Transcript World War II

Germany Attacks Poland
• Germany invades Poland (1 September
1939)
• Britain and France declare war on
Germany
– Mutual aid treaties with Poland
– Now both are forced into war and Hitler
has gained the initiative
Blitzkrieg was born in Poland
• “Lighting Warfare”
• Attack enemy at weakest point
• Combination of lateral and forward
movements
• Large mechanized ground forces
• Coordinated use of airpower
• Speed, Speed, Speed!!!!
Poland
• Conquered in 3 weeks
• Russian invasion from East a major
factor. They had invaded from the east.
• Showed power of offensive
• Balanced combination of motorized
infantry, armor, and air under a single
commander.
• Fast moving tanks and airplanes,
followed by infantry, then crush the
enemy with overwhelming force
Sitzkrieg
• “Phony War”
• No “real” fighting for 7 months
• French Maginot Line opposite the
German Siegfried Line, but neither side
attacks.
• April 9, 1940 Hitler attacks Norway and
Denmark
• Denmark falls in 4 hours
• Norway falls in 2 months
• Hitler then takes Belgium, Holland, and
Luxembourg
Maginot Line
• A line of concrete
fortifications, tank
obstacles, machine gun
posts and other defenses
which France
constructed along her
borders with Germany
and Italy
• The fortifications did not
extend through the
Ardennes Forest which
was considered
“impassable”
The Plans
• Allies expected the Germans to attack
using a variant of the WWI Schlieffen
Plan
• The French expected the Germans to
attack through the north part of Belgium
and planned to counter it with the Dye
Plan
• Instead the Manstein Plan (German
Plan) called for an attack further south
and anticipated the French plan.
Invasion of
France
• German’s 135
divisions, Allies’ 136
divisions; German
divisions larger and
better trained
• Hitler goes around the
Maginot Line,
squeezing through the
Ardennes Forest, an
area where no one
could attack through
• 10 days later Germany
is a the North coast of
France
• Were able to trap
French and British
troops at Dunkirk
• GB sent 850 ships of
all types to the rescue
• 338,000 troops rescued
Miracle at Dunkirk
• German army smashes through the Ardennes Forest
and traps the French/British on the north coast of
Belgium/France.
• May 26, 1940- Allies trapped at Dunkirk. No way out.
Surrounded by the Germans, but they do not attack.
• This allows the British navy and merchant ships to
rescue the Allies.
• Armada of 850 ships, yachts, lifeboats, etc. rescue
338,000 allied troops.
• Hitler’s 1st Big mistake.
The Fall of France
• On June 22, France signed an armistice
with Germany, agreeing to German
occupation of northern France and the
coast.
– The French military was demobilized, and the
French government, now located at Vichy, in the
south (and headed by Marshall Henri Philippe
Pétain), would collaborate with the German
authorities in occupied France.
• Refusing to recognize defeat, General
Charles de Gaulle escaped to London and
organized the Free French forces.
• Britain now stood alone against Germany.
The Battle of Britain
• Hitler expected Britain to make peace, however,
Britain, led by a new Prime Minister, Winston
Churchill, refused to surrender.
• Hitler proceeded with invasion plans, Operation
Sea Lion.
• Germany must control air in order to successfully
invade England.
• Despite 3,000 to 1,200 advantage in aircraft,
Luftwaffe is unable to defeat the RAF.
• Hitler calls off plans for invasion in Sept 1940 and
shifts to bombing campaign (“The Blitz”).
• Radar and ENIGMA help the British to “win.”
• Britain held firm during the Blitz despite
devastating destruction to English cities.
– The British resistance convinced Hitler to postpone the
invasion but he continued the bombing attacks.
