Road to Allied Victory
Overview
The Tehran and Yalta Conferences
The Tehran Conference was a strategy meeting between Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill that lasted from November 28 until December 1, 1943, in Tehran, Iran. It resulted in the Western Allies’ commitment to open a second front against Nazi Germany.
Learning Objectives
- Evaluate the significance and goals of the 1943 Tehran Conference.
- Evaluate the significance and goals of the 1945 Yalta Conference.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Big Three: the leaders of the main three Allied countries: the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, namely led by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin
Declaration of Liberated Europe: a declaration created by Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin during the Yalta Conference that gave the people of Europe the choice to “create democratic institutions of their own choice”
Tehran Conference: meeting of the Allied leaders of the U.S., U.K, and U.S.S.R. to discuss opening up a second front in Europe
The Yalta Conference: the meeting of the Big Three in February 1945 at Livadia, Crimea to discuss the restructuring of Europe when the war ended
The Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference was a strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill from November 28 to December 1, 1943. It was held in the Soviet Union’s embassy in Tehran, Iran and was the first World War II conference of the “Big Three” Allied leaders. Although the three leaders arrived with differing objectives, the main outcome of the Tehran Conference was the Western Allies’ commitment to open a second front against Nazi Germany. The conference also addressed the Allies’ relations with Turkey and Iran, operations in Yugoslavia and against Japan, and the envisaged post-war settlement. A separate protocol signed at the conference pledged the Big Three to recognize Iran’s independence.
Proceedings
The conference was to convene at 4 p.m. on November 28, 1943. Stalin arrived early, followed by Roosevelt, who was brought in his wheelchair. It was here that Roosevelt, who had traveled 7,000 miles (11,000 km) to attend and whose health was already deteriorating, met Stalin for the first time. Churchill, walking with his General Staff from their accommodations nearby, arrived half an hour later.
The U.S. and Great Britain wanted to secure the cooperation of the Soviet Union in defeating Germany. Stalin agreed, but at a price: the U.S. and Britain would accept Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, support the Yugoslav Partisans, and agree to a westward shift of the border between Poland and the Soviet Union.
The leaders then turned to the conditions under which the Western Allies would open a new front by invading northern France, just as Stalin had pressed them to do since 1941. It was agreed that Operation Overlord—the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France—would occur by May 1944; Stalin agreed to support it by launching a concurrent major offensive on Germany’s eastern front to divert German forces from northern France.
The subjects of Iran and Turkey were also discussed in detail. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin all agreed to support Iran’s government. In addition, the Soviet Union was required to pledge support to Turkey if that country entered the war. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed that it would also be most desirable if Turkey entered on the Allies’ side before the year was out.
Despite accepting the previously mentioned arrangements, Stalin dominated the conference, using the prestige of the Soviet victory at the Battle of Kursk on the Eastern Front to get his way. Roosevelt attempted to cope with Stalin’s onslaught of demands but was able to do little except appease him. Churchill argued for the invasion of Italy in 1943, then Overlord in 1944, on the basis that Overlord was physically impossible in 1943 and it would be unthinkable to do anything major until it could be launched in a realistic fashion.
Results
The Yugoslav Partisans were given full Allied support. The Communist Partisans under Tito took power in Yugoslavia as the Germans retreated from the Balkans.
Turkey’s president conferred with Roosevelt and Churchill at the Cairo Conference in November 1943 and promised to enter the war when it was fully armed. By August 1944 Turkey broke off relations with Germany. In February 1945, Turkey declared war on Germany and Japan, which may have been a symbolic move that allowed Turkey to join the future United Nations.
The invasion of France on June 6, 1944 took place about as planned, and the supporting invasion of southern France also occurred. The Soviets launched a major offensive against the Germans on June 22, 1944.
The Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference, held February 4 – 11, 1945, was the meeting of Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin to discuss Europe’s post-war reorganization. The Big Three met at Tsar Nicholas’ former palace in Livadia, Crimea. The Yalta conference was a crucial turning point in the Cold War.
The Conference
All three leaders attempted to establish an agenda for governing post-war Europe and keeping peace between post-war countries. However, by August 1944, Soviet forces were inside Poland and Romania as part of their drive west. And by the time of the Conference, Red Army Marshal Georgy Zhukov’s forces were 40 miles from Berlin; consequently, Stalin felt his position at the conference was so strong that he could dictate terms. And this led to a more diplomatic approach from Roosevelt and Churchill. According to U.S. delegation member and future Secretary of State James F. Byrnes, “It was not a question of what we would let the Russians do, but what we could get the Russians to do.” But each leader certainly had their own agendas for the Yalta Conference.
Roosevelt wanted Soviet support in the U.S. Pacific War against Japan, specifically for the planned invasion of Japan, and Soviet participation in the United Nations. Churchill pressed for free elections and democratic governments in Eastern and Central Europe (specifically Poland). And Stalin demanded a Soviet sphere of political influence in Eastern and Central Europe, an essential aspect of the USSR’s national security strategy.
