Editing Eastern Bloc (section)

===Eastern Front and Allied conferences===
{{further|Operation Barbarossa|Eastern Front (World War II)|List of World War II conferences|Yalta Conference|Potsdam Conference}}
[[File:Yalta Conference (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) (B&W).jpg|thumb|left|The Big Three ([[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]], [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Premier of the Soviet Union]] [[Joseph Stalin]]) at the [[Yalta Conference]], February 1945]]
In June 1941, Germany broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact by [[Operation Barbarossa|invading the Soviet Union]]. From the time of this invasion to 1944, the areas annexed by the Soviet Union were part of Germany's [[Reichskommissariat Ostland|Ostland]] (except for the [[Moldavian SSR]]). Thereafter, the Soviet Union began to push German forces westward through a series of battles on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]].

In the aftermath of [[Continuation War|World War II on the Soviet-Finnish border]], the parties [[Moscow Armistice|signed another peace treaty ceding to the Soviet Union]] in 1944, followed by a Soviet annexation of roughly the same eastern Finnish territories as those of the prior interim peace treaty as part of the [[Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://heninen.net/sopimus/1944_e.htm|title=Armistice Agreement|date=1997|access-date=27 August 2019}}</ref>

From 1943 to 1945, several [[List of World War II conferences|conferences regarding Post-War Europe]] occurred that, in part, addressed the potential Soviet annexation and control of countries in Central Europe. There were various Allied plans for state order in Central Europe for post-war. While [[Joseph Stalin]] tried to get as many states under Soviet control as possible, British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] preferred a Central European Danube Confederation to counter these countries against Germany and Russia.<ref>[https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/churchill-und-die-deutschen-a-946593.html "Churchill and the Germans" in Der Spiegel, 13 August 2010.]</ref> Churchill's Soviet policy regarding Central Europe differed vastly from that of American President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], with the former believing Soviet leader Stalin to be a "devil"-like tyrant leading a vile system.<ref name="miscamble51">{{Harvnb|Miscamble|2007|p=51}}</ref>

When warned of potential domination by a Stalin dictatorship over part of Europe, Roosevelt responded with a statement summarizing his rationale for relations with Stalin: "I just have a hunch that Stalin is not that kind of a man.&nbsp;... I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask for nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he won't try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of democracy and peace".<ref name="miscamble52">{{Harvnb|Miscamble|2007|p=52}}</ref> While meeting with Stalin and Roosevelt in [[Tehran Conference|Tehran]] in 1943, Churchill stated that Britain was vitally interested in restoring Poland as a politically independent country.<ref name="wettig44"/> Britain did not press the matter for fear that it would become a source of inter-allied friction.<ref name="wettig44">{{Harvnb|Wettig|2008|p=44}}</ref>

In February 1945, at the [[Yalta Conference|conference at Yalta]], Stalin demanded a Soviet sphere of political influence in Central Europe.<ref name="stalinswars241"/> Stalin eventually was convinced by Churchill and Roosevelt not to dismember Germany.<ref name="stalinswars241"/> Stalin stated that the Soviet Union would keep the territory of eastern Poland they had already [[Soviet invasion of Poland|taken via invasion in 1939]] with [[Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II|some exceptions]], and wanted a pro-Soviet Polish government in power in what would remain of Poland.<ref name="stalinswars241">{{Harvnb|Roberts|2006|pp=241 & 244}}</ref> After resistance by Churchill and Roosevelt, Stalin promised a re-organization of the current [[Polish Committee of National Liberation|pro-Soviet government]] on a broader democratic basis in Poland.<ref name="stalinswars241"/> He stated that the new government's primary task would be to prepare elections.<ref name="wettig47">{{Harvnb|Wettig|2008|pp=47–8}}</ref> However, the [[1946 Polish people's referendum]] (known as the "Three Times Yes" referendum) and the subsequent [[1947 Polish parliamentary election]] did not meet democratic standards and were largely manipulated.<ref name="NS">{{cite book |editor1-last=Nohlen |editor1-first=Dieter |editor2-last=Stöver |editor2-first=Philip |editor1-link=Dieter Nohlen |title=Elections in Europe: A Data Handbook |date=2010 |publisher=Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft |isbn=978-3832956097 |page=1475}}</ref>

The parties at Yalta further agreed that the countries of liberated Europe and former Axis satellites would be allowed to "create democratic institutions of their own choice", pursuant to "the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live".<ref name="yaltareport">11 February 1945 Potsdam Report, ''reprinted in'' Potsdam Ashley, John, Soames Grenville and Bernard Wasserstein, ''The Major International Treaties of the Twentieth Century: A History and Guide with Texts'', Taylor & Francis, 2001 {{ISBN|0-415-23798-X}}</ref> The parties also agreed to help those countries form interim governments "pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections" and "facilitate where necessary the holding of such elections".<ref name="yaltareport"/>

At the beginning of the July–August 1945 [[Potsdam Conference]] after Germany's unconditional surrender, Stalin repeated previous promises to Churchill that he would refrain from a "[[sovietization]]" of Central Europe.<ref name="stalinswars274">{{Harvnb|Roberts|2006|pp=274–78}}</ref> In addition to reparations, Stalin pushed for "war booty", which would permit the Soviet Union to directly seize property from conquered nations without quantitative or qualitative limitation.<ref name="wettig90"/> A clause was added permitting this to occur with some limitations.<ref name="wettig90">{{Harvnb|Wettig|2008|pp=90–1}}</ref>