Brief Summary of World War II in Europe

Summary of World War II in Europe

In World War II the Allied Forces had a "Europe First" campaign of invading the Atlantic countries before the Pacific. This is because Germany served as a bigger threat than Japan to the Allied Powers. In the United States, Franklin Delanor Roosevelt was the President. He kept America neutral at first, but later entered in after Pearl Harbor. George Patton was a popular U.S. Army leader who started tank warfare in America. Bernard Montgomery commanded the 8th Army which had victories in Europe including D-Day. At the near end of the war Omar Bradley toured through Germany notifying the rest of the world what had gone on there with all of the death camps during the Holocaust, which was where the murder of over 6 millioin Jewish people took place.

Important leaders from other countries also arose during World War II. Joseph Stalin was from the USSR and was recognized as killing as many as 50 million of his own people from the USSR from bad-mouthing him. He helped the U.S. by fight Japan while Britain and the U.S. fought Germany. Winston Churchill replaced Chamberlain for Britain's Prime Minister in 1938. He showed great resistance to Germany and his people followed in the leadership. Lastly, Charles DeGaulle was the French leader who ran and exiled the Free French Government in London.

Important places in Europe included sites such as Stalingrad and Normandy. Stalingrad perhaps was the bloodies battle in all of Europe, also a major turning point for the Allies during World War II. The other gruesome battle took place in Normandy, France. The battle was called D-Day and almost signified the end of German resistance.

In the Belgian town of Dunkirk, British Naval forces rescued the bulk of the army along with some French and Belgian units. Due to the French surrendering, Germans attacked North Africa to support the failed Italian efforts. Under the leadership of General Erwin Rommel, German forces pushed eastward to take Egypt until the British at the Battle of El Alamain halted their advance. U-Boats, which were kind of like submarines, were the Germans' main defense against Britain for naval battle. Adolf Hitler, the German leader planned all these offensives in his goal to rule the world.