February: The “Big Three” (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) meet at the Black Sea resort of Yalta in the Crimea (i.e. on Russian ‘turf, at Stalin’s insistence).
Each of the three came to the conference with prime agendas in different spheres. Churchill wanted free elections in Poland; Roosevelt wanted Soviet support for the US anticipated invasion of Japan; Stalin demanded a Soviet sphere–of–influence in Eastern Europe.
Conceptually, Churchill and Roosevelt had tactical agendas, while Stalin had a strategic objective (the domination of Eastern Europe). Strategic victories tend to transcend tactical victories, and Yalta was no exception. For decades after Yalta, when no one even remembered whether or not Polish elections took place, and decades after no invasion of Japan ever took place (both having been Western tactical objectives), Russia continued its new–found “strangulation hold” on Eastern Europe.