Emmanuel Gilbert graphic novel, Alan’s War is a recollection of soldier Alan Cope’s life during World War II. The historian Guibert takes the events that Alan recalls and aligns Alan’s story with World War II context. Unfortunately, Guibert does not always specifically connect Alan’s life to a certain event. However, it is still important for readers to understand the historical event that lead Alan into the war as well as the events toward the end of the war, in order to better understand the author’s story.
Although Alan enters the war fairly late, the events that initially lead Alan into World War II are crucial for understanding his story. World War II started long before America became involved in the war. The first sign of world chao began with the Appeasement of Munich
…show more content…
A day that Alan recalls vividly was his arrival in France on February 19, 1945. (95 )France is significant because in 1940, the country gained a terrible lose when Germany invaded Paris. However, in 1944 the Allies liberated Paris (139). Alan was a year late when he arrived Paris, but he remembers seeing the cities of France completely destroyed and reduced to rubble. (89). Another success came to the Allies in 1945 when Poland and Czechoslovakia were liberated. In fact, Alan witnessed the German soldiers surrendering at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, he states that the mission that day was to cover more grounds than the Soviets. Although the Soviets and Americans were trying to be peaceful, the Soviets and the Germans had growing tension because of Germany’s decision to break the non-aggression pact of 1939. (textbook). Unfortunately, the peaceful relationship between the American, British and Soviets began to deteriorate. In a final conference in Potsdam on July 16, 1945 the three parties would tried resolve their issues, and create an agreement on how to handle post-war
In 1945, the famed meeting of the heads of government of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union was held to discuss the reestablishment of the nations of a war-torn Europe. The Yalta Conference, held near Yalta in the Crimea, was the second of three wartime conferences held among the Big Three. The Yalta conferees, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill, confirmed the policy adopted at the Casablanca Conference of demanding Germany's unconditional surrender. There they made plans to divide Germany into four zones of occupation under a united control commission in Berlin for war crimes trials. The Polish eastern border would follow the Curzon Line, and Poland would receive territorial compensation in the West from Germany. Discussing Poland, Churchill wanted to ensure free
In 1683 Robert and Catherine Spotswood brought their son, Alexander Spotswood, to England. The Spotswood’s had lived in the English colony of Tangier, Morocco, in 1676. Alexander grew up to be a part of the military. He began in Bath’s infantry regiment and was soon promoted as a lieutenant colonel. In 1704, during the Battle of Blenheim, he was severely wounded, and in 1708 he was taken prisoner in the Battle of Oudenarde. He was released but after years of not receiving any more promotions, he left the military. In 1710, Queen Anne appointed Spotswood as lieutenant governor of Virginia.
February 1945: Yalta Conference: The Yalta conference was meeting held by the leaders of the 3 most powerful allied countries: the US, USSR, and Great Britain. They were there to discuss reparations in Germany. They all agreed that Germany should have a military power. Stalin, however, wanted $20 billion from Germany to pay for reparations, but FDR and Churchill disagreed. At the end of the conference, they all agree to divide Germany into four zones. The US, USSR, Great Britain, and France will each get a zone. This also led to the division of Berlin. The Yalta conference left Berlin and Germany divided until the end of the Cold War.
1945 began as a year of increasing tensions between countries as the war extended onto its sixth year. Military groups of the various countries involved were now beginning to seriously consider the conclusion of the war in terms of how the global ceasefire would be carried out and frankly, who would win. After the defeat of the Axis Powers in Europe, the focus had been turned towards the war in Asia and the Pacific Regions in which the Allied Forces of Great Britain, Australia and the USA were in conflict with the Axis power of Japan and her partners. Following the urge to end the war, the ‘Big Three’ made up of the three leaders of the major Allied Forces; Churchill, Stalin and
Potsdam Conference: The Potsdam conference brought together a meeting between Soviet Union Joseph Stalin, Britain Winston Churchill, and United States Harry Truman to negotiate the end of World War II.
