End of WWII

Allies begin to meet BEFORE war ends to determine “peace”

CASABLANCA

• January 1943

• first war conference between Allies

• Only FDR & Churchill met (Stalin did not want to leave USSR under Hitler’s siege)

• determined the war would only end with an “unconditional surrender” of Axis powers

TEHRAN

• December 1943

• First time Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt meet in person

• discuss how to create a “lasting peace” after World War II

• decide to create a “United Nations”

D-Day (1944)• code name “Operation Overlord”

• purpose of the attack was to free parts of France from Axis control, then move into and destroy Germany

• Attack came in three phases – paratroopers, airplanes dropped bombs, and then infantry landed on the beaches

• Allies were successful and began to slowly gain back control of France (had been controlled by Germany for 4 years)

Battle of the Bulge (1944)• following the Allied capture of the first German city, Hitler

ordered an offensive attack

• Germans attempted to divide the Allied lines in half

• battle lasted for a month, with an eventual Allied victory

• Germans lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks, and 1,600 planes

• Germany could no longer effectively attack, could only defend themselves

• simultaneously the Soviets were continuing to push westward towards Germany

Yalta (1945)

• Stalin, Churchill, and FDR meet

•Clear that war in Europe was nearly over and the Allies would win

• determine that when the Germans surrender…

• Germany & Berlin will be split into four zones

• Stalin will aid in war with Japan – attack from the west

• Stalin will allow free elections in Eastern European countries he has liberated from Hitler

YALTA Peace Conference

YALTA continued

Decisions Continued:

• continued discussion on details of United Nations• officially formed 2 years later in S.F

• created to replace the failed League of Nations

• goal is to prevent war

• signed in 1945 by 50 countries

• based in New York City

UN Building NYC

FDR Dies (1945)• FDR dies of a stroke

• Vice President Harry Truman assumes office of the President

V-E Day (1945)

• Soviet troops enter Berlin with Americans approaching from the West

• Hitler commits suicide in his underground bunker

• A week later, on 8th of May 1945, Germany surrenders unconditionally

• war is over in Europe – Victory in Europe Day

July 1945

Truman, Stalin, & Churchill meet to continue peace

talks

Stalin had not allowed any free elections yet

Conflict between Truman and Stalin over reparations

War in Pacific still going on

POTSDAM Peace Conference

In the Pacific…

Battle of Iwo Jima (1945)• strategically important island,

needed as a base to attack mainland Japan

• heavily guarded by Japanese – over 20,700 Japanese soldiers were stationed on the island

• Eventually the Allies succeeded in taking the island

• only 200 Japanese soldiers survived the battle

• showed the Japanese commitment to fighting to the death

Battle for Okinawa (1945)• last location needed to gain

access to Japan

• Japanese used kamikaze attacks to fight off the Allies

• By the time the Allies won the island, 7,600 Americans had died & 110,000 Japanese had died

• estimated that the cost of invading mainland Japan could be over 1 million Allied casualties

• Americans began to wonder how to end the war quickly…

Atomic Bombs Dropped

• August 6th, 1945 the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima

• August 9th, 1945 the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki

• August 14th, 1945 Japan announces it will surrender:

VJ Day – Victory in Japan Day

World War II is officially over!

On another note…

Happy Valentines Day!