Diplomatic history of World War II
The diplomatic history of World War II includes the major foreign policies and interactions inside the opposing coalitions, the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers, between 1939 and 1945.
UN vs Axis War Production, near equality of strength in 1942
Clement Attlee, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, c.28 July – 1 August 1945
Roosevelt and Churchill drafted the Atlantic Charter in August 1941.
Prime Minister Churchill and General de Gaulle at Marrakesh, January 1944
The Atlantic Charter was a statement issued on 14 August 1941 that set out American and British goals for the world after the end of World War II, months before the US officially entered the war. The joint statement, later dubbed the Atlantic Charter, outlined the aims of the United States and the United Kingdom for the postwar world as follows: no territorial aggrandizement, no territorial changes made against the wishes of the people (self-determination), restoration of self-government to those deprived of it, reduction of trade restrictions, global co-operation to secure better economic and social conditions for all, freedom from fear and want, freedom of the seas, abandonment of the use of force, and disarmament of aggressor nations. The charter's adherents signed the Declaration by United Nations on 1 January 1942, which was the basis for the modern United Nations.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the Atlantic Conference
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill aboard HMS Prince of Wales in 1941
Churchill joins FDR aboard USS Augusta (9 August 1941)
Printed copy of the Atlantic Charter