Diplomacy — France
In August 1944, Swedish consul Raoul Nordling meets German General Dietrich von Choltitz at the Hôtel Meurice — negotiating through a single night to prevent Hitler's order to blow up Paris.
Hitler ordered Paris to be destroyed as Allied forces approached in August 1944: all bridges, monuments and strategic installations were to be demolished. General von Choltitz defied the order. The role of Swedish consul Nordling in influencing this decision remains historically debated. Paris was liberated on 25 August 1944 completely intact — a singular outcome in a war that destroyed so many European cities.