It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.” When the war with Europe ended, President Truman, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and British P.M. Winston Churchill met at the Potsdam Conference in July of 1945. The conference was meant to redraw Europe’s borders and for the three men to figure out what to do with Japan. At the end
With the closing of the Second World War at hand, Harry S. Truman represented the United States in Potsdam Germany to decide the fate of a post war world. The key individuals in the conference consisted of the allied leaders, Soviet Premier Stalin, Prime Minister Churchill, and Truman. Dubbed the “big Three” in the second conference of the post war, they were charged with the daunting task of dealing with Japan and their continued effort in the ending war. The Potsdam Declaration was devised. It simply stated that Japan must immediately agree to an unconditional surrender or face total destruction. Japan would ignore this declaration (Scoenberger, 1969).
World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1945. This was the most extensive war in the history of the world that involved all continents and many active nations. The war was also the first one in the use of nuclear weapons and other sophisticated artillery. America at the time had emerged as a financial and military superpower, after most of the powerful European nations had suffered losses after the First World War that ended in 1919. World War II can be attributed to the invasion of the Nazi Germany into Poland and its aggressiveness towards other powerful European states like France. Similarly, Japan’s aggressiveness in Asia was causing tension among the powerful states of Russia and China.
One of Soviet Union’s biggest victories was on January 31, 1943 at Stalingrad, when over 90,000 German troops surrender (WorldWar2History.info). After this battle, the Soviet Union remained at Stalingrad and liberated most of Ukrainians, Eastern Belorussia, and themselves (ushmm.org). “In the summer of 1944, the Soviets launched another major offensive, which liberated the rest of Belorussia, and the Ukraine, most of the Baltic States, and eastern Poland from Nazi rule (ushmm.org).” During April 1945, the Soviet Union launched its final attack on the Nazi’s by taking over Vienna, Berlin and Prague, (ushmm.org).
World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1945. This war killed more people and destroyed more property than any other war with fifty-nine countries being involved in(2). Pearl Harbor, the first sneak attack by another country on US soil was a pivotal beginning to the war for the United States. There were many reasons for the United States to get involved into the war and help its allies, but it was Pearl Harbor which forced us into it. Because of Pearl Harbor, Hitler and the crimes against humanity that he committed it justified United States entry into the war.
In 1948 three countries, USA, France and UK, held conference, where they discussed the issue of Germany and what to do next. They tackled issues such as the future of Germany, the control of the Ruhr area and the payment of reparations (Douglas R, 2013) A new conference of the three countries occurred in Frankfurt, where still dealt with the issue of Germany and came to an agreement on the division of it. In Washington was another meeting of ministers of the three countries, where they signed a document which confirmed the occupation policy of the three powers in Germany. (Douglas R, 2013)
On June 14th, 1940 the Germans occupied Paris, France, and three days later Philippe Pétain, a French WWI hero, assumed power from the current prime minister and
The Second World War was coming to an end with the surrender of Germany in May 1945. At the Potsdam Conference, the leaders of the Allied states came together to determine the postwar order of Europe and took decisions on the strategies of the ongoing war in the Pacific. Despite the repeated Allies demand for the surrender of its forces, Japan maintained fighting against the Allies. This situation left no more choice to the United States other than using atomic bomb to break the Japanese resistance and provide its surrender. The destruction caused by the bombing led Japan to surrender and obey the Allies terms. The next Allied move was to discuss and make decisions about the future of the Japanese colonies in the East Asia. Korea was
-Yalta’s diplomatic negotiations of the post-war world were made along with the more urgent military decisions designed to bring Germany to unconditional surrender.
The war ended with the unconditional surrender of Germany on May 9, 1945 and of Japan on September 2, 1945. Before it was over a total of almost seventy nations were involved in the conflict in varying degree, ranging from severance of diplomatic relations to full participation in the hostilities. Peace Treaties were signed in: Paris, February 10, 1947; San Francisco, September 8, 1951; Vienna, May 15, 1955.