Key World War II Figures
Adolf Hitler- Chancellor of Germany; pursued aggressive territorial expansion in the late 1930s; committed suicide on April 30, 1945, with fall of Berlin imminent
Neville Chamberlain- British prime minister; adhered to policy of appeasement that allowed German territorial annexations in 1938
Vyacheslav Molotov- Soviet foreign minister; signed German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
Winston Churchill- British prime minister who took office in May 1940; rallied British people and military during Battle of Britain; insisted on unconditional surrender for Germany and delayed invasion of western Europe; met with Roosevelt and Stalin at February 1945 Yalta Conference
Benito Mussolini- Italian Fascist prime minister whose territorial ambitions drew Italy into the war in June 1940; ill-advised military offensives embroiled Italian and German forces in North Africa; was deposed by coup in July 1943
Erwin Rommel- German field marshal and tank specialist; helped Italian forces in Egypt; was also involved in later North African campaigns
Joseph Stalin- Soviet premier; ordered scorched-earth policy to halt German advances in USSR; met with Churchill and Roosevelt at Tehran; pushed for early invasion of western Europe to take German pressure off the USSR; began to assert USSR’s dominance over Eastern Europe in final days of the war, which led to Cold War tensions
Friedrich Paulus- German field marshal; defied Hitler’s orders and surrendered to Soviets at Stalingrad
Franklin D. Roosevelt-32nd U.S. president; implemented economic penalties that angered Japan; requested war declaration after Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941; met with Churchill and Stalin at Yalta Conference but died in April 1945
Yamamoto Isoroku- Japanese admiral who planned surprise attack at Pearl Harbor; orchestrated attacks on Midway
Hirohito- Japanese emperor; approved Pearl Harbor attack plan
Richmond K. Turner- U.S. Navy admiral; warned that navy be put on high alert status and security increased at Pearl Harbor, but recommendations were implemented only partly
James Doolittle- U.S. Army colonel who led daring air raid on Japanese mainland inApril 1942
Douglas MacArthur – U.S. general pulled out of Philippines and made supreme commander of Allied forces in the Pacific; will liberate the Philippines in 1944
Erwin Rommel-German tank commander whose strategic skill and surprise attacks earned him the nickname “Desert Fox”
Dwight D. Eisenhower-U.S. general and supreme commander of Allied forces in western Europe; planned Normandy invasion
Harry S Truman-33rdU.S. president; took office upon Roosevelt’s death; after death of Roosevelt, made decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945
Curtis LeMay-U.S. general who orchestrated brutal incendiary bombing campaign against major Japanese cities in March 1945