<P> At the Potsdam Conference ( 17 July to 2 August 1945 ) , after Germany 's unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 , the Allies divided Germany into four military occupation zones -- France in the southwest , Britain in the northwest , the United States in the south , and the Soviet Union in the east , bounded eastwards by the Oder - Neisse line . At Potsdam these four zones in total were denoted as ' Germany as a whole ' , and the four Allied Powers exercised the sovereign authority they now claimed within Germany in agreeing ' in principle ' the future transfer of lands of the former German Reich east of ' Germany as a whole ' to Poland and the Soviet Union . These eastern areas were notionally placed under Polish and Soviet administration pending a final peace treaty ( which was not formalized until 1990 , 45 years later ) ; but in actuality were promptly reorganized as organic parts of their respective sovereign states . </P>
<P> At the Potsdam Conference ( 17 July to 2 August 1945 ) , after Germany 's unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 , the Allies divided Germany into four military occupation zones -- France in the southwest , Britain in the northwest , the United States in the south , and the Soviet Union in the east , bounded eastwards by the Oder - Neisse line . At Potsdam these four zones in total were denoted as ' Germany as a whole ' , and the four Allied Powers exercised the sovereign authority they now claimed within Germany in agreeing ' in principle ' the future transfer of lands of the former German Reich east of ' Germany as a whole ' to Poland and the Soviet Union . These eastern areas were notionally placed under Polish and Soviet administration pending a final peace treaty ( which was not formalized until 1990 , 45 years later ) ; but in actuality were promptly reorganized as organic parts of their respective sovereign states . </P>
who agreed to divide germany into zones at the end of ww2
who agreed to divide germany into zones at the end of ww2
the Allies
the Allies