The end of WWII

Creation of Offices

•  Roosevelt created the Office of Scientific Research Development (OSRD) –  Improvements on sonar – DDT – Penicillin production – Manhattan Project

Battle of Stalingrad (Europe)

•  Germans had attacked the Soviets •  August 1942, Germans approached

Stalingrad (Soviet Union) – Named after Stalin

•  Luftwaffe (German Air force) bombed the city

•  Germans advanced at first – Used hand to hand combat – By September, the Germans controlled

9/10 of Stalingrad

Battle of Stalingrad

•  Winter Sets in •  Soviets use the cold as opportunity

– Counter Attack •  Soviets closed around Stalingrad,

trapped the Germans – cut off their supplies

•  Hitler’s orders: stay and fight

Casualties of the Cold

*The German commander surrendered on January 31, 1943

*Two days later, his troops also surrendered

• In defending Stalingrad, Soviets lost 1,100,000 soldiers

• Considered a turning point in war

• Soviets in to Germany

Allied Invasion of North Africa

•  Roosevelt argued for an invasion to divert troops from the Soviet front – Wanted to invade Europe – Operation Torch

•  Invasion of Axis controlled North Africa •  Dwight D Eisenhower - Commanding

American General in North Africa •  Success

Allied Invasion of Italy

•  Allies invaded Italy in summer of 1943

•  Italian Government forced Mussolini to Resign

•  Eventually shot and hung his body •  Germans moved into Italy to fight off

Allies •  Italy was not freed until Germany

collapsed in 1945

Allied Invasion of Europe

•  Eisenhower gathered 3 million American, British and Canadian troops.

•  Code-named Operation Overlord, they invaded the beaches of Northern France on June 6, 1944

•  Heavy casualties on both sides •  Known as D-Day

D-Day

D-Day

D-Day and the Allies

•  Despite Heavy casualties on both sides, the Allies advance

•  Begin liberating France from German occupation

•  By September 1944, Allies had freed France, Belgium and Luxembourg

•  The victory helped Roosevelt be elected to his fourth term as president. –  Unfortunately he died in office of a stroke

The End in WWII in Europe

•  Soviets began pressing west across Poland and into Berlin

•  Liberated Nazi death camps •  SS tried to burn evidence of crimes, it was

too late •  April 25, 1945 Soviet Army stormed Berlin •  Hitler married Eva Braun in underground

bunker –  Shot himself, she took poison On May 8th 1945, V-E Day

V-E Day

Atomic Bomb

•  Japan: large army to defend mainland •  Truman saw only way to avoid an

invasion of Japan and massive loss of American life was nuclear weapon

•  Manhattan Project directed by J. Robert Oppenheimer

•  Truman warned Japan •  August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay dropped

the first bomb on Hiroshima and second on Nagasaki

Hiroshima the day after

Nagasaki

Hiroshima

Hiroshima

Atomic Bomb

•  By the end of the year, over 200,000 people had died as a result of injuries and radiation

•  Emperor Hirohito: Couldn’t see innocent people suffer anymore – Told Japan’s leaders to draw up papers

to end the war

End to war in the Pacific

•  On September 2, 1945: Formal Surrender took place in Tokyo Bay on the battleship Missouri

Yalta Conference

•  The Big Three: Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin

•  February 1945, met in Yalta, Soviet Union. Were celebrating what now seemed to be the almost certain defeat of Germany

•  Talks turned to how to punish Germany •  Stalin: Harsh punishment. Wanted to

keep Germany divided into occupation zones (areas controlled by the Allies) so Germany would never again threaten the Soviet Union

Yalta Conference

•  Churchill strongly disagreed with Stalin. However, Roosevelt acted as a mediator between the two men and was prepared to appease Stalin for two reasons: – 1) He hoped the Soviet Union would

stand by its commitments to join the war against Japan

– 2) Wanted Stalin’s support for a new world peace organization (The United Nations)

Yalta Outcome

•  Roosevelt convinced Churchill to agree to temporary division of Germany into four zones: American, British, Soviet and French.

•  Roosevelt and Churchill believed that in time, all zones would reunite

•  Stalin promised “free elections” in Poland and other Soviet-occupied Eastern European countries –  Also agreed to help out in Pacific –  Also agreed to participate in a conference in

San Francisco about a United Nations

Germany divided into zones

Nuremberg War Trials

•  The discovery of Hitler’s death camps led the Allies to put 24 surviving Nazi leaders on trials for crimes against humanity, crimes against peace and war crimes.

•  12 of the 24 were sentenced to death, most others were sent to prison

•  Important because it established the idea that individuals are responsible for their own actions, even in times of war –  (Could not use “I was following orders” as a

defense”) –  This principle is firmly entrenched in

international law

Nuremberg Trials