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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