War in the Pacific The Atomic Bomb

1. War in the PacificThe Atomic Bomb Pgs. 335-336

2. Pearl Harbor • After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese troops landed in the Philippines. • Four months later they forced the Americans there to surrender. • Before surrendering, the commander of the U.S. troops, General Douglas MacArthur, promised the people of the Philippines, “I shall return.”

4. 1942 • The Japanese appeared to be winning the war in the Pacific. • Two Battles turned the tide: • Battle of the Coral Sea • Battle of Midway • U.S. Navy defeated the Japanese fleet • U.S. Navy sank four Japanese aircraft carriers.

5. 1943 • The Allies began to force the Japanese from islands they had conquered. • The Allies formed the strategy of island-hopping. • Island-hopping meant only liberating the most important islands on the way to Japan. • The Allies would also begin bombing Japan from the air.

6. 1944 • October 1944 – General MacArthur began a major invasion to take back the Philippines. • MacArthur fulfilled his promise to return to the Philippines and liberate the island from Japanese control.

7. Iwo Jima • This was a costly battle for both sides. • 4,000 American soldiers died. • 20,000 Japanese soldiers died. • The United States captured Iwo Jima in 1945.

9. 1945 • President Truman made the difficult decision to drop an atom bomb on Japan. • He wanted to end the war quickly and save American lives. • On August 6, the American bomber, Enola Gay, flew over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. • A single bomb was dropped.

10. 1945 • First, there was a flash like an exploding sun. • Then a cloud shaped like a mushroom rose above the city. • The bomb killed 75,000 people, most civilians.

11. 1945 • Japan did not surrender so an order to drop a second bomb was given. • On August 9, a bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. • After this – Japan agreed to surrender!

12. Results

13. WAR OVER! • About 300,000 Americans were killed. • 15 million soldiers from other countries had died.