Unconditional Surrender
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Unconditional Surrender http://www.nisk.k12.ny.us/fdr/ideas/portfolio/hoag/gifs/43012702.GIF
Unconditional Surrender
The Casablanca Conference
- The only way to ensure postwar peace, they decided, was unconditional surrender
- Focused on destruction of philosophies, not the populations of the Axis
- Situation after WWI could only be avoided by unconditional surrender of Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Who, what, when, and where?
Who: President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill
What: Conference about future global military strategy for the western Allies.
When: January 12–23, 1943
Where: Casablanca, Morocco
Roosevelt and Churchill in Morocco
http://fdrlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/jan14-2-img.jpg
The Shared Goal of the Conference
What was agreed on
All agreed that a Second Front for the fighting was necessary, though they didn't all agree with how this should be enacted
Roosevelt wanted:
- Decisive Concentration: concentration of all Allied forces to force a decisive clash
- Quick action
Churchill wanted:
- To wear down: "implode" Axis power by a combination of blockade, bombing, sabotage and subversion, peripheral campaigns and then a final assault.
- Slower, meticulous action
- Europe First policy continued without ignoring Pacific
- Invasion of Sicily and continuation of supply shipping to Soviets
- Germany was too strong to be attacked all at once, so "wear down" policy was necessary until 1944 when decisive action would be taken
- Strategic bombing of Germany would be enacted full-scale
Extra Discussion
- FDR and Churchill also found time to discuss Nuclear bombs and the future of the war effort in France
Guest Book from the Villa in Casablanca
http://fdrlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/guestbook.jpg
Context
FDR, Churchill, de Galle, and Giraud
http://ww2today.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Roosevelt-Churchil-deGaulle-Giraud.jpeg
- The Allies hadn't met since June of 1942
- The logistics for the next military advancements were still up in the air
- Though Stalin was invited, he couldn't leave Russia in the midst of a huge offensive push
Fears and Concerns
- The British worried that the US would invest too many resources into the Pacific and act too quickly in the creation of the second front
- The Americans feared that the British would worry too little about the Pacific and prolong the war
More from Casablanca
http://schillerinstitute.org/graphics/photos/hist_other/fdr_churchill_Casablanca_Conference.jpg
Roosevelt and Churchill deep in discussion
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/05/03/books/conant-600.jpg