Poland was the first item on the Soviet agenda. Stalin stated that “For the Soviet government, the question of Poland was one of honor,” but he also viewed it as a matter of security because Poland had served as a historical corridor for forces attempting to invade Russia. In addition, Stalin stated that “because the Russians had greatly sinned against Poland,” “the Soviet government was trying to atone for those sins.” Stalin concluded that “Poland must be strong” and that “the Soviet Union is interested in the creation of a mighty, free and independent Poland.” Accordingly, Stalin stipulated that Polish government-in-exile demands were not negotiable: the Soviet Union would keep the territory of eastern Poland they had already annexed in 1939, and Poland was to be compensated by extending its western borders at the expense of Germany. Stalin promised free elections in Poland despite the Soviet-sponsored provisional government recently installed in Polish territories occupied by the Red Army.
The Declaration of Liberated Europe was a promise that allowed the people of Europe “to create democratic institutions of their own choice.” The declaration pledged, “the earliest possible establishment through free elections governments responsive to the will of the people.” This is similar to the statements of the Atlantic Charter, which says, “the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live.” Stalin broke the pledge by encouraging Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and many more countries to construct a Communist government instead of letting the people construct their own. These countries later became known as Stalin’s Satellite Nations.
Long-term Impact
The meeting of the Big Three at Tehran established the precedent of, “The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend.” Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin despised one another. Franklin Roosevelt, who had been Churchill’s close associate for years, was able to work with both men. If he did not win the friendship of Stalin, he did win his respect—something that his successors would never be able to achieve during the Cold War. Still, the three men worked together in order to come up with a viable plan to defeat Nazi Germany. It was the first of several critical meetings between the leaders of the chief nations of the Allies.
The Yalta Conference was intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. Within a few years, with the Cold War dividing the continent, Yalta had become a subject of intense controversy. To a degree, it has remained controversial.
Poland Fights Back: The Warsaw Uprising of 1944
Over the course of World War II, Poland and its people suffered enormously. In 1944, the Poles decided they had had enough of occupation and oppression by Nazi Germany. Despite being severely outgunned, the Poles undertook the largest resistance operation against Nazi oppression--the Warsaw Uprising.
Learning Objectives
- Evaluate the role of resistance in World War II.
- Analyze the significance and outcome of the Warsaw Uprising.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Polish Government in-exile: legitimate government of independent Poland that was evacuated to London at the start of the war
Polish Home Army: primary Polish resistance force during World War II, stationed underground throughout Poland
Warsaw Uprising: August – October 1944 attempt by the Polish Home Army to overthrow Nazi rule in Warsaw and reclaim Polish independence
Wola and Ochota: districts of Warsaw that suffered horrific actions by the Nazis and their allies during the Warsaw Uprising
Background
Following the 1939 invasion of Poland, the Polish government fled the country. They were rescued and brought to London, where they attempted to govern the Polish people from afar. For the duration of the war, the London-based government was named the Polish government-in-exile. In the wake of the government’s departure, and Poland’s occupation by the Germans and Soviets, the Polish Home Army was formed. Over the course of the war, it became the largest resistance force in Europe. It attracted people from all works of life who worked for the larger, Polish underground state. Members of the partisans worked as both intelligence gatherers and resistance fighters. Often, they hid in underground, covert locations and launched periodic attacks on the Germans during the occupation. In other instances, Home Army soldiers were Polish troops who had escaped to England early in the war, who were later redeployed; this included the group of Polish special ops forces called the Cichociemni—elite troops remembered still by their unit nickname: “The Silent Unseen.” By the summer of 1944, it was comprised of between 200,000 – 600,000 men and women. Increasingly, the Home Army was pro-Polish independence, which meant a deteriorating relationship with the Soviets.
In 1943, the Polish government-in-exile proposed that the Home Army should stage several small revolts throughout Poland as the Red Army advanced; and German defenses seemed strained. By the summer of 1944, the Red Army was closing in on Warsaw. The Allies had successfully opened up a second theater of war in Western Europe, which forced Germany to divide its forces, leaving its eastern armies weaker. News circulated among the Poles that a Polish-led uprising would soon take place. With the Red Army in sight, the Polish-government-in-exile negotiated with the Polish Home Army. A date was agreed upon, news circulated to the members of the Polish underground resistance, and preparations were made. Although poorly equipped in comparison to the Germans, Warsaw would fight back. The hope was that the Soviets would weaken the German armies, then support the Polish uprising when it occurred. That hope would be ill-founded.
The Uprising Begins
The Warsaw Uprising began at 5:00 PM on August 1. Across the city, soldiers took to the streets and launched coordinated attacks on German positions throughout Warsaw. Much of the city covertly helped the effort, either by transferring information or producing materials for the uprising. But from the outset of the uprising, the Poles stood little chance of defeating the Germans on their own. They had roughly three thousand personal guns at the start of the uprising, a handful of machine guns, and essentially no heavy military equipment. Although a few German tanks were seized, the reality remained that the Poles were drastically outgunned and their troops were unaccustomed to fighting prolonged battles throughout the day.
