Transcript War in the Pacific The Atomic Bomb

War in the Pacific
The Atomic Bomb
Pgs. 335-336
Pearl Harbor
• After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese
troops landed in the Philippines.
• Four months later they forced the
Americans there to surrender.
• Before surrendering, the commander of
the U.S. troops, General Douglas
MacArthur, promised the people of the
Philippines, “I shall return.”
1942
• The Japanese appeared to be winning the
war in the Pacific.
– Two Battles turned the tide:
• Battle of the Coral Sea
• Battle of Midway
– U.S. Navy defeated the Japanese fleet
– U.S. Navy sank four Japanese aircraft carriers.
1943
• The Allies began to force the Japanese
from islands they had conquered.
• The Allies formed the strategy of islandhopping.
– Island-hopping meant only liberating the most
important islands on the way to Japan.
– The Allies would also begin bombing Japan
from the air.
1944
• October 1944 – General MacArthur began
a major invasion to take back the
Philippines.
• MacArthur fulfilled his promise to return to
the Philippines and liberate the island from
Japanese control.
Iwo Jima
• This was a costly
battle for both sides.
• 4,000 American
soldiers died.
• 20,000 Japanese
soldiers died.
• The United States
captured Iwo Jima in
1945.
1945
• President Truman made the difficult
decision to drop an atom bomb on Japan.
• He wanted to end the war quickly and
save American lives.
• On August 6, the American bomber, Enola
Gay, flew over the city of Hiroshima,
Japan.
• A single bomb was dropped.
1945
• First, there was a
flash like an exploding
sun.
• Then a cloud shaped
like a mushroom rose
above the city.
• The bomb killed
75,000 people, most
civilians.
1945
• Japan did not surrender so an order to
drop a second bomb was given.
• On August 9, a bomb was dropped on
Nagasaki.
• After this – Japan agreed to surrender!
Results
WAR OVER!
• About 300,000 Americans were killed.
• 15 million soldiers from other countries
had died.