Transcript Japan Surrenders

WWII
Blitzkrieg
• During the invasion of
Poland, the Germans
debuted a new military
tactic
• Blitzkrieg, or "Lightning
War,” German tactic of
striking with
tremendous speed and
force, with the intention
of knocking out your
enemy before they can
react to your attack
France Falls
• In May 1940, Germany
invaded France and quickly
overwhelmed their army
• British troops which had
been in France preparing for
war were evacuated back to
safety in England
• By late June, France had
surrendered and Britain
stood alone against
Germany
North Africa
• The heaviest fighting of
the early war took place
in North Africa as
German and Italian
forces tried to force the
British out of Egypt
• The German plan was
not successful, instead
opening a distracting
Southern Front to the
war
The Balkans
• Romania, Bulgaria, and
Hungary all joined the
Axis to avoid German
invasion
• German and Italian
forces conquered
Albania, Yugoslavia and
Greece in the fall of
1940, giving the Axis full
control of the Balkan
Peninsula
Japan Takes Advantage
• With France and the
Netherlands conquered
by the Germans, Japan
took the opportunity to
grab their Asian colonies
of French Indochina and
the Dutch East Indies
• This aggressive move by
Japan threatened the UScontrolled Philippines,
prompting the US to cut
off all trade with Japan
Winston Churchill
• British Prime Minister
• Although Britain now stood
alone against Germany, they
remained defiant, with
Churchill vowing “… we shall
defend our Island, whatever
the cost may be, we shall
fight on the beaches, we
shall fight on the landing
grounds, we shall fight in
the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills; we
shall never surrender”
The Battle of Britain
• In order to soften Britain
up for invasion, Germany
began a bombing
campaign in late 1940
• The Royal Air Force (RAF)
was able, however, to
prevent the Germans
from achieving their
goals, forcing Hitler to
abandon his plans for
invasion
“The Blitz”
• Sept. 1940 – May 1941
• Germany switched their objective
to instilling fear in the British
people by bombing British cities
in the hopes that they would
quickly tire of war and sue for
peace
• London was bombed 57 nights in
a row and 43,000 civilians were
killed
• Instead of weakening morale, the
British grew even more
determined to win the war
• The British retaliated with firebombing raids on German cities
Hitler Turns on Stalin
• Hitler turned his attention
eastward, invading the
Soviet Union in June 1941
• The Soviets, who had
signed a non-aggression
treaty with Germany,
were caught unprepared
and were pushed deep
into Russia, losing over 2
million men along the
way
The Eastern Front
• Just as they had against
Napoleon, the Russians
used a “scorched earth”
strategy which drew the
Germans deep into Soviet
territory and forced the
Germans to face a Russian
winter
• The Eastern Front remained
mainly stationary for over 2
years, with the heaviest
fighting around the cities of
Leningrad and Stalingrad
Shifting Alliances
• The Soviets allied
themselves with Britain,
although the British were
in no position to provide
much direct relief
• Both the Soviets and the
British also sought help
from the US, but other
than selling them limited
amounts of supplies the
US tried to remain neutral
Japan Strikes
• Angered by America’s
trade embargo, Japan
decided that they had to
take bold action to prevent
the US from interfering in
their plans to create a
Pacific empire
• On Sunday December 7,
1941, Japan attacked the
US naval base at Pearl
Harbor Hawaii
Pearl Harbor
• The attack crippled the US
Pacific fleet, but was not
the knock-out punch Japan
had hoped for because
America’s aircraft carriers
(their best naval weapons)
were not in port during the
attack
• As a result of the attack,
the US declared war on
Japan; Germany and Italy
honored their alliance with
Japan by reluctantly
declaring war on the US
Japan Completes Its Empire
• Japan moved quickly to
conquer the US-held
Philippines, as well as
British-held Hong Kong,
Burma, and Malaysia
• Japanese soldiers abused
US and Filipino troops
captured in the Philippines,
forcing them to march 68
miles in extreme heat
without water to prison
camps – thousands died on
the “Bataan Death March”
The Holocaust
• Once the Nazis had
complete control of Europe,
they were able to begin the
systemic elimination of
“undesirable” peoples to
create more room for the
Aryan “master race”
• Dozens of concentration
camps were opened, mostly
in Germany and Poland, to
hold these “undesirables”
while they awaited
execution
The Victims
• Those assigned to the
camps included Jews,
Slavs, Gypsies,
homosexuals, the
disabled, the mentally ill,
Catholic priests, and
communists, among
others
• In all, at least 12 million
people died in the
Holocaust, including 6