– Hitler calls of attacks on May 10, 1941
Four Phases of the War
• Germans tried to control sea by
attacking convoys
• Shifted attack to main land RAF bases;
this was very effective
• Bomb London to break British morale;
high civilian casualties
• British countered by destroying 200
barges gathered by Germans for attack
on England
• This caused Germans to suspend
Operation Sea Lion
End Result
• British won the Battle
- Britain's will to win
- British radar and Enigma
• German abandon the attacks on Britain
in order to prepare for invasion of
Russia
War in the Balkans
• Hitler is secretly planning to invade
the Soviet Union
• Balkans are key to the plan
• Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary
decide to cooperate and join the Axis
• April 6, 1941 – Hitler invade Greece
and Yugoslavia
• Greece falls in 17 days
• Yugoslavia falls in 11 days
Operation Barbarossa: The
German Invasion of Russia
• Hitler believed the Russian Army could be
destroyed in 3 months
• 22 June 1941 - Hitler attacked (wanted to
win before U.S. involvement)
• Wanted Lebensraum- living space
• Initial German aims were to capture
Russian oil fields and industrial areas in
order to;
– Support Germany’s war in the west
– Break Russian economic power so she
could not attack at some later date
Invasion of the Soviet Union
• Hitler gets tired of waiting for Great Britain to fall
– The obliteration of Bolshevism was a key
element of Hitler’s ideology; however, it was a
gigantic military mistake.
– Much violence and destruction
– Over 27 Million dead Russians
• Operation Barbarossa, consisting of an attack
army of 4 million men spread out along a 2,000mile front in three massive offensives.
• The German army quickly advanced, but at a
terrifying cost. For the next three years, 90
percent of German deaths would happen on the
eastern front.
• Hitler attacks on June 22, 1941. Russia
didn’t believe Germany would attack.
Russian strategy
• Barter space for time; intended retreats
• Scorched earth policy; withdrew and forced the
Germans to overextend their lines of
communications and supply. Forced Hitler’s
exposed army to spend the winter in -40 degree
weather. Summer uniforms
• Partisan organizations were to prey on
Germany’s lines of communications
• Supply lines were so long that they slowed the
advance
• Vast area which had been taken was hard to
control because of Partisan activity
• The massive size of Russia exhausted German
troops
• The Russian winter set in and the Germans did
not have adequate equipment to fight a winter
battle
The Battle of Stalingrad
• Hitler initiated a major summer offensive in 1942 that was designed
to destroy the Soviets' ability to resist.
• Hitler believed that the Red Army had used up much of its
manpower and materiel in the winter fighting.
• If Hitler hadn’t interfered, Stalingrad might have been taken without a
fight.
• Hitler vs. Stalin
• In early September, the German infantry started a mass attack on
Stalingrad.
• Temps plummet.
• The fighting was close-quarter combat from house to house.
• Tanks became useless due to the rubble.
• The Germans reached the center of the city a week later.
• By January 25 the Russians had overran the German 6th Army.
• Nearly 1 million German Soldiers were captured by the end of
January.
• Of all the German soldiers captured by the Russians, only around
5,000 would return back to Germany after the war.
• Some historians believe that the victory at Stalingrad was the turning
point.
• War in the East is basically lost for the Germans
Turning Points of the War: The
Battle of Stalingrad
• The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning
point of the war. The German Army
(Wehrmacht) had already lost 2 million men
on the eastern front.
• In 1942-43, a German army of over 300,000
was defeated and captured at the Battle of
Stalingrad.
• The Germans then lost the battle of Kursk
and began a long retreat.
• The Red Army crossed into Poland in
January 1944.
Battle of The Atlantic
• Attempt by Germany to stop supplies
reaching the Allies
• Essentially conducted in five phases
• Phase one (Sept. 1939 – June 1940)
- German U-boat operations led to the
sinking of numerous Allied ships
• Phase two (June 1940 – March 1941)
– Germans build special bombproof
submarine pens
– “Wolfpack” operations began against
convoys
• Phase three (April – December 1941)
- Growth of US participation
- 50 destroyers given to Britain, this allowed
Russia to hold out against Germany
- Germans initiate unrestricted submarine
warfare
Battle of Atlantic Cont’d
• Phase four (January 1942 – April 1943)
-Germans attack shipping routes near US
Coast
- Air and surface-escorted interlocking
Allied convoy system
-Increased loss of German submarines,
turning point of the battle
• Phase five (May 1943- May 1945)
- Germans shift attacks to Mediterranean
• Eventually U-boats are defeated because
of close air cover escorts and advances in
technology
• Allied victory shifted the balance of the
war
The U.S. Aides Its Allies
• War takes its toll on Europe, FDR begins
to change policy, Pro-British.
• Cash and Carry, a belligerent could pay in
cash for U.S. arms.
