Note: links on this page go to pictures of the respective leaders.
The Allies- Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin: "The Big Three"
Winston Churchill- Churchill was considered by his people to be a good war prime minister but not necessarily the material for a peacetime leader. The First Lord of the Admirality through all of World War I and the beginning of World War II, he took the seat of prime minister after the disasterous Norwegian campaign caused the old prime minister Neville Chamberlain to resign. Immediately after the war he lost his seat in the general election to Attlee, who was thought to be a better prime minister in the rebuilding of England. Churchill was a great spokesman, acting as a moral boost to his people through his many stirring speeches and his unwillingness to surrender to the German juggernaut.
Franklin D. Roosevelt- Roosevelt was not only responsible for America's leadership through most of World War II, he was also responsible for "The New Deal" that pulled the US out of The Great Depression by its bootstraps. Though a pacifist by nature, he felt a great need to keep Britain from defeat. Before America's entry to the War he initially used America's resources to assist England indirectly through the Lend-Lease program where the US supplied war materials.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941 the US finally entered the war. Instead of attacking only Japan in response the US declared war on the Axis in general. Additionally, the US and England agreed to a Europe first policy, since only Germany proved a real threat to the US and since England's fall would mean the loss of an essential springboard to Europe. He died near the end of the War on April 12, 1945, passing the helm to Harry Truman.
Joseph Stalin- Initially a near ally of Nazi Germany, Stalin used a non-aggression pact to help his nation avoid war with Germany. Before war broke out, Germany and the Soviet Union determined spheres of influence which split Poland nearly in half. When Germany attacked Poland in September from the West Stalin bided his time, then swarmed his troops into Poland from the East. Approximately 20,000 Polish officers were later found in a mass grave in Western Russia. In November the Soviet Union continued to live out its expansionist dreams in invading Finland. Beaten man for man, the Soviets won by sheer numbers alone.
In June 1941 Stalin's non-aggression pact with Germany backfired. With little warning other than a massive buildup of troops outside of the Soviet boarder and warnings from the Western Allies, the Germans launched operation Barbarossa. Stalin was caught completely by surprise and with his pants down.
An alliance of need brought Stalin into the fold with England, then with the US in December after their entry into the war. Always cunning, Stalin threatened repeatedly to make a seperate peace with Germany unless the Western Allies created a Western Front to help relieve the pressure on the Soviet troops. Stalin was a ruthless leader, removing commanders from their posts without warning if they reported losses. As a result, few commanders were forthwith in their progress reports.
Finally, looking towards post war roles in Europe and recognizing the Polish resentment to both the Soviet invasion of Poland and the subsequent murder of captured officers, Stalin made a decision to weed out the resistance leadership that in later years may have dissagreed with Poland falling under the Soviet sphere of influence. As the Soviet Union rolled Germany back and reached the Polish capital Warsaw, the resistance fighters rose up in open combat to take back their city. The Soviets stopped just outside of Warsaw, allowing the resistance to fight the Germans alone. The Poles were badly mauled, wiping out most of the anti-communist leadership.
France- De Gaulle
De Gaulle was given command of the French 4th armored division after the German attack began. Using inexperienced troops, he lead two attacks against the German flank with limited success before being beaten off. Overjoyed that a French commander could even slow the Germans, De Gaulle was appointed under-secretary of war. On June 17 he fled with the rest of the French government to England, and prepared to fight the war from France's colonies. He declared the existance of Free France, and promised the Allies the assistance of the Free French Resistance. When the British attempted to take Dakar, France, the British were beaten off by the French who had apparently forgotten that only recently Britain had been an ally and Germany the enemy. When Britain tried to take Syria (a French colony), the so called Free French again fought the British. Eventually the Free French realized that these English speaking foreigners were here to help and threw their lot in with the Western Allies, but not before many British lost their lives.
After Paris was liberated by the British and Americans De Gaulle returned a victorious leader. He was resentful that he was not invited to the conferences at Potsdam and Yalta and that France was not treated as an equal partner by the Allies. Overly concerned about returning France to Great Power status, immediately after the cessation of hostilities he got France embroiled in another costly war in French Indo-China. After losing this war and colony to the communist leader Ho Chi Minh, America was forced to fight France's war once again to suppress communist expansion, this time unsuccessfully.
Kai-shek held a tenuous hold over his nation. Communists were constantly vying for power, while a land war with the Japanese drug on beginning in July 1937. China received help from the Americans in the Lend-Lease program to assist in fighting the Japanese, but most of the assistance actually went to the civil war with the communists that began after the war with the Japanese finished.
China was strategically important to the US for two reasons. First, the land war in China tied up Japanese forces that would otherwise be directed against the US. Second, China acted as a staging grounds for the air force, most notably for the famous Flying Tigers.
The European Axis- Hitler and Mussolini
Adolph Hitler
Austrian by birth and only German by adoption, Hitler began his youth as an aspiring architect and artist. He was unsuccessful at both. He then fought in World War I as a junior soldier, and felt, along with many other soldiers, that Germany had been "stabbed in the back" by those in leadership responsible for making peace with the Allies. He was then drawn to extreme right wing politics, joining and then taking power of the National Socialists, one of many small nationalist parties. In the November 1923 during the Beer Hall Putsch he attempted a coup d'etat which was promptly crushed by the police. During his stay in prison he wrote his book Mein Kumpf in which he layed out his views about the future of Germany. The book was racist, nationalist, and told of long range plans including the conquering of the Ukraine (strange how Stalin never saw anything coming. . .). Hitler also realized that in order for him to gain control of his country he must do so within constitutional means.
Ten years later, in January 1933, Hitler was elected Chancellor. One and a half years later he had inherited the presidency and was granted dictatorial powers by parliament.
Japan- Hirohito
Nominally the leader of Japan, he was in fact not a powerful politician. As per tradition he presided over cabinet meetings but never joined in discussion. He only gave assent to decisions.
The people of Japan loved their emperor and he was respected as a deity. When the soldiers fought they fought for him. This was despite the fact that he addressed his people for the first time ever by telling his people that Japan had surrendered.
After the war Hirohito was left on the throne because MacArthur realized that removing him would make the Japanese people bitterly anti-American (of course, attacking Pearl Harbor in the first place wasn't anti-American. . .) However, MacArthur was determined to undermine the Emperor's divinity, and he forced the emperor to publicly announce his non-divinity in January 1946.
Comment Isn't it odd that the Japanese people, today thought to be so practical and industrial, only 50 years ago thought that their Emperor was a deity?