Transcript End of World War II and Atomic Impact

Aleutian Islands
3 June 1942--24 August 1943
A NATURAL AVENUE OF APPROACH - FORBIDDING
WEATHER AND DESOLATE TERRAIN, CRAGGY
MOUNTAINS AND SCANT VEGETATION
MADE THE APPROACH MILITARILY UNDESIRABLE.
HOWEVER…STRATEGIC LOCATION TO DRAWN THE WEAKENED
PACIFIC FLEET INTO BATTLE AND WIPE THEM OUT
US
STARTING IN JUNE 1942 THE JAPANESE HAD
THREATENED AMERICA'S NORTHERN FLANK
FOR FOURTEEN MONTHS
549 killed,
1,148 wounded
JAPAN
2,850+ killed,
29 captured
2,100 American servicemen were evacuated from Attu for disease or climate-related injury.
YALTA CONFERENCE
• Took place February 1945 before WWII was
over (V-E Day May 8 1945)
• Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill (Big 3) met in
Yalta in the Soviet Union to discuss post
WWII
• How to deal with the defeated or liberated countries
of eastern Europe was the main
problem discussed at the conference
• Set up United Nations
APRIL 12, 1945
 At the beginning of his 4 th
Term, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt passes away
 The U.S. went through a
major grieving period
 Harry S. Truman, as VicePresident, takes the role
as President
POTSDAM
JULY – AUGUST 1945
Truman, (Churchill and then Clement Attlee (elected
PM) and Stalin met in Potsdam, Germany
Drew up a blueprint to disarm Germany and
eliminate the Nazi regime
POTSDAM CONTINUED
 Divided Germany into 4
sections
(occupied by France, Britain,
U.S. and Soviet Union)
 Berlin to be divided up
 Set up the Nuremberg Trials
to persecute Nazi leaders
 Japan must “unconditionally
surrender”
NUREMBERG TRIALS
 International tribunal court tried Nazi
officials
 Over 23 nations tried Nazi war
criminals in Nuremberg, Germany
 12 of the 22 defendants were
sentenced to death
 200 other officials were found guilty,
but give lesser sentences
1ST PART OF WORLD WAR II FOR THE
UNITED STATES WAS OVER…
NOW WE TURN OUR ATTENTION TO THE
PACIFIC
AFTER IWO JIMA AND OKINAWA,
PRESIDENT TRUMAN KNEW AN INVASION
OF JAPAN WOULD PRODUCE ENORMOUS
CASUALTIES
OPERATION DOWNFALL - PLAN TO INVADE JAPAN
US planned to invade
Japan with eleven Army
and Marine divisions
(650,000 troops)
Casualty estimates for
the operation were as
high as 500,000 to 1.4
million
General Douglas
MacArthur and
other top military
commanders
favored
continuing the
conventional
bombing of
Japan already in
effect and
following up
with Operation
Downfall
Operation Cornet, the plan to take Tokyo
• The United States had scientists working on
another option.
• Scientists of the Manhattan Project had carried
out research on developing the world’s first
atomic bomb.
Truman would
had to decide if
using the atomic
bomb would
avoid predicted
invasion losses
THE MANHATTAN
PROJECT
RESULTED IN THE
CREATION OF THE
FIRST NUCLEAR
WEAPON, AND THE
FIRST-EVER
NUCLEAR
DETONATION,
KNOWN AS THE
TRINITY TEST ON
JULY 16, 1945 IN
NEW MEXICO.
Trinity explosion
• The Japanese seemed ready to fight to the
last man, woman, and child, in the spirit of
the kamikaze. Many believed only the shock
of an atomic bomb would end the Japanese
resistance.
Kamikaze pilot
receiving
a cheerful farewell
by young
Japanese girls.
THE POTSDAM DECLARATION – JULY 1945
TRUMAN, CHURCHILL, AND CHIANG KAI-SHEK
(NOT THE SAME AS POTSDAM AGREEMENT)
Surrender terms for Japan
Key Points:
1. We-the President of the United States, the President of the National Government
of the Republic of China, and the Prime Minister of Great Britain, representing
the hundreds of millions of our countrymen, have conferred and agree that
Japan shall be given an opportunity to end this war.
13. We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional
surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate
assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is
prompt and utter destruction. 
