The End of the War in Europe

1
The End of the War in Europe
2
Framing this lecture

• Id taken us to the end of 1944
• Britain started to turn the Battle of the
  Atlantic
• Normandy Invasion broke out from Cherbourg
  Peninsula
• Allies were struggling up the Tough Old Gut
• Soviets were smashing through Eastern Europe
  after the Stalingrad victory

3
Map version
4
European Theater- Eastern Front is key

• Virtually unbroken string of victories after
  Stalingrad
• Soviet Army is a tad bit ANGRY!
• 20 million Soviet dead
• Commissar Order

5
Race to Control the Most of Europe Possible

• Churchill argued for an amphibious invasion of
  the Balkans to ensure freedom for Eastern Europe
• Rejected
• FDR thought he could work with Stalin
• Churchills last plan for an amphibious front in
  southeastern Europe was a colossal failure
• Gallipoli (WWI)

6
(No Transcript)
7
Stalins Intentions Slowly Come Into Focus

• Warsaw Uprising
• Polish Partisans rose up as the Soviets
  approached the city
• Stalin paused his troops while the partisans were
  brutally crushed by the Nazis over 80 of the
  city was destroyed by the Nazis
• Stalin refused to let Western relief missions
  anywhere in Soviet controlled territory
  prompting speculation that Stalin doesnt want us
  to see his manipulation of local politics

8
The Red Army Reaches Berlin

• Hitler called on all citizens to defend Berlin
• Refuses to accept what is now obvious
• Hitlers brand of Social Darwinism argues that
  races prove their worth by success- do you see
  why this is significant?
• Incredibly brutal fighting many tales (mostly
  unconfirmed) of mass rapes of Berliners by the
  Soviet invading forces
• Hitler and Goebbels committed suicide in the
  fuhrerbunker with Russians only blocks away
• Anyone know why there were so many rumors about
  Hitler being alive over the next 20 years?

9
(No Transcript)
10
VE-Day

• May 8th, 1945
• Flags in the U.S. were at half mast on this day
  (why?)
• Why wasnt the atomic bomb used against Germany?
• Hunt for leading Nazis and war crimes trials
  Nuremberg War Tribunal
• Potsdam Declaration to Japan