Editing Potsdam Agreement (section)

==Protocol==
{{Territorial evolution of Germany}}
{{Territorial evolution of Poland}}
In the Potsdam Agreement (Berlin Conference) the Allies (UK, USSR, US) agreed on the following matters:<ref>{{cite book|author1=Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|title=A Decade of American Foreign Policy: Basic Documents, 1941–49|date=1950|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|location=Washington, DC|url=https://www.nato.int/ebookshop/video/declassified/doc_files/Potsdam%20Agreement.pdf|access-date=2022-06-10|archive-date=2019-06-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607003820/https://www.nato.int/ebookshop/video/declassified/doc_files/Potsdam%20Agreement.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
# Establishment of a [[Council of Foreign Ministers]], also including France and China; tasked the preparation of a peace settlement for Germany, to be accepted by the Government of Germany once a government adequate for the purpose had been established.
#:See the London Conference of Foreign Ministers and the [[Moscow Conference (1945)|Moscow Conference]] which took place later in 1945.
#The principles to govern the treatment of Germany in the initial control period.
#:See [[European Advisory Commission]] and [[Allied Control Council]].
#*A. Political principles.
#: Post-war Germany to be divided into four Occupation Zones under the control of Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States and France; with the Commanders-in-chief of each country's forces exercising sovereign authority over matters within their own zones, while exercising authority jointly through the Allied Control Council for 'Germany as a whole'. 
#:[[Democratization]]. Treatment of Germany as a single unit. Disarmament and [[Demilitarization]]. Elimination of all [[Nazi]] influence.
#*B. Economic principles.
#:Reduction or destruction of all civilian heavy industry with war potential, such as shipbuilding, machine production and chemical factories. Restructuring of German economy towards agriculture and light industry.
#[[World War II reparations|Reparations from Germany]].
#:This section covered reparation claims of the USSR from the [[Soviet occupation zone in Germany]]. The section also agreed that 10% of the industrial capacity of the western zones unnecessary for the German peace economy should be transferred to the Soviet Union within two years. The Soviet Union withdrew its previous objections to French membership of the Allied Reparations Commission, which had been established in Moscow following the Yalta conference.
# Disposal of the [[Kriegsmarine|German Navy]] and merchant marine.
#:All but thirty submarines to be sunk and the rest of the German Navy was to be divided equally between the three powers.
#:The German merchant marine was to be divided equally between the three powers, and they would distribute some of those ships to the other Allies. But until the end of the war with the [[Empire of Japan]] all the ships would remain under the authority of the Combined Shipping Adjustment Board and the United Maritime Authority.
# City of [[Königsberg]] and the adjacent area (then [[East Prussia]], now [[Kaliningrad Oblast]]).
#:The United States and Britain declared that they would support the transfer of Königsberg and the adjacent area to the Soviet Union at the peace conference.
#War criminals
#: This was a short paragraph and covered the creation of the [[London Charter]] and the subsequent [[Nuremberg trials]]:
#:<blockquote>The Three Governments have taken note of the discussions which have been proceeding in recent weeks in London between British, United States, Soviet and French representatives with a view to reaching agreement on the methods of trial of those major war criminals whose crimes under the [[Moscow Declaration]] of October 1943 have no particular geographical localization. The Three Governments reaffirm their intention to bring these criminals to swift and sure justice. They hope that the negotiations in London will result in speedy agreement being reached for this purpose, and they regard it as a matter of great importance that the trial of these major criminals should begin at the earliest possible date. The first list of defendants will be published before 1st September.</blockquote>
#[[Allied-occupied Austria|Austria]]:
#:The government of Austria was to be decided after British and American forces entered [[Vienna]], and that Austria should not pay any reparations.
