seventy-five-
twenty-fivedivision, because Hungary "had been and always would be" a
20
Ibid., 7-8. AlthoughItaly had capitulatedin September1943,Togliattidid not returnto Italy from
Moscow untilApril 1944.And Maxim Litvinov,DeputyCommissarforForeignAffairs, told Ambassador
Kirkthatthe Russians "do notwantrevolutionsin theWest,but iftheyhappenwe mustapprove."Kirkto
Hull, Rome, September9, 1944,FRUS, 1944,3: 1149.
21 "Anglo-RussianPolitical Conversations,"8. GeorgiDimitrov,head of the Comintern(1935-43)and
Bulgaria'smostrenownedCommunistleader,did notreturnfromMoscow to SofiauntilNovember6, 1945,
more than a year afterthe liberationof Bulgaria. Meanwhile, he had been urgingthe Bulgariansto
recognizethatfuturepeace dependedprimarilyon preservation of"Big Three comradeshipand collabora-
tion." Therefore,it was vital for Bulgaria's futurethat Bulgarians foil "intriguesor actions aimed at
rousingmutualsuspicionsand misunderstandings betweenthe Allies," no mattertheirsource.G. Dimit-
rov,"All For the Front,"Moscow, September28, 1944,in Selected Works, 2 (Sofia, 1972): 238.No doubt he
had in mind the formationof Bulgarian sovietsas an example of such disruptiveaction.
22 "
"Anglo-RussianPoliticalConversations, 8.
countryborderingon the Soviet Union and because the Red Army had
sufferedsuch great losses in that country.The Russians had no territorial
claim in Hungary,but theywantedto makecertainthatHungarywould not
be on the side ofa futureaggressor.23Eden complainedthatthe Britishwere
beingpresentedwitha seriesoffaitsaccomplisin the Balkans.The Britishhad
saved Josip Broz Tito, yetthe ingratedecamped to Moscow withoutnotice.
He was makingan agreementwiththe Bulgariansto fightthe Germansin
Yugoslavia, despite Britishoppositionto cobelligerencystatusforBulgaria.
Britishofficersin GrecianThrace werebeingmistreatedby Bulgariantroops.
Eden wantedthe Russians to orderthe Bulgariansto treatthe Britishrepre-
sentativeswithrespect.At firstMolotovdemurred.Afterall, theSovietUnion
had agreed not to interfere in affairsbeyondthe bordersof Bulgaria,espe-
cially in Greece. He finallyconsented,however,to speak to Marshal Stalin
about the matter.24 Next theyturnedto the questionof the Bulgarianarmi-
stice. Eden agreed that termsought to be workedout in Moscow, then
coordinatedin London withthe Americansin the European AdvisoryCom-
mission(EAC), thetripartite Alliedbodychargedwithsuch matters.Ameri-
can concurrence,he said, wouldbe easy to obtainonce Britainand theSoviet
Union reachedagreement.But, he warned Molotov,Britaincould make no
concessionon one issue: theBulgarianarmistice.The Britishmusthavesome
share in the AlliedControlCommission(ACC) forBulgariaafterthecapitu-
lationof Germany.25
This markeda sharp break withpreviousBritishpractice.Hitherto,both
the UnitedStates and Great Britainhad acquiesced in the Rumanian armi-
stice (September 12, 1944) and the Finnish armistice (September 19, 1944),
whichgave the SovietUnion the decisivevoice in each countryboth before
and afterthe cessationofhostilitieswithGermany.The identicalclause that
the Russians had draftedforthe Allied ControlCommissionsforRumania
and Finland providedthat,untilthe conclusionofpeace, the regulationof-
and controlover-the termsof the armisticewould be vestedin an Allied
ControlCommissionoperating"underthegeneraldirectionand ordersofthe
Allied (Soviet) High Command,actingon behalfof theAllied Powers."26In
short,theclause notonlygavethe SovietUnionthemajorvoicein overseeing
executionofthe armistices;it also gave theSovietUnion therightto exercise
thispowerin the name ofitsAllies.The Russiansweredeterminedto employ
the same clause in the Bulgarianand Hungarianarmistices.