• Selective Service Act, 1940, registration of
all men ages 21-35 and to train 1.2 million
men. Isolationists upset.
• Destroyers for Bases deal, U.S. gives
G.B. 50 older destroyers in exchange
military bases in the Caribbean
FDR and the War
• 6 January 1941 Four Freedoms,
speech, religion, freedom from want,
freedom from fear.
• Lend-Lease Act, March 1941, U.S. to
extend credit to G.B. for buying
weapons.
• Atlantic Charter, FDR and Churchill: War
Aims
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1. No extension of territory.
2. Territorial self determination.
3. Destruction of Nazism.
4. International Organization to promote
world peace.
• September 4, 1941 German U-Boat fires
on US destroyer
– Roosevelt orders to fire on U-boats on sight
The Road to War
• Japan sought to control of “East Asia” for
additional markets and sources of raw
materials
– Invades China in 1931.
– Invades French Indochina in 1940.
• “Colonial” governments begin imposing
embargoes to put brakes on Japanese
expansion.
• Japanese armed forces argue that they must
strike to relieve pressure of embargoes.
– Expect conflict, but buy time and surprise through
negotiations.
• US and UK focused on war in Europe.
Sneak Attack!
• December 7, 1941- 7:55
am- 1st of 2 attacks on US
Fleet at Pearl Harbor
• 107 ships in harbor- 1/3 of
fleet.
• 183 planes in 1st wave.
Aircraft carriers are 1st
target, but they aren’t
there.
• Battleship row is 2nd target.
• 167 planes in second
wave at 8:54 am.
• Third wave called off
because Japan feels
that the 1st two waves
were successful
enough.
• 17 ships severely
damaged
• 188 US fighters
destroyed
• 3 ships completely
destroyed (USS
Arizona)
• 2,403 Americans die
(1,177 on the Arizona)
• 29 Japanese planes
shot down.
Or was it?
• Many feel that FDR knew of the attacks
and wanted them.
– Most Americans did not want to get
involved in the war unless attacked.
– He felt Japan was the answer
• Imposed trade embargos on Japan
(Metal and Oil)
• Japan had to fight or accept US’s
demands
• With a puppet dictator and the military
really in charge they chose war!
Pearl Harbor Conspiracy Theory
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
In the summer of 1940 Roosevelt ordered the Pacific fleet
to relocate to Pearl Harbor from California. Admiral
Richardson protested and was replaced.
October 7, 1940 a Navy intelligence analyst wrote FDR an 8
point memo on how to force Japan into a war, including
embargoing Japan’s oil. All 8 were accomplished.
FDR’s advisor Harold Ickes wrote in his diary on Oct. 18,
1941. “For along tie I have believed that our best entrance
into the war by way of Japan.
60 years later the government refuses to identify or
declassify pre-attack intelligence notices because of
“National Security.”
On Nov. 26, 1941 both the Aircraft Carriers, the USS
Enterprise and USS Lexington were ordered out of Pearl
Harbor. With this order 40% of Pearl Harbor’s aircrafts.
The same day the US issued Japan an ultimatum to
withdraw from SE Asia and China. This was called the :The
document that touched the button that started the war.”
THE PURPLE MACHINE
December 6, 1941
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In Washington D.C. there was a
top secret machine only known
as “PurPle”.
“PurPle” was a message
decoder.
On Saturday December 6, 1941
“PurPle” intercePted a message
from Japan.
It was a message telling a
general in Hawaii that Japan
was going to attack.
The message was sent straight
to Honolulu but it was received
to late, before Honolulu had
any time to tell pearl harbor
what was going to happen Japan
had already attacked.
Internment of Japanese
Americans
• After the tragedy of Pearl Harbor,
Americans were eager to act on racial
stereotypes
• Eventually, the government build special
relocation centers in remote sections of
the U.S. and evacuated about 110,000
Japanese (including 60,000 citizens of
Japanese heritage).
Mobilization In the U.S.
• The war effort required all of America’s huge productive
capacity and full employment of the workforce.
– Government expenditures soared.
• U.S. budget increases
– 1940 $9 million
– 1944 $100 million
– Expenditures in WWII greater than all previous
government budgets combined (150 years)
– GNP 1939 91 billion 1945 166 million
Mobilization for War
• War time Economy, consumer goods to war materiel
• War Production Board, managed war industries, set
production priorities, pushed maximum output
• Office of Price Administration, froze prices, wages,
and rents, rationed meat, sugar, gasoline, and tires.
