Yalta 1945

The YALTA CONFERENCE was one of the major wartime meetings held between the 'Big Three' Allied leaders where they planned the final defeat of Nazi Germany and the post-World War II reorganisation of Europe.
The summit itself took place at the Livadia Palace near Yalta in the Crimea, which was then part of the Soviet Union between February 4-11, 1945.
The three key leaders who took part in the conference were Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister... Stalin, the Supreme Soviet Leader and... Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States.
This proved to be Roosevelt's final wartime conference before his death just two months later on April 12, 1945.
Observers at Yalta noted that the President appeared visibly weakened and very ill.
While initially celebrated as a triumph of wartime cooperation the political and practical legacy of Yalta faded quickly.
Following the conference Stalin failed to honour his promise of free elections in Eastern Europe, instead establishing communist governments dominated by Moscow.
Although Churchill was far more sceptical of Stalin's Yalta promises he could not convince Roosevelt of the Russian dictator's talent for duplicity and brutality.
This all-new sculpt of the three wartime leaders follows on from K&C's first rendition of 'The Big Three' which appeared back in 2012 and was retired in 2016.
Since that time we have had literally hundreds of requests to reproduce the original models.
In this particular instance we made the decision to produce a brand-new sculpt of the 3 wartime leaders based on another famous photo taken on a different day of the conference.
The biggest differences are that Prime Minister Churchill is now wearing his khaki uniform as Colonel of the 4th / 5th Btn. of The Royal Sussex Regiment complete with a heavy wool military greatcoat and a Russians-style fur hat.
In our first 'Big Three' set Churchill is wearing another of his uniforms, that of an Honorary Air Commodore of the Royal Air Force.
Another feature of this new trio of figures is that President Roosevelt himself looks decidedly older and less well that he did previously. In addition his 'body-language' suggests that he is leaning more towards Stalin than Churchill.
This reflects the fact that in private F.D.R. believed that Great Britain was now a 'spent force' and that the future of post war politics globally would be decided alone by both America and the USSR.
Stalin meanwhile looks on with faint amusement at both Western leaders... he trusts neither of them but, then again, he trusted no one!