Transcript Total War - Lower Moreland Township School District

Total War
Dresden after
firebombing
Today’s Agenda
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Total War Slide Show
Homework
Unit Test on WWII this Monday
Includes all of Ch 12, 13.1 & 13.3, Total
War wkst.
What is Total War?
• Make any sacrifice
in order to achieve
victory
• Direct all
resources and
economy towards
war effort
• No distinction
made between
soldiers and
civilians
– Civilians
specifically
targeted
Victims in Nanking
Why Was WWII a Total War?
• Over 35 million
civilians were killed
– 13,000 civilians died
every day
• Both the Allies and
Axis Powers
specifically targeted
civilian cities.
– Demoralize civilian
population
– Destroy capability of
enemy to make war
materials
Dresden after
firebombing
Axis Powers
Examples of Total War
Describe Guernica as an example of
“Total War.”
• Spanish Civil War in
progress, Germany
supported Franco
• Guernica was cultural
center of Basques, no
military value
• April 26, 1937, German
bombers dropped high
explosive and incendiary
bombs on the city
• Fires burned for three
days, 70% of the town was
destroyed
• 1,600 civilians killed or
wounded
Above: actual photo from Guernica; below:
Picasso’s painting
Guernica
Capture of Peter Jennings introducing
clip on Guernica
Why is the ”The Blitz” an example of Total War?
• By September 1940,
Hitler lost the Battle of
Britain
– Could not invade
England, but could
still bomb London
– Believed if enough
civilians killed
would force
government to make
peace
• Began on September
7, 1940, lasted 76
nights
• 43,000 British civilians
were killed
More random firebombing pics
The Blitz
Capture: peaceful London skyline to introduce “The
Blitz”
Allied Powers:
Examples of
Total War
When, Where, and Why did the Allies
decide to bomb German/ Japanese cities?
• Casablanca Conference
– January 1943
– Allies decided to
target civilian cities in
order to undermine
the German morale
and destroy
Germany’s ability to
wage war
• Bombed many German
cities, including
Hamburg, Cologne,
Dresden, and Berlin.
Roosevelt and Churchill at
Casablanca
Describe the Bombing of Hamburg
• Bombing of
Hamburg
–July 1943
–Bombers dropped
incendiary and high
explosive bombs
–Destroyed over
60% of the city,
killed 50,000
Intact statue overlooks destroyed
civilians
Dresden
Bombing of Hamburg
Capture: Peter Jennings introduces Bombing of
Hamburg
Describe the bombing of Dresden.
•Bombing of Dresden
Random photos from Dresden
•February 1945
•cultural and artistic center of
Germany, population of 1,000,000
•Bombers started gigantic firestorm,
burned for 7 days
•Unknown how many civilians were
killed, estimates range from 35,000 to
250,000
•“You needn't worry about bombs, by
the way. Dresden is an open city. It is
undefended, and contains no war
industries or troop concentrations of
any importance.” - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Bombing of Dresden.
Capture: Dresden being firebombed
Describe the fire bombing of Tokyo
• March 1945
• Used incendiary
bombs to start
huge firestorms
–Most of the
buildings were
made of wood,
fire spread very
quickly
• Killed 80,000
civilians, left over
100,000 homeless
Tokyo after firebombing
"Everything
combustible would be consumed,
…In some cases the heat would soften the
asphalt in the streets, so that fire equipment
mired down and was lost to the flames. Water
sprayed on the fire would simply vaporize; glass
panes would soften and drip from metal
window frames. Here and there, incredibly,
concrete melted. No living thing could survive in
such an atmosphere."
Was
so successful that the U.S. ordered fire
bombings for almost every other major Japanese
city
Led
the U.S. to believe that Japan could be
defeated without an invasion
Firebombing Tokyo
Capture: Tokyo firebombing
What events led the US to decide to drop
the Atomic bomb?