• Financing the War, increased income tax, selling war
bonds.
• Office of War Information, controlled news about
troop movements and battles.
Restoration of U.S. Prosperity
• World War II ended the Great Depression.
• Factories run at full capacity
– Ford Motor Company – one bomber
plane per hour
• People save money (rationing)
• Army bases in South provide economic
boom (most bases in South b/c of climate)
• The national debt grew to $260 billion (6
times its size on Dec. 7, 1941)
War and Society
• African Americans- Double V Campaign, victory over
fascism and victory for equality, over a million in the
military
• Mexican Americans, over 300,000 in the military.
Native Americans, 25,000 in the military
• Japanese Americans, 20,000 served in the military,
Internment camps Wyoming, Arizona, and Colorado
• Women over 350,000 served in the military, close to 5
million joined the workforce.
The Turn of the Tide in
Europe
• Defeat of the Axis Powers
• The turning point of the war came in
1942-43.
• Allied victory in North Africa was
followed by an invasion of Italy,
which stopped the Axis powers’
string of victories.
• The decisive theater of war,
however, was the eastern front.
Strategic Bombing of
Germany
• Smashing the German war machine by bomber blitz
similar to German tank blitz used in France and Poland
• Until A-bomb, not sufficiently destructive to end war
• 5 Main Targets
• Military group - tactical, not strategic
• Industrial group - would take years & many aircraft to
achieve results
• Urban group - create demoralization & revolt
• Resources and energy group - coal, oil, etc.
• Transportation group - means to transport war materials,
i.e., bridges, railroads, etc.
• Groups (4) and (5) became dominant targets
Race to
Berlin
• D-Day was the turning point of the
western front. Stalingrad was the turning
point of the eastern front.
• The British, U.S., and Free French armies
began to press into western Germany as
the Soviets invaded eastern Germany.
• Both sides raced to Berlin.
Surprise: Fictitious Armies
• By spurious radio transmissions, the
Allies created an entire phantom army,
"based" in southeast England (opposite
Pas-de-Calais) and alleged to be
commanded by Patton.
– In addition, on the night of the invasion
itself, airborne radar deception presented
to German radar stations a "phantom"
picture of an invasion fleet crossing the
Channel narrows, while a radar blackout
disguised the real transit to Normandy.
Surprise: Ultra
– At the same time, through the top-secret
Ultra operation, the Allies were able to
decode encrypted German transmissions,
thus providing the Overlord forces with a
clear picture of where the German
counterattack forces were deployed.
Operation Overlord
• Most massive and complex military
endeavor in history
• Numerous beaches were studied
• Normandy or Pas de Calais
Pas de
Calais Advantages
• Best air cover
• Shorter sea voyage
• Best beaches and
conditions
• Close to Dutch and
Belgium forts
Pas de CalaisDisadvantages
• Germans
considered it the
most likely avenue
of approach
• Beaches were too
narrow to support
follow on operations
Advantages
of Normandy
• Good beach conditions
• Somewhat sheltered
• Within air cover
distance
• Defenses were not
strong
• Port of Cherbourg could
be quickly isolated and
captured
Disadvantages
of Normandy
• Exits from the beach
were difficult
• Insufficient numbers
of ports were readily
available
Allied Plan
• Eisenhower appointed Supreme
Commander
• Land on Normandy coast, build up and
break out of beachhead
• Attack on a broad axis with two armies;
- one to attack east and north towards
Germany
- the other to link up with the southern
France invasion to the south
D-Day
• After taking control of North Africa and the
Mediterranean, Allies are ready to invade
Europe.
• 1,000 British Bombers pound the coast, but do
little damage.
• 23,000 U.S and British paratroopers were
dropped in France to take strategic towns and
bridges.
• 150,000 troops landed on the beaches of
Normandy. Largest amphibious assault ever.