It is likely that the Poles understood they could not defeat the Germans on their own. They instead, believed that the rapidly advancing Soviet Red Army would come to their aid. Although the Poles and Russians had experienced deteriorating relationships since the war began, the Poles believed that their common enemy—the Nazis—would unite their cause. Instead, the Soviets remained just to the east of Warsaw and never offered ground or air support, despite having a nearby air base. The reasons for Soviet inactivity during the Warsaw Uprising is still questioned and debated by historians. Regardless, their inaction would be the undoing for the Warsaw Uprising. For six weeks, the Poles would fight almost entirely alone against the Germans.
The Poles initially secured positions throughout Warsaw in the early days of the uprising. Tragically, their early successes prompted some of the most severe retaliation by the Germans of the war. As the western front lines moved into the neighborhoods of Wola and Ochota on August 4, the Poles would witness horrors that they could scarcely have imagined.
The Wola and Ochota Massacres
The Poles living in Warsaw during the uprising endured deprivation and extreme violence. In response to Polish attacks, Heinrich Himmler, Chief of the German SS, ordered his troops to make an example of Warsaw and raze it to the ground. As historian Timothy Snyder discusses in his renowned work, Bloodlands, Special SS Commando Oskar Paul Dirlewanger was sent with other ruthless SS commanders to suppress the Poles.
Mass looting, mass rapes, and mass murder of civilians devastated the Polish districts of Wola and Ochota. The SS went from house to house, shooting civilians regardless of age or gender. Mass killings occurred wherever the Germans and their allies discovered sheltering Poles. Even the hospital workers were not spared. Nurses were raped, stripped of their clothing, and hung. Homes, factories, businesses, and bodies burned throughout Warsaw. At the end of the massacres, estimates of civilian casualties reached as high as 100,000. As Snyder discusses, the German force deployed against Polish civilians is indescribable. “If military casualties on both sides of the [Warsaw Uprising] are counted, the ratio of [Polish] civilian casualties to military dead is 1000:1.”
The Uprising Ends
Within weeks, the Polish civilians began to suffer not only from the violence of the uprising, but also from lack of food and clean water. The Polish Home Army realized that they were severely outgunned, and that Soviet troops would not be reinforcing them. Moreover, the Soviets had balked at the idea of Western Allies supplying aid to the Warsaw Uprising. British and American pilots did drop supplies to Warsaw, but their aid proved too little, too late. The Germans secured Warsaw. The city’s sixty-three-day battle for independence failed.
On October 2, 1944, the Poles surrendered to the Germans and were promised humane treatment. However, more than a thousand Home Army soldiers were sent to German labor camps. Others slipped silent and unseen into the population, ready to fight when the call again rang. But, in response to the uprising, Hitler had ordered that Warsaw be “razed to the ground.” Consequently, the remainder of Poles in Warsaw were forced from the city. Thousands were sent to labor camps, thousands of others were killed at Auschwitz and other camps, but several thousand were sent to various parts of the German Reich to work. By the end of 1944, Hitler’s goal to erase Warsaw off the global map was virtually complete. Roughly 85% of the city had been destroyed through combat, the Uprising, and German bombings. In January 1945 when the Red Army entered Warsaw, they were met with smoldering ruins and little more.
Significance in the War
The Warsaw Uprising was one of the most significant moments of resistance to Nazi Germany occupation in all of World War II. And yet, the consequences for the civilian population would have, almost assuredly, been significantly less had the uprising never occurred. Tens of thousands of Polish civilians became the targets of extreme violence by the Nazis and their allies in August 1944. Despite the loss, the Poles remained committed to the battle for their independence until they accepted that the Red Army would not help their cause, and they could not win alone. The legacy of the Uprising remains mixed. On the one hand, it resulted in the near destruction of the city and brutal murders of tens of thousands of its civilians. On the other hand, it marked a moment in history where an occupied people stood up together against the odds to fight against oppression. Most tragically, inaction on the part of the Allies, particularly the Soviets, resulted in the complete failure of the Warsaw Uprising. And for the Poles, the story of occupation did not end with the Nazis. Instead, they would face their historic occupier—the Russians—in 1945. Although far less brutal than the Nazis, the Russians quickly demonstrated that they could also impose harsh measures on any Pole who did not solidly support communist rule.
The Battle of the Bulge and Westward Push to Berlin
The war in Europe concluded with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet and Polish troops and the subsequent German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945.
Learning Objectives
- Identify the key events and circumstances that led to Germany’s unconditional surrender and the end of World War II in Europe.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Battle of Berlin: final major offensive of the European theatre of World War II when the Soviet Red Army invaded Berlin, Germany
Battle of the Bulge: last major German offensive battle on the Western Front in the winter of 1944 – 45
V-E Day: Victory in Europe Day; May 8, 1945
The Battle of the Bulge
The “Battle of the Bulge” earned its name from the initial success on side of the German army. In the early stage of the battle, the Germans cut a deep line of division between the Allies. On a map, the success of the German army’s advance appeared to “bulge” westward toward Belgium.
