Casablanca Conference
The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) or Anfa Conference[1] was held in Casablanca, French Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. The main discussions were between US President Franklin Roosevelt (with his military staff) and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (with his staff). Stalin could not attend. Key decisions included a commitment to demand Axis powers' unconditional surrender; plans for an invasion of Sicily and Italy before the main invasion of France; an intensified strategic bombing campaign against Germany; and approval of a US Navy plan to advance on Japan through the central Pacific and the Philippines. The last item authorized the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific, which shortened the war. Of all the decisions made, the most important was the invasion of Sicily, which Churchill pushed for in part to divert American attention from opening a second front in France in 1943, a move that he feared would result in very high Allied casualties and not be possible until 1944.
This article is about the 1943 conference of Allied forces in World War II. For the 1961 conference of left-wing Pan-African leaders, see Casablanca Group. For the secret 1965 conference of leaders of the Arab League, see 1965 Arab League summit.Casablanca Conference
Also attending were the sovereign of Morocco, Sultan Muhammad V, and representing the Free French forces, Generals Charles de Gaulle and Henri Giraud, but they played minor roles and were not part of the military planning.[1] Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, declined to attend, citing the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad as requiring his presence in Moscow.
Roosevelt and Churchill issued the public Casablanca Declaration, which the promulgation of the policy of “unconditional surrender.” That doctrine came to represent the unified voice of Allied will and the determination that the Axis powers would be fought to their ultimate defeat.