• 5 beaches- Juno, Gold, Sword, Omaha, Utah
• 2,000 American casualties on Omaha
Allied Plan Cont’d
• Maintain an unrelenting offense for
complete destruction of enemy west of
the Rhine
• Launch a final attack – a double
envelopment of the Ruhr
• Emphasis on the northern, left flank
toward Ruhr and industrial Germany
Operation Overlord
• On 6 June, 1944 some 6,500 vessels landed over
130,000 Allied forces on five Normandy beaches:
codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
• Some 12,000 aircraft ensured air superiority for the
Allies - bombing German defenses, and providing
cover.
• On Utah beach 23,000 troops were landed, with 197
casualties.
• Most of the 4,649 American casualties that day
occurred at Omaha beach, where the landing was
significantly more difficult to achieve, meeting with
fierce German resistance.
Results
• D-day casualties: 2,500 KIAS, Allies
expected 10,000
• Turning point in the European Theater
• By 18 June, the U.S. 1st Army sealed
off Cherbourg Peninsula
• Caen fell to British on 8 July
• St. Lo to the U.S. 1st Army on 18 July
• The tide had turned.
Operation Overlord
• Hitler's troubles were compounded by a
Russian counterattack in June.
• This drove 300 miles west to Warsaw, and
killed, wounded or captured 350,000 German
soldiers.
• By the end of August the Russians had taken
Bucharest. Estonia was taken within months,
and Budapest was under siege by the end of
the year.
The Battle of the Bulge
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The Battle of Ardennes,
(Belgium)
16 December 1944 – 25
January 1945
German forces intended to split
the Allied line.
G.B. and U.S. had 83,000 men.
Germany over 200,000
G.B. and U.S.
80,987 casualties(10,276 dead,
23,218 missing,
47,493 wounded)
Germany
84,834 casualties
(15,652 dead,
27,582 missing,
41,600 wounded
Allies keep moving into German
Territory
End of the War in Europe
• April 25, 1945 Soviet and U.S. troops
meet at Torgau, on the Elbe River.
• April 30, 1945 Hitler Commits suicide
• May 2, 1945 Battle of Berlin ends
• May 7, 1945 Rheims, France, surrender
documents signed.
• May 8, 1945 Victory in Europe. VE DAY
Into Germany!
• Americans closing in from the West, Russians
closing in from the East.
• 13.6 million Russians and 3 million Germans
die in the East
• USSR- 27 Million civilian and military death.
• April 1945- Soviets push towards Berlin.
• 80% of city leveled
• U.S. pushed to the south.
• Hitler knows the end is near and commits
suicide with his mistress, Eva Braun.
• Germany surrenders to US, not USSR
Victory in Europe
• Mussolini was captured and
killed by Italian partisans and
Hitler committed suicide in
April 1945, as the Russian
troops took Berlin.
• Germany surrendered
unconditionally on May 7,
1945 (V-E Day).
• Fighting in the Pacific would
continue until August.
The Pacific Theater
• Within 6 months of Pearl Harbor, Japan had
a new empire.
– Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere
• Japanese racial purity and supremacy
– Treated Chinese and Koreans with brutality.
• “Rape of Nanjing”- Japanese slaughtered at
least 100,000 civilians and raped thousands of
women in the Chinese capital between Dec. 1937
and Feb. 1938.
– Could have consolidated
– “victory disease”
• After Pearl Harbor, American military leaders
focused on halting the Japanese advance
and mobilizing the whole nation for war.
The Pacific Theater:
Early Battles
• American Forces halted the Japanese advances
in two decisive naval battles.
– Coral Sea (May 1942)
• U.S. stopped a fleet convoying Japanese troops to
New Guinea
• Japanese designs on Australia ended
– Midway (June 1942)
• Japanese Admiral Yamamoto hoped to capture
Midway Island as a base to attack Pearl Harbor
again
• U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz caught the Japanese
by surprise and sank 3 of the 4 aircraft carriers,
332 planes, and 3500 men.
– American cryptanalysts
The War in the Pacific
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1942 Japan Occupied: Korea, Eastern
China, the Philippines, British Burma,
Malaya, French Indochina, Indonesia, many
islands west of Midway Island
May 7 – 8, 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea
Japan threatens New Zealand and
Australia, looking to maintain a stranglehold
on the Solomon Islands
United States and Australia hold off the
Japanese attack.
No real victor, sets the stage for Midway
Importance of Midway
• The Japanese defeat at Midway was
the turning point in the Pacific.