On December 16, 1944, Germany launched a last offensive campaign on the Western Front. The Germans advanced into the Ardennes Forest to in order to split the Western Allies, encircle large portions of Western Allied troops, and capture their primary supply port at Antwerp. The goal was to achieve a more leveraged peace settlement. The Germans initial phase of the battle caught the Allies totally by surprise and forced their retreat.
For the Americans, the Battle of the Bulge was the deadliest of the war. Fought during an unusually cold and snowy winter, Americans sustained over 100,000 casualties in just six weeks. Ultimately, the German advance halted due to a fuel shortages and Allied reinforcements. It was the last German offensive of World War II. For the next three and a half months, the Germans would retreat eastward toward the German border in preparation for an Allied assault on their homeland.
The Western Allied Invasion of Germany
The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theater of World War II. The Allied invasion of Germany started with the Western Allies crossing the River Rhine in March 1945 before overrunning all of western Germany—from the Baltic in the north to Austria in the south—before the Germans surrendered on May 8, 1945. This is known as the “Central Europe Campaign” in United States military histories and is often considered the end of the second World War in Europe.
By the beginning of the Central Europe Campaign, Allied victory in Europe was inevitable. Having gambled his future ability to defend Germany on the Ardennes offensive and lost, Hitler had no strength left to stop the powerful Allied armies. The Western Allies still had to fight, often bitterly, for victory. Even when the hopelessness of the German situation became obvious to his most loyal subordinates, Hitler refused to admit defeat. Only when Soviet artillery was falling around his Berlin headquarters bunker did he begin to perceive the inevitable final outcome.
The crossing of the Rhine, the encirclement and reduction of the Ruhr, and the sweep to the Elbe-Mulde line and the Alps all established the final campaign on the Western Front as a showcase for Allied superiority in maneuver warfare. These mobile forces made great thrusts to isolate pockets of German troops, which were mopped up by additional infantry following close behind. The Allies rapidly eroded any remaining ability to resist.
The Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin was the final major offensive of the European theater of World War II. The first defensive preparations at the outskirts of Berlin were made on March 20 under the newly appointed German commander, General Gotthard Heinrici. Before the main battle in Berlin commenced, the Red Army encircled the city. On April 16, 1945, two Soviet Red Army groups attacked Berlin from the east and south, while a third overran German forces positioned north of Berlin. On April 20, 1945, the Red Army began shelling Berlin’s city center, while a unit of Ukrainian troops pushed from the south. Defenses in Berlin consisted of several depleted and disorganized Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS divisions, along with poorly trained Hitler Youth members. Within the next few days, the Red Army reached the city center, where close-quarter combat raged.
The city’s garrison surrendered to Soviet forces on May 2, but fighting continued to the northwest, west, and southwest of the city until the end of the war in Europe on May 8. In the final days of the war, German units fought westward so that they could surrender to the Western Allies rather than to the Soviets. They widely believed that the British and American soldiers would be more likely to treat them with respect than the Soviets. In contrast, the Germans feared brutal reprisals would be carried out against them if they surrendered to the Soviets.
V-E Day
On May 8 1945, the world celebrated V-E Day—or Victory in Europe Day. After almost six years of warfare and genocidal actions in Europe, Nazi Germany and its allies were defeated. And yet, just as the war in Europe ended, it intensified in the Pacific Theater of War. American and British troops, war-weary and ready for peace, anticipated that they would soon be transferred to an even more brutal theater of war than the one they had just won.
April 1945: The Deaths of FDR, Mussolini, and Hitler
In April 1945, three heads of state died: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler. All three had governed their countries for more than a decade. Each had a strong effect on their country. And two of them, Mussolini and Hitler, suffered unnatural deaths. Roosevelt, the oldest of the three, died of a stroke in his country home in Warm Springs, Georgia. In the final days of World War II, new leaders would attempt to hold their countries together.
Learning Objectives
- Evaluate the impact of the deaths of Hitler, Mussolini, and Roosevelt on their respective countries.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Claretta Petacci: Mussolini’s mistress who was arrested and executed with him
Eva Braun: Hitler’s long-time mistress who he married one day before their double suicide
Führerbunker: bunker in Berlin where Hitler committed suicide
Harry Truman: FDR’s vice president who succeeded him after Roosevelt’s death
Karl Dönitz: Grand Admiral of the German fleet who succeeded Hitler as head-of-state after Hitler’s suicide
Little White House: FDR’s home in Warm Springs, GA where he died of a massive stroke
Piazalle Loreto: city square in Milan where Mussolini and Petacci’s bodies were displayed
Walter Audisio: Communist partisan who is believed to have executed Mussolini
The Death of a President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an ill man from the beginning of his presidency. Despite his warm and cordial exterior, he was a lonely person who, despite appearances, was still largely paralyzed from contracting Polio at the age of 39. He also suffered from high blood pressure, stress, and exhaustion. In the spring of 1945, Roosevelt traveled to his private home in Warm Springs, Georgia, which was dubbed the “Little White House” because he spent a good amount of time there. The home was small and quaint for a man of Roosevelt’s pedigree. He had found comfort in the rural Georgia mountains, though. During his initial recovery from Polio, his home in Warm Springs had offered solace and tranquility. Less than a month before Germany’s surrender, Roosevelt traveled to his home in Warm Springs to rest.
