Olivier Wieviorka, a professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris-Saclay, recently co-published with Cyriac Allard Le Débarquement: Son Histoire par l'Infographie ("D-Day's Story Through Graphics"). He is also the author of Histoire Totale de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale ("A Total History of the Second World War"). His Histoire de la Résistance en Europe Occidentale ("History of the Resistance in Western Europe"), which traces British-American aid to the European Resistance, has also been published in paperback.

Since Stalingrad in February 1943 and Kursk in July 1943, the Reich had been on the defensive in Europe, but the Allies were in no position to crush Nazi Germany. After Kursk, the time was not right for major offensives, even if the front line was not blocked. The British and Americans, notably Winston Churchill, who had bet on the Italian front, had to recognize that the results of this theater were disappointing: Although the Allies landed in Sicily on July 10, 1943, they didn't reach Rome until June 4, 1944.

Overall, the situation was a mixed bag, even if there were some good reasons for rejoicing: The bombing raids on Germany were generating good results, as we now know, and the British and Americans had won the Battle of the Atlantic. But the Reich was not ready to lay down its arms. The Normandy landings would therefore be crucial to achieving victory. In Asia, Japan had launched a major offensive in China that was crowned with success, but this wasn't where the fate of the war would be decided.

The Americans were faced with a problem: How to defeat Japan? Their idea was to encircle the country, progressing through island hopping, so as to have both airfields from which to strike the Japanese archipelago and bases to use as a launchpad for a future landing. But in June 1944, the Americans decided they would have to land in Japan. In other words, the nuclear option was not on the table. The Allies knew that the Reich could no longer win the war, which did not mean victory would be easy.

From 1942 onward, [Joseph] Stalin repeatedly called for a second front to be opened. The USSR, which was fighting almost single-handedly against the Reich, wanted a landing in Western Europe to relieve the pressure on the Red Army. The British and Americans knew they would have to return to the continent, and the shape this return should take gave rise to debate. The Americans favored hitting the enemy where it was strongest: Northwest Europe.

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