Historical Events In Alan's War

World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1945. This was the most extensive war in the history of the world that involved all continents and many active nations. The war was also the first one in the use of nuclear weapons and other sophisticated artillery. America at the time had emerged as a financial and military superpower, after most of the powerful European nations had suffered losses after the First World War that ended in 1919. World War II can be attributed to the invasion of the Nazi Germany into Poland and its aggressiveness towards other powerful European states like France. Similarly, Japan’s aggressiveness in Asia was causing tension among the powerful states of Russia and China.

World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1945. This war killed more people and destroyed more property than any other war with fifty-nine countries being involved in(2). Pearl Harbor, the first sneak attack by another country on US soil was a pivotal beginning to the war for the United States. There were many reasons for the United States to get involved into the war and help its allies, but it was Pearl Harbor which forced us into it. Because of Pearl Harbor, Hitler and the crimes against humanity that he committed it justified United States entry into the war.

With the closing of the Second World War at hand, Harry S. Truman represented the United States in Potsdam Germany to decide the fate of a post war world. The key individuals in the conference consisted of the allied leaders, Soviet Premier Stalin, Prime Minister Churchill, and Truman. Dubbed the “big Three” in the second conference of the post war, they were charged with the daunting task of dealing with Japan and their continued effort in the ending war. The Potsdam Declaration was devised. It simply stated that Japan must immediately agree to an unconditional surrender or face total destruction. Japan would ignore this declaration (Scoenberger, 1969).

February 1945: Yalta Conference: The Yalta conference was meeting held by the leaders of the 3 most powerful allied countries: the US, USSR, and Great Britain. They were there to discuss reparations in Germany. They all agreed that Germany should have a military power. Stalin, however, wanted $20 billion from Germany to pay for reparations, but FDR and Churchill disagreed. At the end of the conference, they all agree to divide Germany into four zones. The US, USSR, Great Britain, and France will each get a zone. This also led to the division of Berlin. The Yalta conference left Berlin and Germany divided until the end of the Cold War.

One of Soviet Union’s biggest victories was on January 31, 1943 at Stalingrad, when over 90,000 German troops surrender (WorldWar2History.info). After this battle, the Soviet Union remained at Stalingrad and liberated most of Ukrainians, Eastern Belorussia, and themselves (ushmm.org). “In the summer of 1944, the Soviets launched another major offensive, which liberated the rest of Belorussia, and the Ukraine, most of the Baltic States, and eastern Poland from Nazi rule (ushmm.org).” During April 1945, the Soviet Union launched its final attack on the Nazi’s by taking over Vienna, Berlin and Prague, (ushmm.org).

Potsdam Conference: The Potsdam conference brought together a meeting between Soviet Union Joseph Stalin, Britain Winston Churchill, and United States Harry Truman to negotiate the end of World War II.

Stalingrad - Site of critical World War II Soviet victory that reversed Germany's advance to the East. In late 1942, Russian forces surrounded the Germans, and on Feb. 2, 1943, the German Sixth Army surrendered. First major defeat for the Germans in World War II.

In 1945, the famed meeting of the heads of government of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union was held to discuss the reestablishment of the nations of a war-torn Europe. The Yalta Conference, held near Yalta in the Crimea, was the second of three wartime conferences held among the Big Three. The Yalta conferees, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill, confirmed the policy adopted at the Casablanca Conference of demanding Germany's unconditional surrender. There they made plans to divide Germany into four zones of occupation under a united control commission in Berlin for war crimes trials. The Polish eastern border would follow the Curzon Line, and Poland would receive territorial compensation in the West from Germany. Discussing Poland, Churchill wanted to ensure free

1945 began as a year of increasing tensions between countries as the war extended onto its sixth year. Military groups of the various countries involved were now beginning to seriously consider the conclusion of the war in terms of how the global ceasefire would be carried out and frankly, who would win. After the defeat of the Axis Powers in Europe, the focus had been turned towards the war in Asia and the Pacific Regions in which the Allied Forces of Great Britain, Australia and the USA were in conflict with the Axis power of Japan and her partners. Following the urge to end the war, the ‘Big Three’ made up of the three leaders of the major Allied Forces; Churchill, Stalin and

It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.” When the war with Europe ended, President Truman, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and British P.M. Winston Churchill met at the Potsdam Conference in July of 1945. The conference was meant to redraw Europe’s borders and for the three men to figure out what to do with Japan. At the end

On June 14th, 1940 the Germans occupied Paris, France, and three days later Philippe Pétain, a French WWI hero, assumed power from the current prime minister and

In 1948 three countries, USA, France and UK, held conference, where they discussed the issue of Germany and what to do next. They tackled issues such as the future of Germany, the control of the Ruhr area and the payment of reparations (Douglas R, 2013) A new conference of the three countries occurred in Frankfurt, where still dealt with the issue of Germany and came to an agreement on the division of it. In Washington was another meeting of ministers of the three countries, where they signed a document which confirmed the occupation policy of the three powers in Germany. (Douglas R, 2013)

Germany invaded France again in 1940, the country was occupied by the Nazis. This is resulted to executions, deportations and famine. It is important to know French history because we can understand where they came from. For example, during WWII, Germany invades them again, and the country was destroyed.

-Yalta’s diplomatic negotiations of the post-war world were made along with the more urgent military decisions designed to bring Germany to unconditional surrender.

The Second World War was coming to an end with the surrender of Germany in May 1945. At the Potsdam Conference, the leaders of the Allied states came together to determine the postwar order of Europe and took decisions on the strategies of the ongoing war in the Pacific. Despite the repeated Allies demand for the surrender of its forces, Japan maintained fighting against the Allies. This situation left no more choice to the United States other than using atomic bomb to break the Japanese resistance and provide its surrender. The destruction caused by the bombing led Japan to surrender and obey the Allies terms. The next Allied move was to discuss and make decisions about the future of the Japanese colonies in the East Asia. Korea was