Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945 (The Pacific War Trilogy Book 3)

by Ian W. Toll

Defining “unconditional surrender” had been a recurring nuisance since FDR had first articulated the controversial formula—suddenly and rashly, it seemed to many—at a press conference in Casablanca in January 1943. Although the doctrine had been discussed in Allied conferences, British prime minister Winston Churchill had not agreed to it before the president blurted it out to an audience of international newsmen. The president’s public statement made it a fait accompli, however, and Churchill was left with no choice but to affirm British support. FDR was determined to avoid a reprise of the peace that followed the First World War, when a German “stab in the back” myth ignited the rise of the Nazi party. But many Allied military and civilian leaders privately believed that broadcasting a demand for unconditional surrender was a costly blunder—that the Axis nations would seize upon the announcement as evidence that the Allies intended to destroy and enslave them, thus reinforcing the determination of their military forces and civilians to fight to the last ditch.