On the afternoon of April 12, Roosevelt sat for a portrait before Elizabeth Shoumatoff, an acclaimed artist. Around noon, he announced, “I have a terrific headache.” The president then collapsed. Doctors arrived and found Roosevelt unconscious. Three hours later, the 32nd president of the United States was dead. Roosevelt’s physician diagnosed the president as having had a massive stroke. The portrait of Roosevelt, titled the Unfinished Portrait, still hangs in the Little White House. Beside it is a second, completed portrait based on Shoumatoff’s memories of the president.
The public mourning for Roosevelt was unprecedented. For many Americans, it was hard to recall a president before FDR, who had served for over twelve years. For others, Roosevelt had represented the leader who had guided the United States through two of its greatest crises: the Great Depression and World War II. He personified the American spirit in a way his predecessors had not. Despite his privileged background, he had touched the lives of many of America’s poor, forgotten, and ignored. Tens of thousands of mourners watched his funeral train as it slowly carried Roosevelt’s casket from Georgia to his family home in Hyde Park, New York. As requested, Roosevelt was buried in his family’s rose garden.
Upon Roosevelt’s passing, Vice President Harry Truman was appointed president of the United States. Truman, however, was well-aware of the public’s mood. Far from celebrating his new position, Truman encouraged the country to mourn for their president for thirty days and kept the flags at half-mast. Truman, despite his capable qualities, would find it impossible to live up to his predecessor’s popularity.
The Death of Mussolini
If Franklin Roosevelt’s death was sedate and honorable, Benito Mussolini’s death sixteen days later was far from it.
In 1943, Italy was losing the war. The Allies were quickly gaining ground in Sicily and would push up through the southern part of Italy. Moreover, Italian civilians were suffering from lack of food and fuel. Support for the war was crumbling, and Mussolini discovered his country no longer supported his dictatorship. In July 1943, Mussolini was voted out of power and into exile on an Italian island. In September, the Italians signed an armistice with the Allies.
When the armistice was signed, the Germans rushed into northern Italy to occupy it. The Germans also quickly rescued Mussolini and instilled him as a puppet-dictator in the Northern Italian state called the Italian Social Republic. Although Mussolini tried to remain strong, it was evident that he was controlled by his German liberators. Among other deeds, he aided in the round-up and execution of Italian Jews. In the spring of 1945, the Allies pressed into northern Italy. With the Germans in retreat, Mussolini faced a decision: to be handed over to the Allies to face war crimes or try to escape. Fatefully, he chose the latter.
Mussolini's Failed Escape and Death
With the Allies quickly advancing into northern Italy, the Germans were in rapid retreat. And Mussolini tried to escape before the Allies could capture him. On April 25, he and his mistress, Carletta Petacci, climbed into a truck. It was part of a convoy carrying fascists out of the city of Milan. Bad luck awaited Mussolini two days later. On April 27, a group of Italian communist partisans stopped the convoy. They hunted the trucks and found Mussolini and his mistress crouched against the door.
In captivity, Benito Mussolini spent what must have proved a restless night. While he and his mistress awaited their fate, his captors discussed the same issue. At last, it was decided that Mussolini should be shot. Accounts differ about the nature of Mussolini’s execution in several points. However, they agree that on the morning of April 28, he and his mistress were led outside and stood against a wall. There, they were both shot multiple times, likely by a communist partisan named Walter Audisio.
The following morning, the corpses of Mussolini and his mistress were driven to Piazalle Loreto, a central city square in Milan. There, they were strung up on meat hooks beside other fascists outside of a gas station for the Italian public to see. Crowds formed and soon, the corpses became targets for stone-throwers. The corpses were badly mangled before being taken down and buried in unmarked graves. It wasn’t until the 1950s that Mussolini’s corpse was buried in his family crypt.
Adolf Hitler's Final Days
On April 22, Hitler learned news that sent him into a fury of rage—the Russian Red Army had entered Berlin. There would be no counter-offensive, no attack that could repel the Russian invasion. Hitler resolved, according to witnesses to commit suicide rather than face the end before the Allies.
Around midnight of April 29, Hitler married his long-time mistress, Eva Braun. Later that day, Hitler heard of Mussolini’s violent death by his own people. The death of Mussolini deeply affected Hitler. Mussolini had been an early teacher, an ally, and a fellow fascist. And his own people had slaughtered him during his attempt to escape. Hitler decided not to risk the same fate.
Deep in his Führerbunker in Berlin, Hitler prepared to commit suicide. Sometime on April 30, Hitler shot himself in the head. His wife took cyanide. Their bodies were found, taken outside, and burned before the Soviets could recover them.
For the next week, Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz was the German head-of-state. However, Berlin quickly fell to the Soviets, and the German people lost the will to fight. On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies. The following day, people around the world celebrated Victory Day in Europe.
