Critical World War II Events in U.S. History

1. a natural avenue of approach - Forbidding weather and desolate terrain, craggy mountains and scant vegetationmade the approach militarily undesirable. However…strategic location to drawn the weakened pacific fleet into battle and wipe them outStarting in June 1942 the Japanese had threatened America's northern flank for Fourteen months Aleutian Islands3 June 1942--24 August 1943

2. 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

3. April 12, 1945 • At the beginning of his 4th Term, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passes away • The U.S. went through a major grieving period • Harry S. Truman, as Vice-President, takes the role as President

4. PotsdamJuly – 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

5. 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”

6. 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

7. 1st part of World War II for the United States was over…Now we turn our attention to the PacificAfter Iwo Jima and Okinawa, President Truman knew an invasion of Japan would produce enormous casualties

8. Operation Downfall - Plan to Invade Japan General Douglas MacArthur and other top military commanders favored continuing the conventional bombing of Japan already in effect and following up with Operation Downfall • 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 Operation Cornet, the plan to take Tokyo

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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 acheerful farewell by young Japanese girls.

12. 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

13. Potsdam Declaration Cont. • Japan would be occupied until the declaration was signed. • The Japanese army would be allowed to return home. • Once the declaration was met, allied troops would be withdrawn. • “Japan shall be permittedto 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

14. 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 officialsclearly stated that Japan had no intention to surrender KantariSuzuki – used the word Japan’s Response to the Potsdam DeclarationNOT a simple NO

15. 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.

16. Decision- Japan Will Fight Until the EndImperial 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.

17. 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.

18. 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 its horror and prevented future use when nuclear stockpiles were far larger. The bomb's use impressed the Soviet Union and halted the war quickly enough that the USSR did not demand joint occupation of Japan.

19. 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 politics between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Conventional firebombing would have caused as much significant damage without making the U.S. the first nation to use nuclear weapons

20. 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 bringing the war to a quick end. The Szilárd petition, drafted by scientist LeóSzilárd, was signed by 70 scientists working on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois. It was circulated in July 1945 and asked PresidentHarry S. Truman to consider an observed demonstration of the power of the atomic bomb first, before using it against people. However, the petition never made it through the chain of command to President Truman Proponents such as James Byrnes, Truman’s secretary of state–believed that its devastating power would not only end the war, but also put the U.S. in a dominant position to determine the course of the postwar world. (oped that the atomic bombings would induce Japanese surrender before the Soviets invaded.)

21. 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 Japan what the bomb meant.

22. 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.

23. Hiroshima vicinity of ground zero

24. 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 CITIESimmediately Sample Leaflet

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. The Allies officially accepted the Japanese surrender aboard the American battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

31. 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.

32. Post-war Impact of Atomic Bomb • Changed the very nature of war • 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

33. Post-war Impact of Atomic Bomb • 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

34. 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