The Third Washington Conference ( codenamed Trident) was held in

Washington, D.C Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

from May 12 to May 25, 1943. It was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

strategic Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art o ...

meeting between the heads of government of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It was the third conference of the 20th century (

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

, ''1943''), but the second conference that took place during the US involvement in the Second World War. The delegations were headed by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

and

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

, respectively. The plans for the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as the Battle of Sicily and Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allies of World War II, Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis p ...

, extent of military force, the date for invading Normandy, and the progress of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

were discussed.

Meetings

Churchill and Roosevelt met every two days in the White House, and the British and American military leaders met almost daily in the Board of Governors Room at the Federal Reserve Building.

Topics of discussion and agreements

Churchill opened the discussion with ideas, which were discussed in an open manner between the two countries. The main topics that were discussed were the Italian Campaign, the amount of military force that should be used, the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

, and how to help China in the

. Churchill felt that the extent of the operations and their priority could be solved by mutual agreement, and consensus was reached on all issues.

The Italian campaign

The first topic discussed was the war in Italy. Churchill persuaded the American leaders to endorse the

. He believed that the fighting in Italy would distract the German troops from the Eastern Front so that Russia would be given breathing room since the Germans would need to send a large number of troops to the Balkans. This would get rid of the Allies' debt to Russia from Russia's heavy engagement of German forces in Stalingrad. Getting Italy out of the war would also help the Allies' relationship with Turkey. Turkey could no longer compete with Italy in the Mediterranean. Churchill believed that they could ask Turkey for use of their bases for future defense.

Extent of military force

The next objective discussed was the extent of the military force that the Allies should use. Both countries agreed that they should use the greatest amount of military force against the enemy, including armies, air forces and munitions.

Unconditional surrender An unconditional surrender is a surrender in which no guarantees, reassurances, or promises (i.e., conditions) are given to the surrendering party. It is often demanded with the threat of complete destruction, extermination or annihilation. Anno ...

, first mentioned at the

Casablanca Conference The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) or Anfa Conference was held in Casablanca, French Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the Allies of World War II, Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. The main disc ...

, was debated again at Trident. Both Trident and Casablanca had competitive atmospheres due to the differing views on unconditional surrender. Roosevelt was persistent against American General

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

and British General

Henry Maitland Wilson Field Marshal Henry Maitland Wilson, 1st Baron Wilson, (5 September 1881 – 31 December 1964), also known as Jumbo Wilson, was a senior British Army officer of the 20th century. He saw active service in the Second Boer War and then during the ...

's anti-unconditional views of surrender. Despite these opposing views, after much consideration, the Allies agreed that they wanted to carry the war to Japan. They believed that Germany would be out of the war in 1944, so they would need to concentrate on defeating Japan in 1945. The best solution would be involving Russia in the fight against Japan because Stalin had indicated his interest in taking part in Japan's defeat.

The Normandy landings

The

were postponed for 12 months to May 1944. This was because the US and the UK speculated that they could build up troop strength, produce more landing craft and supplies, and thus ensure complete command of air and sea by doing so. They discussed the difficult beaches with large tides, the large German enemy defenses, the optimal timing to attack, and relevant weather conditions. The main reason why the Allies wanted to postpone the landings was because of their lack of supplies in 1943. All the British landing craft had been deployed to

Operation Husky Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

, and only one US division was available due to a higher priority of Operation Sickle in the war.

Aid to China

Lastly, the US and the UK decided what to do in the

. British Field Marshal Wavell visited

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

and helped brace the Allies for the many obstacles they would face, including: * the thick jungle preventing the use of modern weapons * the monsoons that limited the amount of potential attack time * few options for naval support Other than air support, there were few alternatives to help China, so efficient planning was necessary. The countries agreed it would be better to by-pass a ground attack in Burma and instead use the element of surprise by air attack, as in

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...

. The fleet from Italy was to cover this operation in March 1944.

Other results

The Trident Conference shows a change in domination over world leadership, as the Americans were influential over other countries. American initiatives received twice the amount of Allied military resources, while Britain had to compromise on several of their requests. In particular, US Army Chief of Staff General

George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (31 December 1880 – 16 October 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army under pres ...

led this change to increase the role of the Americans in the war effort, which had been previously dominated by Britain. However, the actions after Sicily still remained unsettled. Churchill wanted an Italian Campaign to follow, but Roosevelt worried that the campaign might delay the strategic plans for recapturing France that had been planned for the following year. According to

Max Hastings Sir Max Hugh Macdonald Hastings (; born 28 December 1945) is a British journalist and military historian, who has worked as a foreign correspondent for the BBC, editor-in-chief of ''The Daily Telegraph'', and editor of the ''Evening Standard''. ...

Alan Brooke Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke (23 July 1883 – 17 June 1963), was a senior officer of the British Army. He was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), the professional head of the British Army, during the Secon ...

's reputation as a strategist was "significantly damaged" by his remarks at the Trident Conference, where he claimed that no major operations on the continent would be possible until 1945 or 1946. Brooke's diary says that he wanted "operations in the Mediterranean to force a dispersal of German forces, help Russia, and thus eventually produce a situation where cross Channel operations are possible" but that Churchill entirely repudiated (or half repudiated) the paper the CCOS had agreed on;

Harry Hopkins Harold Lloyd Hopkins (August 17, 1890 – January 29, 1946) was an American statesman, public administrator, and presidential advisor. A trusted deputy to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Hopkins directed New Deal relief programs before ser ...

got him to withdraw his proposed amendments.