hen the Yalta Conference convened in February 1945, the world watched the Grand Alliance in anticipation, hoping for a new world of peace. Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin depended on one another to not only get what was best for their respective countries, but to end the war in peace and good will. Quickly after the conference ended, disagreements arose and optimism faded. With the death of U.S. President Roosevelt, Soviet relations with the West suffered even more as Truman and Churchill refused to give Stalin definitive answers about reparations. The concessions and agreements of Yalta are regarded as some of the most controversial decisions of the war. Yalta shaped post-war Europe, surrendered Eastern Europe to Soviet Control, and through its aftermath, laid the foundation for the Cold War.