At thispointtheUnitedStatesmade itsfirst, in Balkan
decisiveintervention
affairsduringthewar. For theAmericansas well as theBritishnowrefusedto
allow the Russians to exerciseunilateralcontrol,in the name of the Allied
Powers,overthefuturearmisticeswithHitler'slastallies.The Americandraft
article,which Eden pressed on Molotov,proposedthat the Allied Control
23Eden and MolotovMeeting,October io, 1944,ibid.,io.
24Ibid.,i i. On October io Moscow instructedMarshal Tolbukhinto orderBulgarianforcesin northern
Greece to treatthe Britishproperly;ibid.,i6.
25 Ibid., ii.
THE QUESTION NATURALLY ARISES, why so much concern with Bulgaria just at
this time? And what took the Allies so long to draftan agreed armistice text
29Ibid., 14-15. Churchilland Stalin agreed on the possibilityof an independentSerbia if Yugoslav
federationfailed, and Stalin acknowledgedthe primacyof Britishinterestson the Dalmatian coast:
Harrimanto Roosevelt,Moscow, October 12, 1944,FRUS, 1944,4: 1013-14.
30 "Anglo-Russian Political Conversations,"16-17,49-50. For textof the Bulgarian armistice,dated
October 28, 1944,signedforthe Allied side by F. Tolbukhin,representative
ofthe SovietHigh Command.
and James Gammell,representative of the SupremeAllied Commanderin the Mediterranean,see Roth-
stein, SovietkoreignPolicy, 170-73.
jointly with the governments of Great Britain and the United States-was
drawing up terms fora Bulgarian armistice.35On September I5 Soviet troops
entered Sofia.
The surge of Soviet militarypower in Bulgaria nullifiedBritain's primacy in
that country. Soviet-controlled Bulgaria-abutting Greece, Yugoslavia, and
Turkey-posed a threat to Britain's position in the Balkans. The SovietUnion,
which had previously sought the evacuation of Bulgarian occupation forces
fromThrace and Macedonia in order to aid Marshal Tito, now endeavored to
keep them there. Ambassador Gusev tried to persuade the European Advisory
Commission that, since the Bulgarian army was now aiding the Red Army
against the Germans, the Allies should not require the Bulgarians to with-
draw fromGrecian Thrace.36
These events found Churchill and Eden preparing for their meeting with
Roosevelt at the Second Quebec Conference (September I2-I6). Churchill
feared that the Soviet declaration of war on Bulgaria might lead to a Soviet
invasion of Greece or to Soviet sponsorship of Bulgarian claims to western
Thrace. Either could make a Soviet-backed "greater Bulgaria" an Aegean
power at the expense of Greece or a threat to the Straits. To secure Greece,
Churchill proved willing to recognize Soviet primacy in Bulgaria as well as in
Rumania. From Quebec Eden wired to the Foreign Office Britain's willing-
ness to accept a Soviet chairman of the Allied Control Commission for
Bulgaria, providing that the British were "full members" and that the Soviet
Union recognized the predominant position of Britain in Greece "now and
after the actual state of war has ended."37
When Eden returned to London, the Foreign Office persuaded him that
such a concession would undermine British authority in Greece and Turkey.