– Japanese advances stopped.
– U.S. assumes initiative.
– Japanese have shortage of able pilots.
• Censorship and Propaganda
– News of the defeat was kept from the
Japanese public.
The War in the Pacific, Midway
June 4-7, 1942
• The United States
• Commanders: Chester
Nimitz, Frank Fletcher,
Raymond Spruance
• Strength: Three carriers,
about 50 support ships
233 carrier aircraft,
127 land-based aircraft
• Casualties:1 carrier,
1 destroyer sunk;
307 killed
• Destruction of 4 carriers
means that the U.S. can now
go on the offensive.
Crushing defeat for the
Japanese
• Japan, plan to destroy U.S.
carriers, under the
impression that they would
only have to deal with two
carriers.
• Commanders: Isoroku
Yamamoto, Chuichi
Nagumo, Tamon Yamaguchi
• Strength: Four carriers,
about 150 support ships
248 carrier aircraft,
16 floatplanes
• Casualties: 4 carriers,
1 cruiser sunk;
3,057 killed
The War in the Pacific
• Island Hopping Campaign- isolate Japanese strongholds using
Naval and air power, seize strategic islands along the Japanese
supply line.
• Begins August 1942, Marines land at Guadalcanal, Solomon
Islands, Gilbert and Marshall Islands,
• 23-26 October 1944 Invasion of the Philippines, Battle of Leyte
Gulf, Japanese navy just about destroyed
• February and March 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima, Mount Suribachi,
U.S. Casualties 6,821 dead19,000 wounded Japanese
Casualties 20,500 dead 200 captured
• Battle of Okinawa, March – June 1945, largest sea-land battle
in history, Last major battle of the war. U.S. Casualties: 12,500
killed or missing 38,000 wounded 33,096 non-combat wounded
38 ships lost 763 aircraft lost Japanese Casualties: 110,000
killed
7,455 captured 16 ships lost 7,800 aircraft lost
Guadalcanal
• 7 August 1942
• First offensive action of the war.
• Critical airfield.
– First plane makes emergency landing on 12
Aug.
– 2 USMC squadrons arrive on 20 Aug.
– Only one “healthy” carrier left by end of battle.
• Jungle causes significant casualties.
– Over 1k new cases of malaria per week.
• Island “secured” in Feb ’43.
• Japan suffers critical losses in all areas.
– 25,000 soldiers (1/2 in combat, ½ to illness)
The Beginning of the End in
the Pacific
• Yamamoto is assassinated by the U.S. (April
1943)
• Loss of Saipan (August 1944)
– “the naval and military heart and brain of
Japanese defense strategy”
– Political crisis in Japan
• The government could no longer hide the fact
that they were losing the war.
• Tōjō resigns on July 18, 1944
• Intensive air raids over Japan
– Iwo Jima (February, 1945)
• American marines invaded this island, which
was needed to provide fighter escort for
bombings over Japan
Iwo Jima
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D-Day
9 Feb 1945
Airfields again the objectives.
450 ships
Pre-invasion bombardment shortened from 12 to 3 days.
– Weather limited effectiveness of even this.
• Southern half of island in US hands by D+2.
– Takes 34 more days to secure remainder of island (8 square
miles total).
• Nothing fancy; simple but costly.
– “Throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete.”
• 36 days, 26k US casualties including 6k KIA.
– 1 of every 3 US personnel that went ashore was wounded or
killed.
• 1k of 20k defenders survived
• 2400 B-29s w/ 27k crewmen made unscheduled landings on
island by the time the war ended.
• 27 Medals of Honor awarded.
A Grinding War in the Pacific
• In 1945, the U.S. began targeting people in
order to coerce Japan to surrender
– 66 major Japanese cities bombed
– 500,000 civilians killed
• Battle for Leyte Gulf
– Total blockade of Japan
– Japanese navy virtually destroyed
– Kamikaze (divine wind) flights begin
• Okinawa (April, 1945)
– All 110,000 Japanese defenders killed
– U.S. invaded this island, which would provide a
staging area for the invasion of the Japanese islands.
– If it is this bad at Okinawa, how bad will it get in
Japan?
