PowerPoint Presentation

Aim: Was the United States justified in using the atomic bomb against Japan?Do Now: HW Quiz

European front

The Yalta ConferenceThe uncool one

Germany after the Yalta Conference

Who are these men? And what do you think they are watching?

Holocaust footage

The Nuremberg trials were a series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949. They were held for the purpose of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. The defendants included Nazi Party officials and high-ranking military officers along with German industrialists, lawyers and doctors.The charges were crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler committed suicide and was never brought to trial. The Nuremberg trials established a permanent international court for dealing with genocide and other crimes against humanity.The Nuremberg Trials

The Final Solution

In January 1942, Heinrich Himmler, director of the persecution of the Jews, decided that a new Final Solution was necessary.

Final Solution: exterminating European Jews

How did the Nazis decide who was Jewish?

grandparents were JewishMarried to a Jew Child of a JewJewish by conversion of faithAssociation with Jews

By 1940, all Jews had to have their passports stamped with the letter J and had to wear the yellow Star of David.

10Some historians believe that Hitlers grandfather was Jewish. His Grandmother used to work for a rich Jewish landowner in Austria and it is believed that she had an affair whilst she worked as his house keeper. He later helped his son get a job as a civil servant. Some Psychologist but this down as being one of the possible reasons why Hitler hated Jews. However, it is interesting to note that the Jewish doctor who helped his mother whilst she was dying of cancer was dropped off at the Swiss boarder by the SS in 1940!

The American response to the HolocaustDespite knowing about violence toward the Jews, American immigration is limited Quota of 150,000 annually (per country)

Finally in 1944, FDR created the War Refugee Board.Through this board, the United States was able to help 200,000 Jews.

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Pacific front

Island Hopping is the phrase given to the strategy used by the United States to gain military bases and secure the many small islands in the Pacific. The attack was lead by General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of the Allied forces in the South west Pacific. The US targeted the islands that were not as strongly defended by the Japanese. They took control of those islands, and quickly constructed landing strips and small military bases. Then they attacked other islands from the bases they had established. Slowly the US army moved closer to Japan, taking control of many of the surrounding islands.

Iwo Jima

Iwo JimaCritical to the U.S. as a base from which heavily loaded bombers could reach Japan.Most heavily defended spot on earth. (20,700- Jap troops dug into tunnels and caves).6,000 marines died.Over 17,000 Japanese died

Was one of bloodiest battles fought by the Americans in the Pacific War.

.Iwo Jima was a 8 sq mile (21km2) island situated halfway betweenTokyoand theMariana IslandsJapan wanted to utilize its three airfields as bases to carry out air attacks against the Home Islands. Lt. GeneralTadamichi Kuribayashi, the commander of the island's defense, knew that he could not win the battle, but he hoped to make the Americans suffer far more than they could endure.

Raising the First Flag on Iwo Jimaby SSgt.Louis R. Lowery, USMC, is the most widely circulated photograph of the first flag flown on Mt. Suribachi.The Marines and Navy corpsman in SSgt. Lowery's photograph were photographed after1Lt. Harold Schrier(3rdplatoon commander, E Company,2nd Battalion, 28th Marines,5th Marine Division), Sgt.Ernest Thomas(platoon sergeant), and Sgt.Henry Hansen(platoon guide) had raised the first pipe and flag on Mount Suribachi.[6]Left to right: 1Lt. Harold Schrier (crouched behind radioman's legs), Pfc.Raymond Jacobs(radioman assigned from F Company), Sgt. Henry "Hank" Hansen (cloth cap, securing flag pipe with left hand), Platoon Sgt. Ernest "Boots" Thomas (seated), Pvt. Phil Ward (helmeted, securing flag pipe with both hands),PhM2cJohn Bradley, USN (helmeted, securing the flag pipe with right hand, standing above Pvt. Ward), Pfc.James Michels(holdingCarbine rifle), and Cpl.Charles W. Lindberg(standing above Michels).

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Raising the First Flag on Iwo Jimaby SSgt.Louis R. Lowery, USMC, is the most widely circulated photograph of the first flag flown on Mt. Suribachi.The Marines and Navy corpsman in SSgt. Lowery's photograph were photographed after1Lt. Harold Schrier(3rdplatoon commander, E Company,2nd Battalion, 28th Marines,5th Marine Division), Sgt.Ernest Thomas(platoon sergeant), and Sgt.Henry Hansen(platoon guide) had raised the first pipe and flag on Mount Suribachi.[6]Left to right: 1Lt. Harold Schrier (crouched behind radioman's legs), Pfc.Raymond Jacobs(radioman assigned from F Company), Sgt. Henry "Hank" Hansen (cloth cap, securing flag pipe with left hand), Platoon Sgt. Ernest "Boots" Thomas (seated), Pvt. Phil Ward (helmeted, securing flag pipe with both hands),PhM2cJohn Bradley, USN (helmeted, securing the flag pipe with right hand, standing above Pvt. Ward), Pfc.James Michels(holdingCarbine rifle), and Cpl.Charles W. Lindberg(standing above Michels).17

Japanese Caves

Okinawa

The Battle for OkinawaIn preparation for a full scale invasion of JapanMore than 1,900 kamikaze attacks

Over 12,000 US killedOver 100,000 Japanese killed

This battle was the deciding factor for dropping the bomb (US did not want more US death)Churchill predicted the cost of million of American lives and British lives if Allies invade Japan

The Japanese, with 115,000 troops augmented by thousands of civilians on the heavily populated island, did not resist on the beachestheir strategy was to maximize the number of soldier and Marine casualties, and naval losses from Kamikaze attacks. After an intense bombardment the Americans landed on 1 April 1945 and declared victory on 21 June.The supporting naval forces were the targets for 4,000 sorties, many by Kamikaze suicide planes. U.S. losses totaled 38 ships of all types sunk and 368 damaged with 4,900 sailors killed. The Americans suffered 75,000 casualties on the ground; 94% of the Japanese soldiers died along with many civilians.

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The Potsdam Conference

Still the uncool one

The A-Bomb is used against Japan

V-J DayVictory in JapanAugust 15, 1945Unconditional surrender of Japan

On September 2, 1945, a formal surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan, aboard the battleshipUSSMissouri. InJapan, August 15 usually is known as the "memorial day for the end of the war"(Shsen-kinenbi?); the official name for the day, however, is "the day for mourning of war dead and praying for peace"24

Was the use of the Atomic bomb necessary?

Should the US be tried for crimes against humanity?