Transcript Whether to Drop the Atomic Bomb

■Essential Question:
–What role did the United States
play in fighting in Asia during
World War II?
■Warm-Up Question:
–What was the significance of :
•The Battle of the Atlantic?
•Stalingrad?
•Operation Overlord (D-Day)?
•The Battle of the Bulge?
Quick World War 2 in Europe Review
“Europe First” & Battle of the Atlantic
Quick World War 2 in Europe Review
Victory in
North Africa
Turning Point:
Stalingrad
Operation Torch &
liberation
of Italy
Fighting
in Europe, 1942-1943
Europe 1944-1945
D-Day
invasion
of
Soviet
army
Battle of the Bulge seizes Berlin;
Nazi-occupied
GermanyFrance
surrenders May 7, 1945
While American forces
fought in North Africa
in 1942, the U.S. Navy
began fighting Japan
Whether to Drop the Atomic Bomb:
Critical Thinking Decision A
FDR’s
Decision:
B
The Manhattan Project
■Based on scientific research, FDR
created the Manhattan Project, the
code name for developing an
atomic bomb:
–Robert Oppenheimer was put in
charge of developing the bomb
–From 1942-1945, a number of
secret labs across the country
developed & built the bomb
In July 1945, the bomb was
The bomb
was constructed
successfully
tested in
at Los Alamos,
a secret city
Oak Ridge,
TNProject Trinity
NewinMexico
during
Physicist Enrico Fermi at the
Nuclear
plant in Hanford, WA
University of Chicago
developed
developed the plutonium
the nuclear reaction
Whether to Drop the Atomic Bomb:
Critical Thinking Decision B
Truman’s
Decision:
C
By 1944,
In addition,
The
Americans
Japanese
Japanese
gained
refused
soldiers
supremacy
to surrender
resorted
of the
to air
&horrific
ran daily
acts
even
fire
ofinbombings
barbarity
the face on
of defeat
the
Japanese
battlefield
cities
Dropping the Atomic Bomb
■Truman issued the Potsdam
Declaration to Japan: surrender or
face prompt & utter destruction
–When Japan refused to surrender
Truman ordered the bombing of
Hiroshima on August 6, 1945
–After 3 days, the Japanese gov’t
did not respond to the bombing
–The U.S. dropped a 2nd atomic
bomb in the city of Nagasaki
Whether to Drop the Atomic Bomb:
Critical Thinking Decision C
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
Dropping the Atomic Bomb
■Effect of the atomic bomb:
–Saved hundreds of thousands
of lives because it prevented a
U.S. land invasion of Japan
–Revenge for Pearl Harbor
–Showed the USSR that the USA
had the ultimate weapon (began
the Cold War nuclear arms race)
WW2 Timeline
(Allies, Axis, USSR)