At the time of their respective deaths, it is likely that each of the three leaders knew how World War II would end in Europe. Roosevelt’s intimate conversations with Churchill and Stalin, as well as his military intelligence, suggested that he knew an Allied victory was close at hand. Mussolini had seen the Germans retreat from northern Italy, and the separate peace signed between Italy and the Allies. And Hitler knew that at the time of his death, the Red Army was upon him, fighting throughout the German capital. Although all three men had led their countries through World War II, none would live to see its conclusion in early May 1945. In all three cases, their passing signaled the end of an era in their respective countries and the start of a new one.
Primary Source: The Yalta Conference
February, 1945
Washington, March 24 - The text of the agreements reached at the Crimea (Yalta) Conference between President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Generalissimo Stalin, as released by the State Department today, follows:
PROTOCOL OF PROCEEDINGS OF CRIMEA CONFERENCE
The Crimea Conference of the heads of the Governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which took place from Feb. 4 to 11, came to the following conclusions:
I. WORLD ORGANIZATION
It was decided:
1. That a United Nations conference on the proposed world organization should be summoned for Wednesday, 25 April, 1945, and should be held in the United States of America.
2. The nations to be invited to this conference should be:
(a) the United Nations as they existed on 8 Feb., 1945; and
(b) Such of the Associated Nations as have declared war on the common enemy by 1 March, 1945. (For this purpose, by the term "Associated Nations" was meant the eight Associated Nations and Turkey.) When the conference on world organization is held, the delegates of the United Kingdom and United State of America will support a proposal to admit to original membership two Soviet Socialist Republics, i.e., the Ukraine and White Russia.
3. That the United States Government, on behalf of the three powers, should consult the Government of China and the French Provisional Government in regard to decisions taken at the present conference concerning the proposed world organization.
4. That the text of the invitation to be issued to all the nations which would take part in the United Nations conference should be as follows:
"The Government of the United States of America, on behalf of itself and of the Governments of the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics and the Republic of China and of the Provisional Government of the French Republic invite the Government of -------- to send representatives to a conference to be held on 25 April, 1945, or soon thereafter , at San Francisco, in the United States of America, to prepare a charter for a general international organization for the maintenance of international peace and security.
"The above-named Governments suggest that the conference consider as affording a basis for such a Charter the proposals for the establishment of a general international organization which were made public last October as a result of the Dumbarton Oaks conference and which have now been supplemented by the following provisions for Section C of Chapter VI:
C. Voting
"1. Each member of the Security Council should have one vote.
"2. Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members.
"3. Decisions of the Security Council on all matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members, including the concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that, in decisions under Chapter VIII, Section A and under the second sentence of Paragraph 1 of Chapter VIII, Section C, a party to a dispute should abstain from voting.'
"Further information as to arrangements will be transmitted subsequently.
"In the event that the Government of -------- desires in advance of the conference to present views or comments concerning the proposals, the Government of the United States of America will be pleased to transmit such views and comments to the other participating Governments."
Territorial trusteeship:
It was agreed that the five nations which will have permanent seats on the Security Council should consult each other prior to the United Nations conference on the question of territorial trusteeship.
The acceptance of this recommendation is subject to its being made clear that territorial trusteeship will only apply to
- (a) existing mandates of the League of Nations;
- (b) territories detached from the enemy as a result of the present war;
- (c) any other territory which might voluntarily be placed under trusteeship; and
- (d) no discussion of actual territories is contemplated at the forthcoming United Nations conference or in the preliminary consultations, and it will be a matter for subsequent agreement which territories within the above categories will be place under trusteeship.
[Begin first section published Feb., 13, 1945.]
II. DECLARATION OF LIBERATED EUROPE
The following declaration has been approved:
The Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the President of the United States of America have consulted with each other in the common interests of the people of their countries and those of liberated Europe. They jointly declare their mutual agreement to concert during the temporary period of instability in liberated Europe the policies of their three Governments in assisting the peoples liberated from the domination of Nazi Germany and the peoples of the former Axis satellite states of Europe to solve by democratic means their pressing political and economic problems.
The establishment of order in Europe and the rebuilding of national economic life must be achieved by processes which will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last vestiges of nazism and fascism and to create democratic institutions of their own choice. This is a principle of the Atlantic Charter - the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live - the restoration of sovereign rights and self-government to those peoples who have been forcibly deprived to them by the aggressor nations.
To foster the conditions in which the liberated people may exercise these rights, the three governments will jointly assist the people in any European liberated state or former Axis state in Europe where, in their judgment conditions require,
- (a) to establish conditions of internal peace;
- (b) to carry out emergency relief measures for the relief of distressed peoples;
- (c) to form interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population and pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections of Governments responsive to the will of the people; and
- (d) to facilitate where necessary the holding of such elections.
The three Governments will consult the other United Nations and provisional authorities or other Governments in Europe when matters of direct interest to them are under consideration.
When, in the opinion of the three Governments, conditions in any European liberated state or former Axis satellite in Europe make such action necessary, they will immediately consult together on the measure necessary to discharge the joint responsibilities set forth in this declaration.
