Casablanca Conference

World War II meeting of the US and UK leaders Roosevelt and Churchill, 14–24 January 1943, at which the Allied demand for the unconditional surrender of Germany, Italy, and Japan was issued.

This demand proved to be counterproductive as it only served to harden the resolve of the Axis powers and may have lengthened the war. Matters of general strategy were also covered including agreements to give priority to the Battle of the Atlantic; to continue the supply of aid to the USSR; to make joint preparations for an invasion of France from Britain (which led to the D-Day invasion); to begin planning for an invasion of Sicily; and to extend operations against the Japanese to retake the Aleutian Islands and Marshall Islands, while the British were to retake Burma.