14. Leaders during WW2
Allied leaders
Soviet Union: Joseph Stalin – Served as the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. After the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924, Stalin rose to become the leader of the Soviet Union, which he ruled as a dictator.
Soviet Union: Georgy Zhukov – Played a pivotal role in leading the Red Army through much of Eastern Europe to liberate the Soviet Union and other nations from the Axis Powers’ occupation and conquer Germany’s capital, Berlin. He is the most decorated general in the history of both Russia and the Soviet Union.
United States: Franklin D. Roosevelt – As World War II loomed after 1938, with the Japanese invasion of China and the aggressions of Nazi Germany, FDR gave strong diplomatic and financial support to China and Britain, while remaining officially neutral. His goal was to make America the “Arsenal of Democracy” which would supply munitions to the Allies. In March 1941, Roosevelt, with Congressional approval, provided Lend-Lease aid to the countries fighting against Nazi Germany with Great Britain. He secured a near-unanimous declaration of war against Japan after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941
United States: George Marshall – Marshall served as the United States Army Chief of Staff during the war and as the chief military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As Secretary of State, his name was given to the Marshall Plan, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953
United Kingdom: Winston Churchill – He is widely regarded as one of the great wartime leaders. During his army career, Churchill saw military action in India, the Sudan and the Second Boer War. He gained fame and notoriety as a war correspondent and through contemporary books he wrote describing the campaigns. He also served briefly in the British Army on the Western Front in the First World War (WWI)
United Kingdom Alan Brooke
Republic of China: Chiang Kai-shek – After the Japanese surrender in 1945, Chiang attempted to eradicate the Communists. Ultimately, with support from the Soviet Union, the CCP defeated the Nationalists, forcing the Nationalist government to retreat to Taiwan, where martial law was continued while the government still tried to take back mainland China.
Free French Forces: Charles de Gaulle – Was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969
Democratic Federal Yugoslavia: Josip Broz Tito – Was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. He was Secretary-General of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (1939–80), and went on to heroically lead the World War II Yugoslav guerrilla movement, the Yugoslav Partisans (1941–45). After the war, he was the Prime Minister (1943–63) and later President (1953–80) of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Australia: Robert Menzies
John Curtin
Frank Forde
Axis leaders
Nazi Germany: Adolf Hitler – Was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party, commonly known as the Nazi Party. He was appointed chancellor on January 30, 1933, and transformed the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich, a single-party dictatorship based on the totalitarian and autocratic ideals of Nazism. Hitler ultimately wanted to establish a New Order of absolute Nazi German hegemony in continental Europe. To achieve this, he pursued a foreign policy with the declared goal of seizing Lebensraum (“living space”) for the Aryan people; directing the resources of the state towards this goal. This included the rearmament of Germany, which culminated in 1939 when the Wehrmacht invaded Poland. In response, the United Kingdom and France declared war against Germany, leading to the outbreak of World War II in Europe.
Empire of Japan: Hirohito – At the start of his reign, Japan was already one of the great powers – the 9th largest economy in the world after Italy, the 3rd largest naval country and one of the five permanent members of the council of the League of Nations. He was the head of state under the limitation of the Constitution of the Empire of Japan during Japan’s militarization and involvement in World War II. After the war, he was not prosecuted (as others were). During the postwar period, he became the “symbol” of the new state.
Kingdom of Italy: Benito Mussolini – Mussolini led Italy into World War II on the side of the Axis despite initially siding with France against Germany in the early 1930s. Believing the war would be short-lived, he declared war on France and Great Britain in order to gain territories in the peace treaty that would soon follow. Three years later, Mussolini was deposed at the Grand Council of Fascism, prompted by the Allied invasion of Italy. Soon after his incarceration began, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the daring Gran Sasso raid by German special forces. Following his rescue, Mussolini headed the Italian Social Republic in parts of Italy that were not occupied by Allied forces. In late April 1945, with total defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape to Switzerland, only to be quickly captured and summarily executed near Lake Como by Italian partisans. His body was then taken to Milan where it was hung upside down at a petrol station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of his demise.
Kingdom of Romania: Ion Antonescu
Kingdom of Hungary: Miklós Horthy
Finland: C.G.E. Mannerheim
Octo-Boogie 