million Jews and about
1.5 million children
The Methods
• People sent to the camps
were sorted by age, gender,
and health; those who were
of no use as laborers (the
elderly, small children, the
sick) were usually killed
immediately, while healthy,
younger prisoners were
used as slave labor,
prostitutes to serve German
soldiers, or as the subjects
of bizarre and cruel medical
experimentation, before
being gassed, hung, or shot
US Internment Camps
• In the US, JapaneseAmericans living on the
West Coast were forced into
camps due to fears of
sabotage and espionage
• While these people were
not mistreated, they were
held against their will for
the duration of the war and
lost their homes, jobs, and
most of their personal
possessions without any
kind of restitution
The US Economy
• Once at war, the US
rapidly converted
industrial production
over to war materials
and recruited women
to work in the
factories while men
joined the military by
the millions
War in the Pacific
• The US Navy recovered
quickly from Pearl Harbor
and moved to block
Japanese attacks against
Australia and the US-held
island of Midway, dealing
the Japanese serious
defeats
• By the summer of 1942,
Japan was on the
defensive as US forces
began pushing west
across the Pacific
“Island Hopping”
• The US quickly discovered
that the Japanese were
willing to fight to the death,
rarely retreating or
surrendering
• This changed US strategy in
the Pacific; rather than fight
for every island, American
commanders chose to pick
only islands of strategic
importance, ones which
would bring US forces
within striking distance of
Japan, to fight for
North Africa and Italy
• In late 1942, US and British
forces invaded North Africa
and pushed the Germans
and Italians out
• By summer 1943, the Allies
had invaded Italy. Leading
to Mussolini’s overthrow
and Italy’s formal surrender
• German soldiers, however,
continued to hold northern
Italy and bloody fighting
would continue there until
almost the end of the war
The Soviets Fight Back
• The Soviets won a major
victory by forcing the
Germans fighting at
Stalingrad to surrender in
early 1943
• By early 1944, the
German army had been
pushed completely out of
Soviet territory and the
Russian army began
advancing across Poland
D-Day
• June 6, 1944
• US and British forces
launched a massive invasion
across the English Channel,
landing over 175,000
soldiers on the beaches of
Normandy, France
• Thanks to good weather
and deliberate
disinformation sent through
known Nazi spy networks,
the Germans were caught
largely unprepared and
were pushed back
France Liberated
• Allied forces quickly
pushed across France
and, in less than 3
months, had liberated
the city of Paris from
Nazi control
• By late September,
France was completely
freed and the Allies
were prepared to
invade Germany
Germany Falls
• After one final failed
offensive in the winter of
1944, the German
military broke down and
the Allies pushed into
Germany itself
• In April 1945, Mussolini
was captured and killed,
while Hitler committed
suicide
• On May 8, 1945, Germany
surrendered and the war
in Europe was over
Meanwhile, in the Pacific …
• The US had worked their
way across the Pacific,
fighting numerous bloody
battles, to reach Japan
• Between February and
June of 1945, US forces
took the Japanese islands
of Iwo Jima and Okinawa,
finally putting US
bombers within range to
begin daily bombing runs
over Japanese cities
Kamikaze Attacks
• Starting in the fall of
1944, Japan became
desperate enough to
authorize the use of
suicide attacks by
Japanese pilots against
American warships
• While over 95% of
these attacks failed, the
ones that succeeded
had devastating effect
The Manhattan Project
• US scientists had been
working throughout the
war to develop a bomb
that used atomic energy
rather than traditional
explosives
• By summer of 1945, this
new weapon was ready
to test, and proved to
be even more powerful
than anyone had hoped
How To Beat Japan?
• US President Harry Truman
faced a tough decision –
invade Japan, which would
undoubtedly cost millions of
lives, or use the newly
developed atomic bomb
against Japanese cities to
force a quick surrender
• Truman decided to use the
atomic bomb, but gave
Japan a warning to
surrender or face “utter and
complete destruction”
Hiroshima & Nagasaki
• On August 6, 1945 a US B29 bomber dropped the
first atomic bomb on the
city of Hiroshima, erasing
4 square miles of the city
and killing 70,000 people
instantly
• Three days later, another
bomb was dropped on
Nagasaki, killing 40,000
Japan Surrenders
• On August 10, 1945,
Japanese emperor
Hirohito ordered his
government to surrender
• Five days later, Japan’s
surrender was accepted
and the war was over
• US forces took direct
control of Japan and
administered the country
until 1952