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14-24 January 1943Primary sourceWell documented

Roosevelt tells a story about a Civil War general and sets Allied policy

On the timeline · around 14-24 January 1943 · The Tide TurnsThe Tide TurnsRoosevelt tells a story about a Civil War general and sets Allied policy1943

What happened

Roosevelt and Churchill met at Casablanca, French Morocco, from 14 to 24 January 1943, alongside rival French generals Charles de Gaulle and Henri Giraud; Stalin was invited but could not attend because the Red Army was mid-counteroffensive at Stalingrad. At the closing press conference on 24 January, Roosevelt announced that the Allies would accept nothing short of unconditional surrender from Germany, Italy, and Japan, reaching for a story about Ulysses Grant's Civil War nickname before stating it plainly: the elimination of German, Japanese, and Italian war power means the unconditional surrender by Germany, Italy, and Japan. The conference also settled that the Allies would invade Sicily next rather than attempt a cross-Channel invasion of France that year, and approved a round-the-clock bomber offensive against Germany, American aircraft by day, British by night.

Why it matters

The unconditional surrender declaration closed off any negotiated peace with the existing Axis governments for the rest of the war, removing the option that had ended the First World War, an armistice with the old regime still standing. German commanders later cited it as one reason ordinary soldiers kept fighting even once defeat looked certain, since no negotiated alternative was ever on the table. Choosing Sicily over France also pushed the main cross-Channel invasion back a full year, from a possible 1943 date to the eventual June 1944 landings, a delay Stalin would press hard about when the Big Three finally met in person later that same year.

How we know

The National Archives' own Roosevelt Presidential Library records reproduce Roosevelt's exact press-conference wording from the White House stenographic transcript of 24 January 1943, and Churchill's own later verdict that Casablanca was the most important and successful war conference he ever attended survives in the same account.

Sources

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