The tide turned and

the war ended

Conscription 1942 and 1944

 When war was declared many people first thought

about conscription and the danger it posed
 At the outset of war Prime Minister Mackenzie King
promised that there would be no conscription

 The NRMA allowed for conscription for home

defense but this was insufficient and King held a
plebiscite (1942)
 “Not necessarily conscription, but conscription if
necessary”
 Mackenzie King came
close to losing control
over the government
because of conscription
but he was able to
navigate both the crisis
and the war effort
 j
Why conscription?

 The Allied situation in the spring of 1942 was grim.

 The Germans had penetrated deep into Russia
 The British in North Africa had been forced back into Egypt
 The Allies had been kept out of Western Europe since the
Allied forces had been pushed across the English Channel
in the escape from Dunkirk.

 The Allies faced the real possibility of defeat

Why was it so dire?

 For one reason, the Red Army was ineffective

http://www.history.com/topics/joseph-stalin/videos/stalins-purges

 “British forces were close to defeat everywhere in 1942. The

American economy was a peacetime economy, apparently
unprepared for the colossal demands of total war. The Soviet system
was all but shattered in 1941, two-thirds of its heavy industrial
capacity captured and its vast air and tank armies destroyed. This
was a war, Ribbentrop ruefully concluded, that 'Germany could
have won'.”
 Richard Overy,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/how_the_allies_won_01.sht
ml
So then, how did the Allies win?
So, how did the Allies win?
 The success of the Red Army
 Armies were reorganized, communication and
intelligence improved and Stalin put Marshal Zhukov in
charge of the army

 The vast supply of American armaments

 Success of the Allied air power (bombing)
So, how did the Allies win?
 The success of the Red Army

 The vast supply of American armaments

 Roosevelt introduced the Lend Lease program
 Lend Lease provided military aid to any country whose
defense was vital to the security of the United States (1Bn to
USSR no interest and no payments until 5 years after war’s
end)
 Success of the Allied air power (bombing)
So, how did the Allies win?
 The success of the Red Army
 The vast supply of American armaments

 Success of the Allied air power (bombing)

 Divertedthe German air force, affected German Armament
production, strained German resources, eased path for armies
Normandy Invasion
 Battle of the Atlantic mostly won, Allies
advancing through Italy, Soviets pushing back
German troops


 Remember…

 From the successful Normandy landings

the Allies push west liberating France,
Belgium and the Netherlands before
advancing into Germany

 It took 11 months of hard fighting in

difficult conditions
Battle of the Scheldt

 Important for opening supply lines

 Germans had flooded the area
Battle of the Rhineland
 Canadians were given
the task of liberating the
Netherlands
 The campaign to liberate
Holland began in
September of 1944, after
the D-Day landings and
campaign to liberate
France.
Eventually after more gruelling fighting....
Victory in Europe

 May 8 1945 was VE day (Victory in Europe) and

came after the Allies and Soviets forced
German surrender
 TheSoviet Red Army took Berlin and it was Zhukov that
accepted Germany’s surrender

 However, this was not the end to WWII as Japan

was willing to fight to the last until...
Victory in Japan
 The tide turned in 1943 and it became clear that Allied (US) victory
was likely though a high cost was also likely

 Allies had delivered Japan an ultimatum to surrender on July 28,

1945. When this was ignored, the US dropped two atomic bombs on
Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9.

 The Allies celebrated victory over Japan on August 15, 1945,

Japanese administration did not officially surrender with a signed
document until September 2, 1945.

 Both dates are known as VJ Day.

We have already spoken of
morality as impossible in war
 In war, morality is a luxury – and some rules of
engagement can prove impractical when the
stakes are so high and yet…