Transcript World War II C - Liberty Union High School District

C. Ending the War
• 1. Feb 1945: Yalta Conference
• a. focused on postwar issues
• b. Stalin promised to hold free elections
after the Soviets liberate E. Europe
The Big
Three:
Churchill,
Roosevelt
& Stalin
Hitler’s Berlin Bunker
Mussolini & Clara Petachi
In the early 1945 the western Allies decided to avoid
capturing Berlin head on and went after the much softer
targets in Bavaria. The dirty job, as usual, was
delegated to the Soviet Army, which had drowned the
huge city in the blood of its 200,000 dead, wounded and
missing in action soldiers. The Soviets started the final
offensive on April 16, 1945. True to his predatory
habits, Josef Stalin created vicious competition between
Marshal Zhukov and Konev with the goal of raising the
Red Flag atop the Reichstag in time for the May Day
holiday. Indeed, the Russian soldiers captured the
Reichstag on April 30th and covered its walls with the
'spicy' graffiti. When the Reichstag was refurbished in
the 1990's to accommodate the returning German
lawmakers, some of the graffiti was preserved. With
messages like 'Death to Germans' and 'Serves you right,
you sons of bitches,' saving history has prompted yet
another moral struggle over how Germany should live
with its past and get on with its future.
Soviet flag atop the Reichstag
2. War in the Pacific
• a. June 1942: Midway
• 1. Turning point in the war in the
Pacific
• 2. US cracked Js military code & were
waiting for them
• 3. Js lost 4 aircraft carriers, US lost 3
• b. island hopping (take every other
island
• c. Navajo “code talkers”:
• transmitted secret
messages to US forces
during combat
• d. conventional bombing: 66
Japanese cities destroyed in
10 mos (March 1945:
83,000 ppl in Tokyo die)
• e. 1944: General MacArthur
takes back the Philippines
Navaho “Code Talkers”
War in the Pacific
General Douglas Mac Arthur
“returns” to Leyte Gulf, Philippines
Feb 1945
US wanted to
prevent Js
merchant fleet
from bringing
food from
conquered
territories
Marines lost 7K,
Js lost 22K, 200
were taken
prisoner
Random & Useless
War in Europe
• June 1944: Saipan
• Americans needed
an airbase for B-29s
• 100s of families
jump off a cliff rather
than surrender
• April 1945: Okinawa
• Close to Japan,
large civilian
population
• High casualties:
200K Js killed, ½
civilian, 12K Ams
killed
• Kamikaze (suicide
flights) damaged or
destroyed 400 Am
ships
3. Ending the War
• a. Sept 1942: Manhattan Project:
purpose: to develop atomic
weapons for the US military
• b. July 1945: Potsdam
conference
• 1. focused on postwar issues
• 2. Japanese offer to surrender if
they can keep their emperor
• 3. Truman demands
unconditional surrender
Trinity test, Los Alamos, NM
2. July 16, 1945: bomb successfully tested in
Los Alamos
Albert Einstein
Manhattan Project: 4yrs, 60K ppl working in 37sites
April 1945: Battle of Okinawa convinces emperor
to seek peace, US decodes & ignores it
c. Aug 1945: Truman decides
to drop atomic bomb
(“to end war quickly”)
• 1. Aug 6 Enola Gay (B-29)
drops Little Boy on
Hiroshima
• 2. Aug 9 Bock’s Car (B-29)
drops Fat Man on Nagasaki
(40,000 ppl die)
• 3. Aug 10: Soviets declare
war on Japan
• 4. Aug 14: Japanese
officially surrender
Little Boy dropped on Hiroshima
4 miles leveled, 100,000 die instantly, 60,000 die later
`
Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki
Hiroshima
MacArthur & Emperor Hirohito
Sept 2: Emperor Hirohito signs surrender in Tokyo Bay
It’s Finally Over!!!!!
The Beginning of the
Nuclear Age
The second atomic
bomb was dropped
here
Nagasaki
The meetings at
Potsdam and Yalta
were focused on
these
Post war issues
The first atomic
bomb was dropped
here
Hiroshima
The purpose of this was
to develop an atomic
weapon for the US
military
Manhattan Project
This Pacific battle was
the turning point in the
war. Afterwards, the
Americans went on the
offensive
Midway
This plan enabled
Americans to cut off the
Japanese from supplies,
set up airbases ad
minimize casualties
Island hopping
This group transmitted
secret messages to
US forces during
combat
Navajo code
talkers