Transcript World War II Aftermath

World War II: Victory
and Aftermath
Axis Defeat

Battle of Midway- U.S. warships &
airplanes severely damaged two Japanese
fleet
– weakened Japanese naval power
– Stopped Japanese advance

Battle of the Bulge- Lasted more than a
month; delayed Allied advance
– Germany bombed around the clock for 2
years
End in Europe
In Italy: Mussolini is captured & executed
 In Germany: Hitler committed suicide in
his underground bunker
 Germany surrendered & war in Europe
officially ended

Defeat of Japan

Invasion vs. Bomb?
– Japanese had shown they would fight to
death rather than surrender
 Kamikazes- Pilots who took on suicide missions,
crashing their airplanes into ships
– Estimated that invasion of Japan would cause
>1 million casualties
– Truman issued warning to Japan: surrender or
face utter & complete destruction…
Defeat of Japan

Hiroshima: August 6, 1945: Atomic bomb
is dropped by U.S. plane
– Instantly killed more than 70,000 people
– Many more would die from radiation sickness

Nagasaki: bomb dropped here the next
day
– More than 40,000 people killed

Japan surrendered September 2, 1945
Aftermath of War
Concentration camps liberated after Allies
saw full extent of the inhumanity & misery
 Nuremburg Trials- Axis leaders tried for
crimes against humanity, some received
death sentences & imprisoned
 United Nations formed: to play a greater
role in world affairs than the League of
Nations

New Conflicts: Cold War
U.S. & Soviet Union emerge as superpowers w/
economic resources to dominate globe
 USSR Goals: To spread communism & create a
buffer zone of friendly governments as a
defense against Germany
 US adopts policy of containment- limiting
communism to the areas already under Soviet
control
 Arms race: Both countries spent millions of
dollars to develop new & more deadly nuclear
weapons

Divisions in Germany
Defeated Germany became a focus of the
Cold War
 USSR dismantled factories and used them
to rebuild Russia
 Allied Powers united their zones of
occupation
 Germany became a divided nation (Berlin
Wall)
