- Casablanca Conference
The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) was held at the Anfa Hotel in
Casablanca ,Morocco , then a Frenchprotectorate , fromJanuary 14 to 24,1943 , to plan the European strategy of the Allies duringWorld War II . Present wereFranklin D. Roosevelt andWinston Churchill .Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin had also been invited but declined to attend. GeneralCharles de Gaulle had initially refused to come but changed his mind when Churchill threatened to recognizeHenri Giraud as head of theFree French Forces in his place. Giraud was also present at Casablanca, and there was notable tension between the two men during the talks.The conference's Casablanca Declaration called for the Allies to seek the unconditional surrender of the Axis Powers. It also called for Allied aid to the Soviet Union in the invasion of
Sicily andItaly , and the recognition of joint leadership of the Free French by de Gaulle and Giraud. All the terms were agreed upon. Roosevelt presented the results of the conference to the American people in a radio address onFebruary 12 ,1943 . Also decided during the Casablanca Conference was that there would be no 'across channel invasion.' Instead of invading Europe across the English Channel, an invasion into Sicily and then Italy would take place.See also
*
Atlantic Charter
*Casablanca directive An Allied aerial bombing directive issued shortly after the Casablanca Conference.
*Dumbarton Oaks Conference References and Notes
*cite web |url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/casablan.htm |title=Casablanca Conference of 1943
*cite web |url=http://www.casablancaconference.com |title=Churchill, Roosevelt and the Casablanca Conference, January 1943
*cite web |url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/FRUS.FRUS1941-43 |title=United States Department of State Foreign relations of the United States. The Conferences at Washington, 1941-1942, and Casablanca, 1943
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