Manhattan Project
• Albert Einstein
– Developed the theory of relativity and set in
motion the process of developing the
atomic bomb
• Manhattan Project
– Committee that looked at the feasibility of
an atomic bomb
– July 16, 1945 – they test the first atomic
bomb in the desert at Alamogordo, New
Mexico
– The bomb left a huge crater in the earth
and shattered windows up to 125 miles
away
Decision to Drop the Bomb
• The alternatives
– Invading main land Japan
– A naval Blockade and continued bombing
– Softening of the idea of unconditional surrender
– Dropping the bomb on a remote, deserted island
to show its power
• The decision
– High casualties would result from invading Japan
– The bitterness that Americans felt towards Pearl
Harbor
– The U.S. wanted to “flex its muscles before the
eyes of the communist rivals” and the rest of the
world
The Bombs
• August 6, 1945, the first bomb, “Little
Boy,” was dropped on Hiroshima
• August 9, 1945, the second bomb, “Fat
Man,” is dropped on Nagasaki
• September 2, 1945, Japan surrenders
President Truman’s Speech
August 9, 1945
• The world will note that the first atomic bomb
was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base.
That was because we wished in this first
attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing
of civilians. But that attack is only a warning
of things to come. If Japan does not
surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on
her war industries and, unfortunately,
thousands of civilian lives will be lost. I urge
Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities
immediately, and save themselves from
destruction.
VJ!
• Some Japanese still want to fight after Abombs, but Emperor Hirohito urges them to
stop.
• Surrender to General Douglas “god”
MacArthur.
• His goal was to demilitarize Japan (reduce
their ability to fight)
• Second goal was democratization, creating a
democracy
• Become a Parliamentary democracy similar
to Great Britain, with Emperor as figurehead.
• Hirohito forced to admit that he was not God!
• Article 9- Japanes cannot make war. No
Army, only SDF. We are still responsible for
Japan.
Cost of War
• Germany- 3 million combat deaths (3/4ths on
the eastern front)
• Japan – over 1.5 combat deaths; 900,000
civilians dead
• Soviet Union - 13 million combat deaths
• U.S. – 300,000 combat deaths, over 100,000
other deaths
• When you include all combat and civilian
deaths, World War II becomes the most
destructive war in history with estimates as
high as 60 million, including 25 million
Russians.
Aftershocks!
• Many historic cities like London and Berlin,
destroyed.
• Countryside torn up. Crops?
• Warsaw
– 1.3 M before the war.
– 153,000 after the war.
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95% of Berlin was rubble.
4,000 a day die in Berlin in 1945.
Starvation, disease, etc.
Communists (Russians) don’t leave Eastern Europe.
Iron Curtain develops.
Democracy v. Communism
Cold War
Nuremberg War Crimes Trial
• 22 Nazis put on trial for war crimes and
“crimes against humanity.”
• Hitler and many top Nazis dead, but some still
remain.
• Reichsmarshall Herman Goering and Deputy
Fuhrer Rudolf Hess among those tried.
• 12 sentenced to death, Goering kills himself,
escapes hanging.
• “I was just following orders.”
• Only 1, Hans Frank, the slayer of the Poles,
expressed remorse.
Truman Administration
• Truman Doctrine: I believe it must be the policy of the United
States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.
• Containment: rather than liberating those countries already in
the grip of Communism, the United States tried to keep it from
spreading
• Creation of NATO: U.S., Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France,
G.B., Iceland, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
and later Greece and Turkey; form a front against Soviet
Aggression.
• Korean War, 1950-53: Invasion of South Korea by North Korean
communist forces in June of 1950
U.S. World Power
• New Challenges faced the United States
1. Safeguard its security and National interests
against powerful and unfriendly nations
2. Help protect the sovereignty of the nations
of Europe, Latin America, and Asia without
provoking hostile relations with them or the
Communist Bloc
3. Establish ties to newly independent nations
of Asia and Africa
4. Balance the cost of domestic programs with
defense needs.
The Cold War Begins
• U.S.A. and USSR have ideological
differences. Capitalism v. Communism
• Wartime allies out of convenience,
common enemy.
• Postwar goals
– U.S.A.- fought for democracy and
economic freedom in Europe and Asian,
wanted to see these continued.
– USSR- wants to rebuild to protect their
interests. Create satellite nations- countries
subject to Soviet domination.