By this declaration we reaffirm our faith in the principles of the Atlantic Charter, our pledge in the Declaration by the United Nations and our determination to build in cooperation with other peace-loving nations world order, under law, dedicated to peace, security, freedom and general well-being of all mankind.
In issuing this declaration, the three powers express the hope that the Provisional Government of the French Republic may be associated with them in the procedure suggested.
[End first section published Feb., 13, 1945.]
III. DISMEMBERMENT OF GERMANY
It was agreed that Article 12 (a) of the Surrender terms for Germany should be amended to read as follows:
"The United Kingdom, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shall possess supreme authority with respect to Germany. In the exercise of such authority they will take such steps, including the complete dismemberment of Germany as they deem requisite for future peace and security."
The study of the procedure of the dismemberment of Germany was referred to a committee consisting of Mr. Anthony Eden, Mr. John Winant, and Mr. Fedor T. Gusev. This body would consider the desirability of associating with it a French representative.
IV. ZONE OF OCCUPATION FOR THE FRENCH AND CONTROL COUNCIL FOR GERMANY.
It was agreed that a zone in Germany, to be occupied by the French forces, should be allocated France. This zone would be formed out of the British and American zones and its extent would be settled by the British and Americans in consultation with the French Provisional Government.
It was also agreed that the French Provisional Government should be invited to become a member of the Allied Control Council for Germany.
V. REPARATION
The following protocol has been approved:
Protocol
On the Talks Between the Heads of Three Governments at the Crimean Conference on the Question of the German Reparations in Kind
1. Germany must pay in kind for the losses caused by her to the Allied nations in the course of the war. Reparations are to be received in the first instance by those countries which have borne the main burden of the war, have suffered the heaviest losses and have organized victory over the enemy.
2. Reparation in kind is to be exacted from Germany in three following forms:
- (a) Removals within two years from the surrender of Germany or the cessation of organized resistance from the national wealth of Germany located on the territory of Germany herself as well as outside her territory (equipment, machine tools, ships, rolling stock, German investments abroad, shares of industrial, transport and other enterprises in Germany, etc.), these removals to be carried out chiefly for the purpose of destroying the war potential of Germany.
- (b) Annual deliveries of goods from current production for a period to be fixed.
- (c) Use of German labor.
3. For the working out on the above principles of a detailed plan for exaction of reparation from Germany an Allied reparation commission will be set up in Moscow. It will consist of three representatives - one from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, one from the United Kingdom and one from the United States of America.
4. With regard to the fixing of the total sum of the reparation as well as the distribution of it among the countries which suffered from the German aggression, the Soviet and American delegations agreed as follows:
"The Moscow reparation commission should take in its initial studies as a basis for discussion the suggestion of the Soviet Government that the total sum of the reparation in accordance with the points (a) and (b) of the Paragraph 2 should be 22 billion dollars and that 50 per cent should go to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics."
The British delegation was of the opinion that, pending consideration of the reparation question by the Moscow reparation commission, no figures of reparation should be mentioned.
The above Soviet-American proposal has been passed to the Moscow reparation commission as one of the proposals to be considered by the commission.
VI. MAJOR WAR CRIMINALS
The conference agreed that the question of the major war criminals should be the subject of inquiry by the three Foreign Secretaries for report in due course after the close of the conference.
[Begin second section published Feb. 13, 1945.]
VII. POLAND
The following declaration on Poland was agreed by the conference:
"A new situation has been created in Poland as a result of her complete liberation by the Red Army. This calls for the establishment of a Polish Provisional Government which can be more broadly based than was possible before the recent liberation of the western part of Poland. The Provisional Government which is now functioning in Poland should therefore be reorganized on a broader democratic basis with the inclusion of democratic leaders from Poland itself and from Poles abroad. This new Government should then be called the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity.
"M. Molotov, Mr. Harriman and Sir A. Clark Kerr are authorized as a commission to consult in the first instance in Moscow with members of the present Provisional Government and with other Polish democratic leaders from within Poland and from abroad, with a view to the reorganization of the present Government along the above lines. This Polish Provisional Government of National Unity shall be pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as possible on the basis of universal suffrage and secret ballot. In these elections all democratic and anti-Nazi parties shall have the right to take part and to put forward candidates.
"When a Polish Provisional of Government National Unity has been properly formed in conformity with the above, the Government of the U.S.S.R., which now maintains diplomatic relations with the present Provisional Government of Poland, and the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the United States of America will establish diplomatic relations with the new Polish Provisional Government National Unity, and will exchange Ambassadors by whose reports the respective Governments will be kept informed about the situation in Poland.
"The three heads of Government consider that the eastern frontier of Poland should follow the Curzon Line with digressions from it in some regions of five to eight kilometers in favor of Poland. They recognize that Poland must receive substantial accessions in territory in the north and west. They feel that the opinion of the new Polish Provisional Government of National Unity should be sought in due course of the extent of these accessions and that the final delimitation of the western frontier of Poland should thereafter await the peace conference."