#[[People's Republic of Poland|Poland]]
#:There should be a [[Provisional Government of National Unity]] recognised by all three powers, and that those Poles who were serving in British Army formations should be free to return to Poland. The provisional western border should be the [[Oder–Neisse line]], with territories to the east of this excluded from the Soviet Occupation zone and placed under Polish and Soviet civil administration. Poland would receive former German territories in the north and west, but the final delimitation of the western frontier of Poland should await the peace settlement; which eventually took place as the [[Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany]] in 1990.
# Conclusion on peace treaties and admission to the [[United Nations]] organization.
#:See [[Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers]] which took place later in 1945.
#:It was noted that [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]] had fought on the side of the Allies and was making good progress towards establishment of a democratic government and institutions and that after the peace treaty the three Allies would support an application from a democratic Italian government for membership of the United Nations. Further,
#:<blockquote>[t]he three Governments have also charged the Council of Foreign Ministers with the task of preparing peace treaties for [[Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946)|Bulgaria]], [[Finland]], [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]] and [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]]. The conclusion of Peace Treaties with recognized democratic governments in these States will also enable the three Governments to support applications from them for membership of the United Nations. The three Governments agree to examine each separately in the near future in the light of the conditions then prevailing, the establishment of diplomatic relations with Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary to the extent possible prior to the conclusion of peace treaties with those countries.</blockquote>
#:The details were discussed later that year at the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers and the treaties were signed in 1947 at the [[Paris Peace Conference (1947)|Paris Peace Conference]].
#:By that time the governments of Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary were Communist. 
#Territorial Trusteeship
#:Italian former colonies would be decided in connection with the preparation of a peace treaty for Italy. Like most of the other former European Axis powers the Italian peace treaty was signed at the 1947 Paris Peace Conference.
#Revised [[Allied Control Commission]] procedure in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary
#:Now that hostilities in Europe were at an end the Western Allies should have a greater input into the Control Commissions of Central and Eastern Europe, the Annex to this agreement included detailed changes to the workings of the [[Allied Commission#Hungary|Hungarian Control Commission]].
#Orderly transfer of German Populations
#:{{main|Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)}}
#:<blockquote>The Three Governments, having considered the question in all its aspects, recognize that the transfer to Germany of German populations, or elements thereof, remaining in Poland, [[Czechoslovakia]] and Hungary, will have to be undertaken. They agree that any transfers that take place should be effected in an orderly and humane manner.</blockquote>
#:"German populations, or elements thereof, remaining in Poland" refers to Germans living within the 1937 boundaries of Poland up to the [[Curzon Line]] going East. In theory, that German ethnic population could have been expelled to the Polish temporarily administered territories of [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]], [[Farther Pomerania]], East Prussia and eastern [[Province of Brandenburg|Brandenburg]].
#:Because [[Allied-occupied Germany]] was under great strain, the Czechoslovak government, the Polish provisional government and the control council in Hungary were asked to submit an estimate of the time and rate at which further transfers could be carried out having regard to the present situation in Germany and suspend further expulsions until these estimates were integrated into plans for an equitable distribution of these "removed" Germans among the several zones of occupation.
#Oil equipment in Romania
#[[Iran]]
#:Allied troops were to withdraw immediately from [[Tehran]] and that further stages of the withdrawal of troops from Iran should be considered at the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers to be held in London in September 1945.
#The international zone of [[Tangier]].
#:The city of Tangier and the area around it should remain international and discussed further.
#The [[Black Sea]] straits
#:The [[Montreux Convention]] should be revised and that this should be discussed with the Turkish government.
#International inland waterways
#European inland transport conference
#Directives to the military commanders on allied control council for Germany
#Use of Allied property for satellite reparations or war trophies
#:These were detailed in Annex II.
#Military Talks
*Annex I
*Annex II

Moreover, towards concluding the [[Pacific War|Pacific Theatre of War]], the Potsdam Conference issued the [[Potsdam Declaration]], the Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender (26 July 1945) wherein the Western Allies (UK, US, USSR) and the [[Nationalist government#Post-World War II|Nationalist China]] of General [[Chiang Kai-shek]] asked Japan to surrender or be destroyed.