He wired Churchill that Britain could affordto allow the Russians to take the
lead in Rumania, but, if Bulgaria-which threatened all of her neighbors-
were abandoned to the Russians, Britain's credit would sufferthroughoutthe
Balkans. We must, he wrote, "stake our claim to a predominant position in
Greece, but we can do this without selling out over Bulgaria."138 With the Red
army in Bulgaria and British troops not yet in Greece, the British were
horrified by the prospect of Soviet troops turning south to Athens. On
September 2I London thereforeinstructed Ambassador Clark Kerr in Mos-
cow to informthe Russians that a British force was about to land in Greece
and that London hoped "the Soviet Government would not find it necessary
to send Russian troops into any part of Greece except in agreement with His
Majesty's Government." Two days later, Deputy Commissar for Foreign
AffairsAndrei Vyshinsky said that the Soviet government "confirmed" the
mosturgenttask,especiallysincetheoccupationwas nowundertheCommu-
nist-ledPatrioticFrontgovernment. The British,therefore, asked the Euro-
pean AdvisoryCommissionto demandthatBulgariawithdrawitsoccupation
forceswithinfifteen as the indispensableprerequisiteto
days of notification
the opening of armisticenegotiations."The Soviet representativeon the
commissionreluctantlyaccepted the proposal on September20.4 But the
Allies did not reachagreementon the textofsuch an ultimatumto Bulgaria
untilOctober i i. In the interimthe Bulgariansclaimedthattheyhad evacu-
ated all of theiroccupationforcesbut had leftcombat units (under Soviet
command) formilitaryoperationsagainstthe Germansin Thrace, Macedo-
nia, and Serbia.46The Britishfeared,however,that this claim was only a
subterfugeto leave Bulgarianforcesin controlof Greekand Yugoslav terri-
tories;Britaintherefore opposed any semblanceof cobelligerency statusfor
Bulgaria. The Russians, fortheirpart,would not accept the Britishdraftof
the ultimatum,because it providedan equal voice for each of the three
membersof the Joint MilitaryMission that would verifywithdrawalof
Bulgarianforces.47
On October i i, however,everything fellintoplace. Eden accepted Molo-
tov's demand thatthe Sovietrepresentative chairtheJointMilitaryMission.
Since on the same day Eden had also acceptedMolotov'sphrasingofArticle
I8 on the Allied ControlCommissionforBulgaria,the threeAllied govern-
mentsnotifiedthe Bulgariangovernment thattheprerequisitefortheopening
of armisticenegotiationswas the evacuationofall Bulgariantroopsand civil
authoritiesfromoccupied Greek and Yugoslav territory withinfifteendays.
The evacuationwould be supervisedand verifiedby representatives of the
threeAllied governments who would "act as a joint Allied MilitaryMission,
withtheSovietrepresentative as Chairman." Bulgariaacceptedthecondition
on October I 2.48 The agreedtermsofthe Bulgarianarmisticewerethensent
to the European AdvisoryCommissionin London forcoordinationwiththe
Americans.
In Moscow, Eden had takena beatingat the hands of Molotovregarding
thepercentagesforBulgaria.Eden failedto win Molotov'sunequivocalagree-
mentto an equal voiceforeach ofthethreepowerswithintheAlliedControl
CommissionforBulgaria duringthe postwarperiod. But the Britishand
and 1945, Conferenceat Malta and ralta, 103-o6, 237, 257, 262-64.When two wartimesecretariesof state
publishedtheirmemoirs,theyprovidedthepublicwiththefirstauthoritative evidencethatan Anglo-Soviet
"'spheres-of-influence"agreementhad been concluded,but they,too, were uncertainof the details. See
James Byrnes,Speaking Frankly(New York, I947), 53; and Hull, Memoirs,1458. For a differentview,see
LynnEtheridgeDavis, TheColdWarBegins:Soviet-American Conflict Europe(Princeton,1974),158-
overEastern
59. Churchilldid, however,divulgethe details to De Gaulle; see Charles De Gaulle, The Complete War
Memoirs(New York, 1964),724-25.
"Davis holds that the U.S. governmentchose to ignorethe Anglo-Sovietagreement;The Cold War
Begzns,159. HerbertFeis concluded that Rooseveltagreed that such an agreementwas advisable but
wanted to keep the United States aloof fromBalkan problems;Churchill-Roosevelt-Stalin: The War They
Wagedand thePeaceTheySought(Princeton,1957),450-51.
80 No Americanmilitary occupationwas intendedanywherein southeasternEurope; FRUS, Conference at
Quebec,1944,212-I8. The turnaboutwas probablyprecipitatedbyHarriman'swarningsfromMoscow that,
unless the United States took issue with the presentSoviet "strong-arm"policy, there was "every
indicationthe SovietUnion willbecome a worldbullywherevertheirinterestsare involved";Harrimanto
Harry Hopkins, Moscow, September io, 1944,FRUS, 1944, 4: 989; and Harriman to Hull, Moscow,
September20, 1944,ibid.,992-98. George F. Kennan's memorandum,"Russia Seven Years Later," may
also have had an impact; Moscow, September,1944, ibid.,902-14.
