The glorious Allied Conference in Casablanca ended on January 24, 1943. It was one of the most important meetings of Allied leaders during World War II. The great importance of that conference was that the forces that had fought against Hitler’s Germany had agreed to fight until the unconditional surrender of the Germans, that is, no compromise or partial peace settlement would be considered. It actually meant that the Nazis would not negotiate peace, no matter what they offered. An Allied invasion of Sicily was also arranged (started in July).
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (it was the first flight by US President by plane), British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and two French leaders – Charles de Gaulle and Henri Giraud – arrived at the Casablanca conference. These two French generals were in some ways competitors with each other. De Gaulle claimed a more important role than Giraud, though he had a higher rank than him. Stalin did not attend the conference, apologizing for the fact that the famous battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest in all of world history, had been going on at the time. Otherwise, the city of Casablanca is located in present-day Morocco.
It is especially interesting that the famous American film Casablanca was released in cinemas during the conference in Casablanca. This wanted to further promote the film as the topic of the Casablanca conference was popular with the media. Of course, the Casablanca movie was shot in locations in California (near Hollywood), not in the city of Casablanca.
