Department of History

 

Strategic Conferences

• Jan. 1941: ABC Conversations
  • Established the "Germany first" policy
• Dec. 1941:Arcadia Conference
  • Established the Combined Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Jan. 1943: Casablanca Conference
  • Authorized the invasion of Italy
• Nov. 1943: Tehran Conference
  • Authorized invasion of France
• Feb. 1945: Yalta Conference
  • Soviets pledged to enter war against Japan three months after Germany’s defeat
• July 1945: Potsdam Conference
  • Discussed reconstruction of Europe and Soviet entry into war against Japan

 

Campaign Outline: Europe

• Build-up in U.K, 1942-44
  • Battle of the Atlantic
  • Submarine menace controlled by late 1943
  • Strategic Bombing of Germany, 1942-45
• North Africa
  • Political need to commit U.S. forces against Germans
  • Invasion, Nov. 1942; Germans defeated, May 1943
• Italy
  • Invasion and conquest of Sicily, July-Aug. 1943
  • Invasion of the mainland, Sept. 1943
  • Rome captured, June 1944
  • Northern Italy liberated, spring 1945
• France
  • Normandy invasion, June 1944
  • Breakout and push to German border, Aug.-Sept. 1944
  • Winter along the Rhine River, 1944-45
  • Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 1944-Jan. 1945
• Advance to Berlin, Feb.-May 1945

 

Campaign Outline: The Pacific

• The Disasters of 1941-1942
  • Pearl Harbor, Dec. 1941
  • Guam and Wake islands captured, Dec. 1941
  • Surrender in the Philippines, May 1942
• Early reactionary phase of the war
  • Coral Sea, May 1942
  • Midway, June 1942
  • Guadalcanal, Aug. 1942
• The Central Pacific
  • The Gilberts, Nov. 1943
  • The Marshalls, Feb. 1944
  • The Marianas, June 1944
• The South Pacific
  • The Solomons, 1943
  • New Guinea, 1944
  • The Philippines, 1944
• Convergence on Japan
  • Iwo Jima, Feb. 1945
  • Okinawa, April, 1945
• A-bombs & surrender of Japan, Aug. 1945