81 RobertSherwood,Roosevelt andHopkins(New York,1948),832;and Churchill,7friumph andTragedy, i8i,
86-88.
could find the solution to questions still unsolved. Roosevelt suggested that
Stalin and Churchill allow Ambassador Harriman to act as the president's
observer at the Churchill-Stalin meetings-without the power to commit the
United States on any major issue. This message disabused Stalin of the as-
sumption that Churchill would be empowered to speak forRoosevelt in Mos-
cow.62 Although Roosevelt's turnabout struck a final blow at Churchill's
bargaining position, the prime ministerwas not deflectedfromhis determina-
tion to reach an agreement on spheres of influence with Stalin.63
IF,THEN, WE WANTED TO FIX AN EXACT DATE for the beginning of the Cold War
in southeastern Europe, that date would be October 4, 1944. For on that day
President Roosevelt informedStalin that the president reservedforthe United
States the rightto nothing less than a voice at least equal to that of each ofthe
other Big Three powers in arriving at and executing decisions on all inter-
national problems-including those in southeastern Europe-while denying
the Soviet Union the same right in the Western spheres-in Italy, for ex-
ample. In short, the United States now embarked on a policy that clearly
denied to the Soviet Union status equal to that of the United States. For
Washington would not accede to Moscow's exercise of undivided control, in
the name of the Big Three, over the futurearmistices for Bulgaria and for
Hungary, although each draft armistice followed the Italian precedent with
regard to the Allied Control Commission. Since the Russians regarded their
hegemony over the southeastern European approaches to the Soviet Union as
crucial to Soviet security, Stalin's ire over Roosevelt's pretensions can be
imagined.64Whether Roosevelt's assertion of boundless American interestsis
termed "internationalism," "globalism," or "imperialism," this turnabout
certainly set American policy concerning southeastern Europe on a new
course.
As for Britain, Churchill and Eden had maintained since 1941 that it was
impractical to assume that Great Britain and the United States could compel
a victorious Soviet Union to accept frontiersshallower than those it had had in
1940. London contended that the surest way forGreat Britain and the United
States to check Soviet expansion beyond those borders in Europe was to reach
a wartime agreement that would tie Moscow to the western frontiersStalin
had claimed since I941. A similar rationale governed the subsequent British
62 Sherwood, Rooseveltand Hopkins, 833-34; Charles Bohlen, Witnessto History(New York, 1973), 162-63;
Roosevelt to Harriman, Washington, October, 1944, FRUS, 1945, Malta and Yalta, 6-7; and Stalin to
Roosevelt, Moscow, October 8, 1944, Correspondence betweenthe Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the
U.S.S.R. and thePresidentsof the U.S.A. and thePrimeMinistersof GreatBritain duringtheGreat PatrioticWar of
941-1I945, 2 (Moscow, 1957): i62-63.
63 The prime minister informed the president that he would be glad to have Harriman sit in at all
principal conferences but he hoped that Roosevelt would not preclude private meetings between himself
and Stalin or Eden and Molotov; Churchill, Triumphand Tragedy,igo-gi. The meeting of October 9, when
the "percentages" agreement was concluded, was just such a tete-a-tete without Harriman's presence.
64 On October 9 Stalin told Churchill that he did not like Roosevelt's message of October 4, because "it
seemed to demand too many rights for the United States leaving too little for the Soviet Union and Great
Britain, who, afterall, had a treatyof common assistance"; "Anglo-Russian Political Conversations," 5.
The "percentages" agreement worked until Britain proved too weak to sus-
tain its side of the bargain. The United States inserted itselfincreasingly into
Balkan affairsand finally,in March 1947,replaced falteringBritish power in
that area. Few would now say that America's enormous power inspired a
wiser, more effectivepolicy toward southeastern Europe than Churchill's
brand of "power politics" expressed in the "percentages" agreement.