Allied Military Strategy
(1941-1945)
Causes for World War II
UNDERLYING:
 Treaty of Versailles
 Nationalism
 Worldwide
Depression
 Dictatorships
 The policy of
appeasement
 American
Isolationism
DIRECT:
 Germany invading
Poland on
September 1st,
1939
The Liberation of Europe
 FDR:
Liberate Europe first
and pursue an “active
defense” in the Pacific
 Clear Germany from North
Africa
 Late 1942: Only Tunisia
was controlled by Axis
Powers
Erwin Rommel,
the “Desert Fox”
Allied Advances in Europe
(1943-1944)
 January,
1943: Allies
agree to fight until they
win “unconditional
surrender”
 February 1943: SU
takes back Stalingrad
and moves westward
 Same time, Allied
victory at El Alamein
(May 1943) begins to
Allied Advancements Cont…
 July
10, 1943: The
invasion of Italy.
 Fighting continues
from July 1943 to
June 1944 when
Allies enter Rome
 Separate peace was
signed with new
Italian government
in September, 1943
Unconditional Surrender in Europe
(1944-1945)
 Britain
and U.S. air raid
strategic sights in Germany
 June 6, 1944: D-Day and
the Allied invasion of
Normandy
 Battle at Normandy lasted
from June 6-July 24
 August 25, 1944: France
liberated
Germany’s Last Gasp Effort
 Hitler
was caught between
Allied troops coming from
the West and Stalin’s forces
coming from the East.
 December 1944: Battle of
the Bulge
 April 25, 1945: Russia and
Allied Forces meet
 May 8, 1945: Germany
surrenders (V-E DAY)
YALTA CONFERENCE
(February 1945)
Plans for German
surrender
 Stalin agrees to hold
free elections and
help with Japan
 Division of
Germany/Berlin into 4
zones
 Initiated Cold War

Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin
Allied Military Strategy in the
Pacific (1941-1945)
 By
1942, Japan had controlled almost the
entire area of the Pacific (1 mil sq. miles)
 Allies were able to hold on to Hawaii and
Samoa
 Used powerful combination of land, sea,
and air forces to capture key islands
 Implement the strategy of “ISLAND
HOPPING”
Fortunes Shift in the Pacific
Battle of Coral Sea
(May 1942)
 Fought
through the air
 The
Americans lost an
aircraft carrier in the
battle but stopped the
Japanese attack.
 First
time the
Japanese advance had
been halted
Battle of Midway (June
1942)
 Japan
tried to lure the
Americans into a large sea
battle around Midway
Island.
 Naval
officers had broken
a Japanese code and
learned of the plan.
 The
Americans damanged
/destroyed 4 Japanese
carriers and won a major
victory.
Iwo Jima
 In
February 1945
American forces set
out to capture Iwo
Jima.

The island would
provide a good base to
launch raids against
major Japanese cities.
 Island
located 660
miles from Tokyo
 American
control
island by March
Okinawa
 Invaded
on April 1, 1945.
 The
island was to be the
launching pad for the final
invasion of Japan. (350
miles from Japan)
 It
was a bloody battle;
more than 12,500
Americans died
 Like
Iwo Jima, the
Japanese refused to
surrender and lost a
staggering 110,000 troops.
 Allies
gained control of the
island in June 1945.
Legacy of Total War
(Strategic Bombing)
Targeting cities for their industrial targets
and civilians was viewed as a
psychological weapon to break the
enemy's will to fight.
 Cities targeted…….London, Berlin,
Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Osaka,
Kobe……
 And then……..Hiroshima/Nagasaki (Aug.
1945)

THE COSTS OF THE WAR
 U.S.
lost over 300,000
 World suffered at least 60 million
dead (38 million civilians)
 Over 25 million Russians alone died
 Over 11 million in death camps
 New fears arise after the war– fight
to contain Communism– THE COLD
WAR ERA!!