US intervention and end of WWII
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
7 December 1941
US enters the war
• December 7, 1941: Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
• 2.5 hours later, Japanese officially declared war on
the United States and Britain.
• Dec. 8: Britain declared war.
• Dec. 8: US Congress declared that a state of war had
existed since December 7.
• Dec. 9: China declared war on Japan, Germany, and
Italy.
• Dec. 11: Germany and Italy declared war on the
United States, and the US Congress voted
declarations in return.
The Grand Alliance
• BIG THREE:
– Great Britain: Winston Churchill
– USA: F.D. Roosevelt
– USSR: Josef Stalin
• Keys to victory: Agreed to:
– Europe first (Hitler - greatest evil)
– Postpone politics (capitalism vs.
communism)
– Unconditional surrender (no 1918!)
yalta conf erence_BE001058.jpg
But war in the east was decisive
• Battle of Stalingrad: summer 1942-February
2, 1943
• Hitler wanted to take the city. Why?
 Named after Stalin
 Important port on Volga river
 But distraction from oil reserves
Battle of Stalingrad: summer 1942-February 2,
1943
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Axis powers advanced (General F. Paulus)
Soviets held on
Axis supplies started running out
Winter came
Panzer tanks useless in street fighting
Soviets counterattacked (pincer movement)
Surrounded Axis forces
Battle of Stalingrad
Street-to-street fighting
Stalingrad
• Feb. 2, 1943: Paulus surrendered (ignored
Hitler).
• Total Axis losses (Germans, Romanians,
Italians, and Hungarians): 800,000 dead.
• Soviet soldiers: 1,100,000 dead.
• But turned the tide of the war.
June 6, 1944: D-Day: Battle of
Normandy
• Long period of preparation and planning
• Largest amphibious landing in history
• Five beaches:
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



Utah
Gold
Juno
Sword
“Bloody” Omaha
 Significance: opened up a large second front
d-day omaha beach_NA007140.jpg
Yalta Conference, February 1945
• Big Three
• Key issue: Poland
– London Poles (pre-WWII govt.)
– Lublin Poles (communists)
• Sovietization
• Big Three agreed on “interim governmental authorities
broadly representative of all democratic elements in the
population . . . and the earliest possible establishment
through free elections of governments responsive to the will
of the people.”
yalta conf erence_BE001058.jpg
ENDGAME
• April 25, 1945: Soviet Army first to reach
Berlin
• April 30: Hitler and Eva Braun committed
suicide
• May 8, 1945: Victory in Europe!!
• War in Europe ended
soviet flag over
reichstag_YK004440.jpg
Trinity Explosion: July 16, 1945
Potsdam Conference, summer 1945
• USA: Harry S Truman
• USSR: J. Stalin
• Great Britain: W. Churchill, then Clement
Atlee
• Solved nothing
• Showed sides in emerging Cold War
• Truman told Stalin about the bomb
End of War with Japan
• August 6, 1945: Hiroshima
• Killed 70,000-90,000 people, injuring another
70,000
• August 9: Nagasaki
• Killed 60,000-75,000 and injured about the same
number
hiroshima bombed_BE042948.jpg
August 14, 1945: Japan surrendered
• Total deaths: ca. 70 million
• Civilians: 46.5 million; Soldiers: 23.5 million
Poland: 16% of 1939 population
Lithuania: 14%
USSR: 14%
Germany: 10%
Hungary: 6%
Japan: 4.1%
China: 3.4%
France: 1.35%
United Kingdom: 0.9%
USA: 0.32%