ABSTRACT
The myth is that at Yalta the West accepted the division of Europe. Yalta's continuing significance lies in what it reveals about Russia's enduring ambitions toward Europe as a whole. Yalta was the last gasp of carefully calibrated Soviet diplomacy designed to obtain Anglo-American acquiescence to a preponderant Soviet role in all of Europe. Yalta thus remains of great geopolitical significance because it symbolizes the unfinished struggle for the future of Europe. By finally foreclosing the issue of Poland in Russia's favor, Yalta opened the battle for the future of Germany. The real collision at Yalta was between Roosevelt's well-meaning vagueness about arrangements for Europe's postwar future and Stalin's studied vagueness about the extent of Russia's desire to dominate that future. The geopolitical effect of a Soviet success in Berlin would have been to establish Soviet paramountcy over Western Europe. If Europe is to emerge politically, it must assume a more direct role in its own defense.
