Allied Strategy In WWII

1
Allied Strategy In WWII

• Slow, Lesson 11

2
Axis Strategy in WWII

• Points to remember
• Quick victory over Poland and avoid a two-front
  war?
• Hitlers national strategy
• Achievement of Japans war aims
• Similarities between Japanese and German
  strategies

3
Educational Objectives

• Allied political and military strategies
• Constraints on decision-making process
• FDR v WC v JS

4
Allied Strategy

• Overview
• Focus
• Themes and objectives

5
Soviet Strategy

• Themes
• Evolution
• Expectations

6
Themes of Soviet Strategy

• Prewar military and ideological problems
• Strategy toward Germany and Japan
• The Soviet-German Pact
• The impact of military surprise.

• National mobilization and resistance
• Soviet perceptions of and interaction with the
  other allies
• The significance of the European and Pacific
  Theaters
• The Soviet vision of the political end-state and
  the post war world

7
Evolution

• 1939 Non-aggression pact with Germany
• 1939-40 Buffer zone to the west
• 1941 Defeat Germans
• 1942 Focus on Germany, hold off Japan
• 1945 Enters war against Japan

8
British Strategy

• Themes
• Evolution

9
Themes of British Strategy

• Prewar assumptions and objectives
• Churchills policies, strategies, relationships
• FDR and total war
• The Influence of WWI
• Anglo-American strategy debates

• The British contribution
• British public opinion and strategy
• Effect of constrained resources
• British aims
• The post war empire and its impact

10
Evolution

• Summer 1940
• Fall 1941
• Spring 1942
• November 1943

11
U.S. Strategy

• State of U.S. forces
• Themes
• Evolution

12
Themes of U.S. Strategy

• Pre-war context
• Transition to war
• Development of wartime strategy
• Germany First Strategy
• Coalition Warfare
• North African-Med Strategy
• FDRs Policies

• American public opinion
• Production decisions
• Global logistics
• U.S. contribution
• Decision to use A-bomb
• Interaction re Postwar
• Emergence of the Cold War

13
Evolution

• 1930s
• Rainbow 5 War Plan
• After Sep 1939
• Dec 1940
• Plan Dog
• Jan 1941
• Germany First

14
Alliance Strategy

• Themes
• Evolution

15
Themes of Alliance Strategy

• Atlantic Charter (Aug 41)
• Germany First (Dec 41-Jan 42)
• Peripheral/indirect (Jan 43)
• Second Front (Nov 43)
• Unconditional surrender (Feb 45)
• Postwar decisions (July 45)

16
Atlantic Charter (Aug 1941)

• Postwar world
• No territorial changes
• Self determination of peoples
• Free trade
• Fullest collaboration between nations
• Freedom from fear and want
• Disarmament

17
Germany First (Dec 41-Jan 42)

• Arcadia Conference
• ABC-1 Agreement
• Early defeat of Germany
• Maintenance of Med positions
• Defensive in Far East
• Established the CCS
• Declaration of the United Nations
• Offensive in North Africa

18
The Major Allied issue

• Opening of of the Second Front
• Factors
• Readiness for cross-channel invasion
• Protection of the British Empire
• Where to attack?
• Torch in Nov 42

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Peripheral/indirect (Jan 43)

• Casablanca (Jan 1943)
• FDR and WC agreed to
• Continue attack in Mediterranean
• Marshall forces in England

20
Second Front (Nov 43)

• Teheran, Nov 1943
• Second Front in May 1944
• Establish the United Nations

21
Unconditional surrender (Feb 45)

• Yalta, 1945
• Unconditional surrender
• USSR to enter war against Japan
• Free elections in occupied countries
• U.N. Security Council

22
Postwar decisions (July 45)

• Potsdam, July 1945
• Draft treaties
• Trials for War Criminals
• No monetary reparations

23
Postwar Visions

• Britain
• The U.S.
• Soviet Union

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Role of Perceptions and Interests

• Effect on strategies?
• Meaning of victory

25
Contributions

• Churchill
• Roosevelt
• Stalin

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Issues for Consideration

• Allied War Aims
• Postwar Visions
• Perceptions
• Roosevelt and Churchill
• Allied Strategy

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Allied War Aims

• What were the Allied war aims?
• How did the Allies attempt to achieve those ends?

28
Postwar Visions

• How did the visions coincide or clash?
• Could the collapse of the alliance have been
  avoided?

29
Perceptions

• What impact did the varying perceptions and
  interests have on the course of Allied strategy
  and conflict termination?

30
Roosevelt and Churchill

• Evaluate the contributions of Roosevelt and
  Churchill to Allied strategy in WWII.
• How might things have been different without
  these two leaders?

31
Allied Strategy

• What was the basis for allied military and
  political strategy during WWII?
• What key ideological and economic issues
  motivated G.B., the U.S. and the Soviet Union to
  join forces against the Axis powers?
• Did any of the Allies have a particular strategy
  for winning the war?

32
Points to remember

• Major difference between US and British
  strategists
• Results of Arcadia Conference
• Soviet Union's expectations of its allies in 1941
• State of US military forces in Sep 1939?

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Next Week

• Cold War and Beyond
• Course Review
• Exam March 15th (Two weeks)