Transcript 36 The End of the War

World War II
THE END
D-Day: June 6, 1944
• Allied Troops land on the French coast.
• They advance quickly to free Paris.
• American, British, and French forces then invade Germany from the west.
• The Soviet Union attacks from the east.
• By the spring of 1945, the Soviet army captures Berlin, the German capital.
Hitler commits suicide and Germany Surrenders
The Demise of Hitler
• As the Third Reich
crumbled, Hitler killed
his faithful German
Shepherd Blondie, his
wife Eva Braun and
himself in a bunker in
Berlin.
• The bodies were
found by Russian
soldiers.
War In The Pacific Continues
• America turns the tide of war in the Pacific by
pushing the Japanese back towards Japan.
• The Japanese, however, refuse to give up.
• U.S. begins planning a major invasion of Japan.
On April 12, 1945 President Roosevelt dies
Vice-President Harry S Truman succeeds him and he is
first then told about the “Manhattan Project”, the top
secret research to develop an atomic bomb.
Hiroshima & Nagasaki
President Truman orders Emperor Hirohito of Japan to surrender or face “prompt and utter
destruction.”
Emperor Hirohito refuses to surrender.
August 6, 1945 – Hiroshima
August 9, 1945 – Nagasaki
Enola Gay drops two atomic
bombs on Japan causing massive
death and destruction.
Atomic Bomb
Arial view of Nagasaki three days after the atomic bomb was dropped.
Atomic Bomb
Atomic Bomb
Atomic Bomb
Atomic Bomb
Shadow People
These people were so
close to ground zero that all
that was left of them is the
outline of their bodies.
Atomic Bomb
Atomic Bomb
100,000 people were killed by enormous ball of fire at Hiroshima.
36,000 people died in Nagasaki
Thousands of others died later do to burns, wounds and radiation sickness.
“I cannot bear to see my innocent people suffer any longer.”
- Emperor Hirohito
August 15, 1945
• Three days after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan
surrendered.
• World War II ended.
• The United States and the Soviet Union emerged as two
superpowers.
• The daunting task of rebuilding now faced the world.
Did Truman make the right
decision?
SHOULD WE HAVE USED THE ATOMIC
BOMB AGAINST JAPAN?
• REASONS FOR
• REASONS AGAINST