WWII

Major Allied Leaders  Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong – Leaders of China  Joseph Stalin – General Secretary of Communist Party in Soviet Union  Marshal Petain and Charles de Gaulle – Leaders of France  Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill – Prime Ministers of UK  Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman – Presidents of the United States

China  Chiang Kai-shek was leader of Nationalist Government  Formed a “United Front” with the Communists Lasted very briefly

China cont’d  Mao Zedong – leader of the Communist Party in China  Developed a plan to use Guerilla Warfare Rejected by the Nationalists and U.S.  Spent a great deal of time fighting against the nationalists, which turned into a civil war after WWII

Soviet Union  Joseph Stalin – General Secretary of Communist Party in Soviet Union  Signed a non-aggression pact with Germany in 1939 Recognized parts of “Soviet influence”  Hitler broke the pact on June 22, 1941 by invading Soviet held lands  Named Time’s “Person of the Year” …twice

France  Marshal Petain Last Prime Minister of the Third Republic of France After the fall of France, led a new government and signed an armistice with Germany  Laws were only good when they did not contradict German law

France cont’d  Charles de Gaulle – Brigadier General in the French army  Escaped France during German occupation  Developed the “Free French Forces” with soldiers and officers located outside of France  Gave radio addresses from a town near London, England to the people of France  Moved to Algiers, Algeria in 1943  Became chairman of the French Committee for National Liberation

Charles de Gaulle

United Kingdom  Neville Chamberlain – PM of UK, stepped down after policies of appeasement failed in 1940  Winston Churchill became PM of UK in 1940

Winston Churchill  Had advocated for preemptive occupation of Norway, which Chamberlain did not do  Churchill’s early warnings about Hitler often went unrecognized  Public did not have faith in Chamberlain, leading to his resignation  Churchill got along very well with FDR and after attack of Pearl Harbor said, “We have won the war!”  An anti-Communist said "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.” Helped the Soviet Union after attack by Germany

“Finest Hour” “What General Weygand has called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.‘” -Sir Winston Churchill

United States  Franklin D. Roosevelt – President from  Created the “New Deal” during his presidency to help revive the American economy and provide relief for the people  Even though the U.S. was neutral during the first part of WWII, FDR often spoke with Allied leaders Firmly committed to the Allied cause before Pearl Harbor  After Pearl Harbor, sent U.S. to war  Died in office in 1945

United States cont’d  Roosevelt’s vice president – took office on April 12, 1945  In office for the last few months of the war  Made difficult decisions