ATOMIC BOMB
POTSDAM DECLARATION CONT.
1. Japan would be occupied until the declaration was signed.
2. The Japanese army would be allowed to return home.
3. Once the declaration was met, allied troops would be
withdrawn.
4. “Japan shall be permitted
to maintain such industries as will sustain her economy
and permit the exaction of just reparations in kind, but not those which would
enable her to re-arm for war. To this end, access to, as distinguished from control
of, raw materials shall be permitted. Eventual world trade relations shall be
permitted. “
Japan did not agree to the Potsdam Declaration
JAPAN’S RESPONSE TO THE POTSDAM DECLARATION
NOT A SIMPLE NO
Before Japan could agree to any surrender, the top
military officials had to figure out a way to satisfy
many different groups inside Japan.
A Japanese official used the word mokusatsu which
had a few different English translations.
- The US and the US newspapers interpreted
the word to mean “reject” when in fact it could have
meant something different.
- The apparent rejection of the Declaration definitely
sped up the process of using the atomic bombs.
Also, a decoded message from Japanese officials
clearly stated that Japan had no intention to surrender
Kantari Suzuki – used the word
JAPANESE VIEW OF UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER
Emperor Hirohito was totally
against unconditional surrender.
Americans viewed Hirohito as a
symbol of military aggression
*Many hated him – executed or
imprisoned
Unconditional surrender  destruction of “divine”
monarchy.
DECISION- JAPAN WILL FIGHT UNTIL THE END
IMPERIAL CONFERENCE IN TOKYO – JUNE 8TH 1945.
Top Japanese officials decided that their soldiers
would “fight to the death” - ULTRA
“Fundamental Policy” of the Japanese government was to
fight on and choose honorable death of the hundred million
over surrender
- For 2000 years – Japan had never been defeated
- no word for surrender in Japanese dictionary
LOSING BY SURRENDER
WAS NOT AN OPTION
Japan is willing to fight to the bitter
end as an underdog.
OFFICIAL ORDER TO DROP BOMB
Truman was advised to use the bomb.
In the Spring and summer of 1945, Truman approves the
decision.
The Official order was issued on July 25th.
President Truman could have reversed
the order if Japan accepted the
Potsdam Declaration.
Why the bomb was needed or justified:
The Japanese had demonstrated near-fanatical
resistance, fighting to almost the last man on
Pacific islands, committing mass suicide on Saipan
and unleashing kamikaze attacks at Okinawa. Fire
bombing had killed 100,000 in Tokyo with no
discernible political effect. Only the atomic bomb
could jolt Japan's leadership to surrender.
With only two bombs ready (and a third on the way
by late August 1945) it was too risky to "waste"
one in a demonstration over an unpopulated area.
An invasion of Japan would have caused casualties
on both sides that could easily have exceeded the
toll at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The two targeted cities would have been firebombed
anyway.
Immediate use of the bomb convinced the world of
Why the bomb was not needed, or unjustified:
Japan was ready to call it quits anyway. More than 60
of its cities had been destroyed by conventional
bombing, the home islands were being blockaded by the
American Navy, and the Soviet Union entered the war
by attacking Japanese troops in Manchuria.
American refusal to modify its "unconditional
surrender" demand to allow the Japanese to keep their
emperor needlessly prolonged Japan's resistance.
A demonstration explosion over Tokyo harbor would
have convinced Japan's leaders to quit without
killing many people.
Even if Hiroshima was necessary, the U.S. did not
give enough time for word to filter out of its
devastation before bombing Nagasaki.
The bomb was used partly to justify the $2 billion
spent on its development.
The two cities were of limited military value.
Civilians outnumbered troops in Hiroshima five or six
to one.
Japanese lives were sacrificed simply for power
WHO WAS TALKING IN TRUMAN’S EAR?
General Douglas MacArthur and other top military
commanders - advised Truman that such an
invasion would result in U.S. casualties of up to 1
million.
Moral reservations of Secretary of War Henry
Stimson (urge Truman to stop targeting
civilians before the United States got “the
reputation of outdoing Hitler in atrocities.) ,
General Dwight Eisenhower and a number of
the Manhattan Project scientists
In order to avoid such a high casualty rate, Truman
decided to use the atomic bomb in the hopes of The Szilárd petition, drafted by scien
bringing the war to a quick end.
