Roosevelt's Olive Branch: The Diplomacy of Unconditional Surrender

No Thumbnail Available

Date

2006-12-12

Journal Title

Series/Report No.

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Abstract

The purpose of the research has been to show the connection between President Franklin D. Roosevelt's announcement of the policy of Unconditional Surrender and domestic and inner-Allied tension and disunity. The research involves an analysis of the political environment leading up to the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. Examination of domestic tension, derived from American media, from political challenges, and from various sacrifices and demands of the war, evinces Roosevelt's need for a point of unity and focus for the home-front. Examination of inner-Allied disunity, including varying approaches to military decisions between Great Britain and the United States, the Darlan situation in North Africa, political discrepancies regarding the legitimacy of the Free French and the command of French North Africa, and the growing tension between Stalin and the Western leaders regarding the opening of a European second-front, all contributed to the environment which prompted the President to announce the policy of Unconditional Surrender. The research also takes into account the "external" influences of the announcement, including militarism of the enemy nations, the "stab in the back" theory in Germany and the lack of legitimate or reliable peace feelers from within enemy nations.

Description

Keywords

, DeGaulle, Casablanca conference, Roosevelt, unconditional surrender, Churchill, Stalin, Giraud, Darlan, second front invasion, Allied disunity

Citation

Degree

MA

Discipline

History

Collections