At the Yalta Conference, the Allies agreed that the liberated nations of Europe would create democratic governments of their own choice, defeated Germany would be divided into occupation zones, Germany would pay war reparations, and the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan.
In early February 1945 the three Allied leaders—Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin—met at the Black Sea resort of Yalta . There they postponed certain matters, such as the question of postwar German reparations and status, but they did reach some major decisions. The Soviet Union agreed to enter the war against Japan after Germany 's defeat and was to receive important territorial concessions in return. The Big Three also agreed to establish a postwar world organization. Most controversial was their understanding to hold free elections in recently liberated Poland , an agreement that the Soviets failed to abide by and later opened Roosevelt to charges of being naive.