Search Results

Throughout 1943, Allied forces moved forward on all fronts: taking control of the Mediterranean and toppling Mussolini from power in Italy, pushing the Germans back across the broad front in the Soviet Union, and continuing to gain enough ground in the Pacific that American planes were in the position to consistently strike at the Japanese home islands by late in the year. The year also marked the height of the Grand Alliance in terms of cooperation among the Big Three. Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill were finally able to meet in November-December 1943 in Teheran to plan for the final victory and discuss peace and the postwar world. Teheran was the most important meeting of the allied leaders during the war, and the vital decisions reached there carried the war forward through 1944 and to victory in 1945.

Chapter 2 outlines the strategies formulated by the Allies at the Second Cairo Conference and the Teheran Conference in preparation for the invasion of France. The objective of Operation Overlord, which was scheduled for a duration of ninety days of combat, was to establish for the Allied forces a sufficiently large lodgement area on the Continent, from which the follow-on offensives could be launched toward the Reich.

The success of the Bolshevik Revolution leads many in America to seek out the reasons for its success, as a lesson for their own country. The American Communist Party is founded in 1919. It goes through a set of policy changes until in 1930 Earl Browder is named General Secretary. He tries to develop the Party as a more natively American force – in 1936 he runs for President on the slogan ‘Communism is Twentieth Century Americanism.’ During the 1930’s the Part is a notable presence in various aspects of American politics. This comes to naught, for after Roosevelt’s death in 1945, the Soviets reassert control of the American Party, the leadership of which, apart from Browder, capitulate to Moscow. Truman succeeds Roosevelt and the grounds for the Cold War are laid.

Chapter 1 describes how the end of 1942 and the start of 1943 brought the final turning point in the war with the landings of the Allies in French northwest Africa, the British offensive against German Army Group Africa, and the German failure at Stalingrad. By November 1943 Hitler concluded that the point of main effort had to be shifted to the west to defeat the anticipated landings and lay the foundation for a renewed offensive to the east. The summer of 1944 was marked by the constant retreat of the German front lines and the gradual defection of the allies of the Third Reich, starting with Italy in September 1943.