Victory distant but in view, the U.S. and its World War II allies gathered in Egypt and Iran late in 1943 to map out strategy for the coming year and begin discussing what a postwar world would look like. While Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and other leaders made progress, strains were apparent.

Russia’s Joseph Stalin refused to meet in Cairo and, when Roosevelt and Churchill couldn’t agree on an approach to European operations, it allowed the Russian premier to settle the issue in Tehran. Many of the concessions to Stalin helped set the stage for the Cold War to come.

Military historian Gates Brown of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College examines the conferences and the Allies’ waning cooperation as members pursued a peace policy best suited to each of them.

For presentation slides, click here.