... and prepared on a number of occasions before the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences. As Urwin says, "the allies (by 1945) had debated the problems of postwar Germany for some time". Some historians including Bulmer argue that 1943 was the key year in the arrangement for the division of Europe. Bulmer says, "plans for the occupation of Germany were outlined by the British in 1943". Also in 1943 the Moscow Conference of foreign ministers took place in October in which as McCauley explains also debated some "key issues involving the fate of Germany". Bulmer goes on to explain that it was from 1943 onwards that the allies generally agreed that Germany must cede territory. The restoration of Austrian independence and of pre-1938 Czechoslovakia was "undisputed" and Bulmer also says that in the same year it was agreed that some German territory must be given to Poland. However John M Young says that ...

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