Iron Curtain
• Communist regimes in
East Germany, Poland,
Czech, Hungary,
Yugoslavia, Bulgaria
and Romania.
• Churchill asks US for
help from Russians
closing the Iron Curtain
around any more
nations in Europe.
• Cold Warcompetition that
developed between
the US and the
USSR for power and
influence throughout
the world.
• Never directly
fought, but almost.
Containment and the Truman
Doctrine.
• Containment- American
policy of resisting
further expansion of
communism around the
world, said that Eastern
Europe was already
lost.
• GB can’t support its
former colonies and
allies, like Turkey and
Greece.
• Asks US for help.
• Truman gives speech
that becomes known as
Truman Doctrine.
• US WOULD SUPPORT
NATIONS THAT WERE
BEING THREATENED
BY COMMUNISM
• Truman Doctrine and
Containment led to
Korean and Vietnam
Wars, Cuban Missile
Crisis, etc.
Marshal Plan
• US doesn’t want to
make same mistakes
as WWI.
• Wants to rebuild not
punish Europe for war.
• Marshall Plan- program
of American economic
assistance to Western
Europe to rebuild
Western Europe and
keep USSR out.
• Named for General
George C. Marshall
NATO and Korea
• UN is powerless to stop
communism b/c Russia has
veto power.
• Western European countries
form North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO)
• If Russia attacks one, they all
join in. Problem?
• Russia forms Warsaw Pact
with other communist nations
• Collective Security- policy in
which nations agree to
protect on another against an
attack.
• N. Korea
(communist) invades
S. Korea
• US and UN
intervene.
• MacArthur whips
Koreans, but
Chinese volunteers
push Americans
back.
• MarArthur second
guesses the
president and gets
fired.
• 38th parallel
Eisenhower Era
• Ike elected in 1952.
• Believed in Domino
Theory- theory that
described the world as
being overrun by
Soviet Communism, as
one country falls, so
does the next.
• If it starts, no way to
stop it.
• Russia develops Abomb in 1949
• Arms race develops
between the US and
USSR
1957 Sputnik – first satellite
1960- 1st man in space
Cold War
Heats Up
• Soviets first in space
– Sputnik - First man-made satellite - 1957
– Yuri Gagarin - First man in space - 1961
• U-2 Incident - 1960
– Francis Gary Powers shot down over Soviet Union
• Khrushchev's speech at the UN “We will bury you!” - 1960
• Berlin Wall - 1961
• Kennedy’s speech “Ich bin ein Berliner” - 1963
Cold War
Bay of Pigs
• Bay of Pigs Invasion - 17 Apr 1961
– 1400 invaders to overthrow Castro
– Cuban Nationalists/Insurgents trained and
backed by CIA
– Poorly planned and poorly executed –
complete fiasco
• No popular support in Cuba
• No US military support
– Total failure
• U.S. loss of face
13 Days in October
14th – photographs of missiles on Cuba
22nd – Kennedy decides to blockade Cuba
24th – Soviet ships turn back
24th – message from Khrushchev saying must
find peaceful solution
 25th – U2 spy plane shot down
 26th – 2nd message from Khrushchev
 28th – agreement reached
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Cuban Missile Crisis
American Response
• “Quarantine”
– Actually a blockade
– Fleet directed to block further
shipments
– Demand to remove missiles
– Soviet ships reverse course, 1 ship
boarded
“We’re eyeball to eyeball, and I think
the other fellow just blinked”
Dean Rusk, Secretary of State
October 25: At the UN, Adlai
Stevenson directly challenges the
Soviet ambassador to admit to the
existence of missiles, when the
ambassador refuses, Stevenson wheels
out pictures of the missile sites
http://www.history.com/media.do?action=clip&id=v2t16
Chronology, Continued
• October 27: Soviets demand that Americans
also withdraw missiles from Turkey; Major
Anderson’s plane is missing over Cuba,
presumably shot down; U.S. recon plane
strays over Soviet airspace…high tensions
• Kennedy tells Khrushchev that he will accept
the proposal of the 26th, Kennedy tells his
brother to tell the Soviet Ambassador that
though the Turkey missiles would not be part
of the bargain, they would be removed in time
• October 28: USSR agrees to withdraw
missiles