Click2History - VICTORY IN EUROPE: A DIVIDED CONTINENT - Chapter 1 - Preface

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff cellpadding=5> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>VICTORY IN EUROPE:<br> A DIVIDED CONTINENT</b></font></p>  <table width="590"> <tr> <td align="CENTER" valign="top" bgcolor="000000" colspan=2><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="3" color="FFFFFF"><b>STORY CHAPTER LINKS</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width="306" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" border="0"> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="282"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="victory_europe_ch1.htm">1. STORY PREFACE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="282"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="victory_europe_ch2.htm">2. A CHANGE IN LEADERS</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="282"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="victory_europe_ch3.htm">3. ANOTHER SHOCKING CHANGE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="282"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="victory_europe_ch4.htm">4. HITLER IN BERLIN</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="282"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="victory_europe_ch5.htm"><b>5. A NEW LEADER in BERLIN</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="282"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="victory_europe_ch6.htm"><b>6. TERROR ACROSS EUROPE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="263"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="victory_europe_ch7.htm"><b>7. LAND and AIR WAR in BERLIN</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width=287 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 border=0> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="263"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="victory_europe_ch8.htm"><b>8. BERLIN FALLS</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="263"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="victory_europe_ch9.htm"><b>9. TO POTSDAM</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="263"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="victory_europe_ch10.htm"><b>10. POST-WAR BERLIN</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="263"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="victory_europe_ch11.htm"><b>11. DECISIONS and CONSEQUENCES</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="263"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="victory_europe_ch12.htm"><b>12. A DIVIDED CITY</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="263"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="victory_europe_ch13.htm"><b>13. "TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!"</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="263"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="victory_europe_ch14.htm"><b>14. USED AND RECOMMENDED SOURCES</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  <p><font size="3"><u><a name="preface">PREFACE</a></u></font></b></p> <div align=center><b><i><font face="Times New Roman" color="000000" size="3">Seldom if ever has a war ended<br> leaving the victors with such a sense of uncertainty and fear,<br> with such a realization that the future is obscure<br> and that survival is not assured.<br><br></i> <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1872668">Edward R. Murrow</a> </b><br><br> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">The <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/"><b>war in Europe</b></a> was <a href="http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/media_fi.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005137&MediaId=235"><b>over</b></a> when Allied leaders <a target="_blank" href="From%20Truman%20Library"><b>gathered</b></a> in <a href="http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9805/13/india.us/germany.berlin.potsdam.jpg"><b>Potsdam</b></a>,  a Berlin suburb, during July of 1945. <a href="images/meeting.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Meeting</b></a> to <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Potsdam_conference_1945-5.jpg/438px-Potsdam_conference_1945-5.jpg"><b>talk</b></a> about Germany’s future, the decision-makers - Winston <a href="http://www.time.com/time/time100/leaders/profile/churchill.html"><b>Churchill</b></a>, Joseph <a href="http://www.pbs.org/redfiles/bios/all_bio_joseph_stalin.htm"><b>Stalin</b></a> and Harry <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/truman-c.htm"><b>Truman</b></a> - had differing points of view on a number of issues.</p> <p>Discussing how to govern the defeated nation, and divide power in that <a target="_blank" href="images/ravaged_cologne.cathedral_damaged_night.of.1000.bombers_30.may.42.jpg"><b>ravaged</b></a>   country, the "Big Three" leaders were also thinking about the rest of Europe. Just two months before, in a May 14th speech in London, Churchill rhetorically asked what Europe had become. In light of the estimated statistics - 55 million people who died, 45 million who were homeless and countless more who were suffering from starvation - he gave a grim answer:</p> <blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>It <a href="http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/images/ww2-185.jpg"><b>is</b></a> a <a href="http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/images/ww2-184.jpg"><b>rubble-heap</b></a>, a charnel house, a breeding ground of pestilence and <a href="http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/images/ww2-183.jpg"><b>hate</b></a>.</i></b> (Quoted in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0671869205/ref=sib_dp_pt/105-8196277-5453220#reader-link"><b><i>Truman</b></i></a>, by David McCullough, page 562.)</font></blockquote> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">How could three men, and their staff personnel, really determine what was best for countries in which they neither lived nor ruled? What did they consider as they made decisions impacting all of Europe?</p> <p>What the negotiators <a href="http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/germany/194548.gif"><b>decided</b></a> would change the world for decades to come.</p> </div> <p align="right"><font size="2"><a href="victory_europe_ch2.htm">GO TO CHAPTER 2</a></font></p> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="3"><a href="http://www.awesomestories.com/content/about_author.htm" target="_blank"><b>Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.</b></center></a></p><br> <p align="left"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="1">To cite this story, using <a href="http://www.mla.org/style/style_faq/style_faq4" target="_blank"><b>MLA Guidelines</b></a>:</p> <blockquote> <p>Bos, Carole D. "Major League Baseball: Early Days and Baseball Cards"  AwesomeStories.com.  Date of access <http://www.awesomestories.com/history/victory_europe/victory_europe_ch1.htm>.<br> </blockquote> <p>IN OTHER WORDS: Author. Title of story. Name of web site. Date of access <URL>.</p><br> </font> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>  </body>