VIII. YUGOSLAVIA
It was agreed to recommend to Marshal Tito and to Dr. Ivan Subasitch:
- (a) That the Tito-Subasitch agreement should immediately be put into effect and a new government formed on the basis of the agreement.
- (b) That as soon as the new Government has been formed it should declare:
- (I) That the Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National Liberation (AVNOJ) will be extended to include members of the last Yugoslav Skupstina who have not compromised themselves by collaboration with the enemy, thus forming a body to be known as a temporary Parliament and
- (II) That legislative acts passed by the Anti-Fascist Assembly of the National Liberation (AVNOJ) will be subject to subsequent ratification by a Constituent Assembly; and that this statement should be published in the communiquÃ© of the conference.
IX. ITALO-YOGOSLAV FRONTIER - ITALO-AUSTRIAN FRONTIER
Notes on these subjects were put in by the British delegation and the American and Soviet delegations agreed to consider them and give their views later.
X. YUGOSLAV-BULGARIAN RELATIONS
There was an exchange of views between the Foreign Secretaries on the question of the desirability of a Yugoslav-Bulgarian pact of alliance. The question at issue was whether a state still under an armistice regime could be allowed to enter into a treaty with another state. Mr. Eden suggested that the Bulgarian and Yugoslav Governments should be informed that this could not be approved. Mr. Stettinius suggested that the British and American Ambassadors should discuss the matter further with Mr. Molotov in Moscow. Mr. Molotov agreed with the proposal of Mr. Stettinius.
XI. SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
The British delegation put in notes for the consideration of their colleagues on the following subjects:
- (a) The Control Commission in Bulgaria.
- (b) Greek claims upon Bulgaria, more particularly with reference to reparations.
- (c) Oil equipment in Rumania.
XII. IRAN
Mr. Eden, Mr. Stettinius and Mr. Molotov exchanged views on the situation in Iran. It was agreed that this matter should be pursued through the diplomatic channel.
[Begin third section published Feb. 13, 1945.]
XIII. MEETINGS OF THE THREE FOREIGN SECRETARIES
The conference agreed that permanent machinery should be set up for consultation between the three Foreign Secretaries; they should meet as often as necessary, probably about every three or four months.
These meetings will be held in rotation in the three capitals, the first meeting being held in London.
[End third section published Feb. 13, 1945.]
XIV. THE MONTREAUX CONVENTION AND THE STRAITS
It was agreed that at the next meeting of the three Foreign Secretaries to be held in London, they should consider proposals which it was understood the Soviet Government would put forward in relation to the Montreaux Convention, and report to their Governments. The Turkish Government should be informed at the appropriate moment.
The forgoing protocol was approved and signed by the three Foreign Secretaries at the Crimean Conference Feb. 11, 1945.
E. R. Stettinius Jr.
M. Molotov
Anthony Eden
AGREEMENT REGARDING JAPAN
The leaders of the three great powers - the Soviet Union, the United States of America and Great Britain - have agreed that in two or three months after Germany has surrendered and the war in Europe is terminated, the Soviet Union shall enter into war against Japan on the side of the Allies on condition that:
- 1. The status quo in Outer Mongolia (the Mongolian People's Republic) shall be preserved.
- 2. The former rights of Russia violated by the treacherous attack of Japan in 1904 shall be restored, viz.:
- (a) The southern part of Sakhalin as well as the islands adjacent to it shall be returned to the Soviet Union;
- (b) The commercial port of Dairen shall be internationalized, the pre-eminent interests of the Soviet Union in this port being safeguarded, and the lease of Port Arthur as a naval base of the U.S.S.R. restored;
- (c) The Chinese-Eastern Railroad and the South Manchurian Railroad, which provide an outlet to Dairen, shall be jointly operated by the establishment of a joint Soviet-Chinese company, it being understood that the pre-eminent interests of the Soviet Union shall be safeguarded and that China shall retain sovereignty in Manchuria;
- 3. The Kurile Islands shall be handed over to the Soviet Union.
It is understood that the agreement concerning Outer Mongolia and the ports and railroads referred to above will require concurrence of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. The President will take measures in order to maintain this concurrence on advice from Marshal Stalin.
The heads of the three great powers have agreed that these claims of the Soviet Union shall be unquestionably fulfilled after Japan has been defeated.
For its part, the Soviet Union expresses it readiness to conclude with the National Government of China a pact of friendship and alliance between the U.S.S.R. and China in order to render assistance to China with its armed forces for the purpose of liberating China from the Japanese yoke.
Joseph Stalin
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Winston S. Churchill
February 11, 1945.
Attributions
All Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin. Basic Books, New
York: 2010. 298-305.
History of Western Civilization, II.
“The Tehran Conference”
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-tehran-conference/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
“The Yalta Conference”
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-yalta-conference/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
“The Allied Push to Berlin”
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-allied-push-to-berlin/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
"The Yalta Conference." February 1945. Hosted by: Yale Law School/Lillian Goldman Law Library.
The Avalon Project : Yalta (Crimea) Conference (yale.edu)