Paris Peace Conference

Delegate papers and minutes of meetings from the 1946 Paris Peace Conference

At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, it was agreed by the 'Big Three' of the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom that a Council of Foreign Ministers of the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, China and France would be established to prepare draft peace treaties with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland. In December 1945 it was further agreed by the Foreign Ministers of the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom that the draft treaties would be submitted to a conference to be held in Paris, consisting of the five members of the Council and the sixteen other Allied nations that had fought in Europe with substantial military force. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the draft treaties, express opinions and make recommendations. The Peace Conference was held at the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris from 29 July to 15 October 1946. The following 21 nations were represented at the conference: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Byelorussia, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, France, Greece, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Ukraine, Union of South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia. The conference appointed several commissions to deal with specific areas: a General Commission, a Commission on Procedure, a Legal and Drafting Commission, a Military Commission, Political and Territorial Commissions for each of the five ex-enemy states, an Economic Commission for Italy, and an Economic Commission for the Balkans and Finland. It was decided that the ex-enemy states would be given the opportunity to discuss the draft treaties and present their views to the conference. During the conference, the press was admitted to the plenary sessions and all meetings of the commissions. The resulting five peace treaties were signed on 10 February 1947, thereby making Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland eligible for membership of the United Nations.

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More papers in the India Office Records relating to the 1946 Paris Peace Conference can be found in the Burma Office Annual Files at IOR/M/4/3003-3021, in the Political (External) Collections at IOR/L/PS/12/4539-4542 and IOR/L/PS/12/4564, in the Information Department Records at IOR/L/I/1/1165, and in the Public and Judicial Annual Files at IOR/L/PJ/7/10411. Papers relating to the Council of Foreign Ministers can be found at IOR/Q/23.