• Japanese
atrocities
–Nanking
• Japanese
willingness to
fight to the death
• A land invasion
could cost many
American lives
Japanese killing Chinese with bayonets
Rape of Nanking
Capture: survivor of Nanking, 1937
Describe the Japanese actions in
Nanking
• Japan entered Chinese city
12/13/1937
• Killed over 300,000
• Soldiers immediately executed
– Civilians beheaded, shot,
bayoneted, hung, and
burned alive
– 20,000 women were raped
• After they were raped, they
were tortured, killed, and
their body mutilated
• Victims included
– young girls, elderly
women, nuns, and
pregnant women
Above and below: brutalized victims of
Japanese atrocities in Nanking
Desperate Japan
Capture: teenage Japanese
soldiers
Describe Japanese Willingness to Fight to
the Death
• Believed emperor was a god
• Public schools taught Japanese students
to die for emperor
• Japanese propaganda claimed Americans
killed babies, murdered civilians
• Japanese soldiers would not surrender at
Iwo Jima or Okinawa
Kamikaze plane crashes
• Kamikaze
– Planes were packed with explosives
and intentionally crashed into
battleships
– Desperate defense against American
battleships closing in on mainland
Japan
– Killed 5,000 Americans in Okinawa
Saipan
Capture: deck of a US ship hit by
kamikaze
Kamikaze
Capture: clip on kamikaze
Oppenheimer displays photo of atomic
blast
Manhattan
Project
Presentation
What is the Manhattan Project?
• Secret government operation to
develop 1st nuclear weapon
• Initiated after letter from
Einstein and Szilard warned
FDR of Nazi initiatives
• Headed by Robert
Oppenheimer
• Involved over 130 thousand
scientists, physicists, engineers,
etc.
• Based in Los Alamos, NM
• Trinity- first successful
detonation
"Now I am become death, the destroyer of
worlds" (line from Hindu scripture quoted by
Robert Oppenheimer when he observed the
test.) Photos are of tower in New Mexico and
experimental blast
Truman Becomes President
How does nuclear energy work?
• fission, or
'splitting' of an
atom,
– Split atom
strike atoms
and starts chain
reaction
– Results in
release of
tremendous
amounts of
energy
Trinitite. The bomb
melted the sand into
this greenish glass.
It was named
trinitite after Trinity.
What were Truman’s Options to end the War?
Describe the bombing of Hiroshima.
• August 6, 1945
• Enola Gay dropped
atomic bomb on
Hiroshima
• The blast killed at
least 70,000 people
• Over the years many
have died from
radiation poisoning
“The homes of many of us have been destroyed, and the lives of
old and young have been taken. There's scarcely a household that
hasn't been struck to the heart. Why, in all conscience, should these
be the ones to suffer?.....Are these our soldiers? Are these our
fighters? Why should they be sacrificed? I shall tell you why.
Because this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform, it is a war of
the people, and it must be fought not only on the battlefield but in
the cities and in the villages, in the factories, and on the farms, in
the home and in the heart of every man, woman, and child who
loves freedom.
This is a peoples war, it is our war, we are the fighters, fight it,
then. Fight it with all that is in us. And may God defend the
right.”– Closing sermon of Mrs. Miniver
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
The explosion created a supersonic shock wave which was
responsible for destroying most of the buildings in the blast
zone. Fully half of the bomb's released energy was released in the
form of this wind, which spread out at 440 meters per second (1600
km/hr or 1000 miles/hr; the speed of sound is 330 meters per
second). It not only knocked things down, it also filled the air with
debris. The section of concrete wall below has numerous glass
shards embedded in it, even though it was 2200 meters (one and a
half miles) from the hypocenter, and sheltered from the blast by a
low hill.
Nagasaki before Attack
Nagasaki after
The Survivors
Were we justified in using this
weapon?
And Today? What would it be like?
And Today? What would it be like?
Nuclear Winter
Who has nuclear weapons today?
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United States = 9300 weapons
Russia= 9500 weapons
Britain=185 weapons
France=460 weapons
Red China=400 weapons
North Korea = as many as 6
India= 30 weapons
Pakistan = 15 weapons
Israel = 75 and 130 nukes
Ukraine, Kazakhstan, South Africa have
abandoned their nuclear programs