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 poisonOn 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