Szilárd, was signed by 70 scientists w
the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, T
and the Metallurgical Laboratory in Ch
It was circulated in July 1945 and ask
Proponents such as James Byrnes, Truman’s secretary of state–believed that its devastating power
PresidentHarry S. Truman to consider
would not only end the war, but also put the U.S. in a dominant position to determine the course of the
demonstration of the power of the ato
postwar world. (oped that the atomic bombings would induce Japanese surrender before the Soviets
before using it against people. Howev
invaded.)
In Nov. 1942 he was appointed Director of what was
to become the Los Alamos Laboratory, which would
design and construct the atomic bomb.
Near the end of his life, Oppenheimer expressed
mixed feelings about the atomic bombings:
"I have no remorse about the making of the bomb
and Trinity [the first test of an a-bomb]. That was
done right. As for how we used it, I understand why
it happened and appreciate with what nobility those
men with whom I'd worked made their decision. But I
do not have the feeling that it was done right. The
ultimatum to Japan [the Potsdam Proclamation
demanding Japan's surrender] was full of pious
platitudes. ...our government should have acted with
more foresight and clarity in telling the world and
• On August 6, 1945, a B-29 named the Enola
Gay dropped an atomic bomb, Little Boy, on
Hiroshima, Japan, a city of 300,000 people.
Within seconds of the explosion, up to 90,000
people died.
HIROSHIMA
VICINITY OF GROUND ZERO
FORMAL WARNING TO JAPAN
On August 10, 1945 thousands of
leaflets were dropped over the
city of Nagasaki
The leaflets called for
a petition to the
Emperor of Japan to
stop the war and
agree to thirteen
consequences of an
honorable surrender.
Used Hiroshima as
example of
destructive new
weapon
EVACUATE YOUR
CITIES immediately
Sample Leaflet
• Three days later, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb,
Fat Man. This bomb destroyed the city of Nagasaki, killing
40,000 people instantly.
• As many as 250,000 Japanese may have died from the two
atomic bombs, either directly or as the result of burns,
radiation poisoning, or cancer .
JAPANESE LEADERS
AFTER THE USE OF THE ATOMIC BOMBS
Even after the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, the Japanese were still undecided on whether
to surrender
The surrender plan with four conditions
1. A guarantee that the imperial family will continue to
reign.
2. Disarmament of the armed forces by Japan herself.
3. Trial of war criminals by Japan herself.
4. Occupation of Japan to be limited to the minimum time
and places
THE ATOMIC BOMB DID CONVINCED THE
EMPEROR TO BREAK THE DEADLOCK OF
JAPAN’S GENERALS AND ACCEPT THE
POTSDAM DECLARATION
*was given as the main reason for the surrender of Japan
The atomic bomb allowed Japans military officials to surrender
and still keep their honor.
“If military leaders could convince themselves that they were
defeated by the power of science but not by lack of spiritual
power or strategic errors, they could save face to some extent”
Therefore Japanese leaders could believe that they were beat by
the element of science.
• Truman received this informal surrender on
August 14, Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day). The
one term of the surrender allowed the emperor to
keep his office but only in a ceremonial role.
• The Allies officially accepted the Japanese
surrender aboard the American battleship
Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2,
1945.
• About 55 million died (30 million civilians) during World
War II. The Soviet Union paid the highest human cost, with
more than 20 million of its people killed.
• Some 400,000 Americans gave their lives.
• Changed the very
nature of war
POST-WAR IMPACT
OF ATOMIC BOMB
• Presented the possibility of
annihilation of humankind
• US came to place
great strategic
reliance on atomic
bomb
• War plans emphasized sudden
atomic attack against USSR to
allow time for conventional
mobilization
15 megaton thermonuclear device
test on Bikini Atoll in 1954
• US held an atomic
monopoly until 1949
• Huge US-USSR arms race
followed
• Eventually led to Mutually
Assured Destruction (1967)
• Massive retaliation
strategy (1954) meant
US was prepared to
respond to Soviet
aggression with a
massive nuclear strike
POST-WAR IMPACT
OF ATOMIC BOMB
POST-WAR IMPACT OF ATOMIC BOMB
• Nuclear
weapons prove
to not be a
reasonable
option in
limited wars
• You will see
this in Korea
and Vietnam
The US considered, but did not use, atomic bombs in
support of the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954