“I AM DEATH, DESTROYER OF WORLDS”

The End of WWII

Election of 1944• FDR easily defeated NY Governor Thomas E. Dewey, aided by recent successes in the war (D-Day), making him the first (and only) president to serve more than two terms.

DEFIANCE, DESTRUCTION, AND DELIVERANCEEnding the War in Europe

Europe After D-Day• Although D-Day was a success (in spite of the high casualty rate) it was only the beginning of the Allied march eastward towards Berlin, Germany.

• It was not until August 25, 1944 that Paris was finally liberated.

• The Germans were retreating.

A Series of Conferences – 1944• Casablanca Conference

• FDR and Churchill meet in Morocco

• Decision: to accept nothing less than unconditional surrender of the Axis powers

• Tehran Conference• The “Big Three” – FDR,

Churchill, and Stalin meet in Iran

• Decisions: soviet agreement to enter war with Japan after Germany is defeated

• Begin discussion of demilitarization and occupation of Germany

A Series of Conferences - 1945• Yalta Conference

• The Big Three meet in Yalta, USSR

• Decisions: Germany is to be divided into four zones and occupied by Allied powers

• Discussion of organization of United Nations

• USSR to hold free elections on Eastern Europe

• War crimes to be tried after the war

Battle of the Bulge:The Last German Offensive• Hitler made one last desperate

attempt to cut off Allied supply lines in Belgium.

• The Battle of the Bulge began on December 16, 1944, catching American troops off guard. As Germans raced west, their lines “bulged” outward, resulting in the battle’s name

• The fierce fighting ended with over 100,000 German deaths in Jan. of 1945.

Death of FDR • FDR died suddenly of a stroke on April 12, 1945

• Roosevelt's death was met with shock and grief across the U.S. and around the world.

• Flags remained at half-staff for 30 days, despite the surrender of Nazi Germany

• He would only serve 16 months of his fourth term.

Liberation• American forces led the

liberation of the concentration camps at Buchenwald, Mauthausen, and Dachau.

• Liberators confronted unspeakable conditions in the Nazi camps, where piles of corpses lay unburied. Only after the liberation of these camps was the full scope of Nazi horrors exposed to the world.

• Gen. Eisenhower was appalled by the conditions of the camps and its prisoners, and forced local German citizens to tour, and later clean up the camps as punishment for their indifference.

The Death of Hitler• Berlin was surrounded by Soviet and Allied soldiers.

• Deep in his bunker, Hitler knew the end was near.

• On April 30, 1945, rather than being captured, Hitler and his long-time companion and wife of one day Eva Braun committed suicide.

Hitler’s Remains• Hitler had ordered his body

to be doused in gasoline and burned.

• The charred remains were found by the invading Soviets.

• Many conspiracy theories exist surrounding the destruction of the fuhrer’s remains, with some believing Hitler and Braun escaped to Argentina, where he died in the 1960s of a heart attack.

These skull fragments were purported to be the remains of Adolf Hitler. However, recent DNA testing has shown them to be from a woman.

V-E Day• On May 7,1945, Germany gave its unconditional surrender.

• The next day, May 8, 1945 was proclaimed V-E Day for Victory in Europe.

A DIFFICULT DECISIONEnding the War in the Pacific

A Difficult Decision• The war in the Pacific was

quickly becoming a war of attrition

• Japan had been surrounded, the Japanese navy had been destroyed, the Japanese people were starving and there was no possibility of getting resources to prevent the death of their people. The emperor was willing to let millions die rather than surrender.

• It was estimated that if the US continued the war, it would last an additional ten years, and cost over 175,000 American lives.

Iwo Jima• On February 19, 1945, 60,000 American

Marines landed on Iwo Jima• The battle was the first American attack on

the Japanese Home Islands, and the Imperial soldiers defended their positions tenaciously.

• Of the more than 18,000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner

• 6,800 Americans lost their lives before the island was captured

• This was the first time an invaders flag flew over Japanese territory.

Photographer Joe Rosenthal won the Pulitzer Prize for this photo of five marines and a navy medical corpsman raising the flag on Iwo Jima.

Okinawa• Japan refused to surrender. American

military planners chose to invade Okinawa, 350 miles from Japan, to stockpile supplies and build up troops.

• On April 1, 1945, American troops landed on Okinawa. On June 22, 1945, Okinawa was captured with more than 12,000 American soldiers, sailors, and marines losing their lives.

U.S.S. Indianapolis

• In July of 1945, the USS Indianapolis was sent to deliver vital parts for the atomic bomb to a U.S base in Tinian.

• She was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine.

• The ship sent no distress signals due to the classified nature of their mission.

• 300 men died in the attack while another 880 floated in the ocean for another four days before being rescued.

• They suffered from lack of food and water, exposure to the elements, severe desquamation, and did I mention shark attacks?

The Shark Attacks• The Discovery Channel

has stated that the Indianapolis sinking resulted in the most shark attacks on humans in history.

• The same show attributed most of the deaths on Indianapolis to exposure, salt poisoning and thirst, with the dead being dragged off by sharks.

The Manhattan Project

The code name for the atomic bomb project in Los Alamos, NM

Under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves and Dr. Robert Oppenheimer

The Manhattan Project operated under a blanket of tight security, and information was given on a “need-to-know” basis.

“Now, I am become Death,

destroyer of worlds.”

Four Options• A) Invade Japan with Allied troops; this would result in high deaths on both sides and an unknown timeline.

• B) Drop an atomic bomb out in the Pacific away from people to show Japan our military strength.

• C) Drop the bomb without warning to “shock” Japan into surrendering.

• D) We give the people of cities 24 hours notice, then we drop the bomb.

The Potsdam Ultimatum

• President Truman, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, an Joseph Stalin met at Potsdam, Germany to discuss the end of the war and the post-war world.

• Truman, Churchill, and Chiang Kai-Shek (China) issued a Declaration at the meeting to Japan in which they demanded the Empire’s unconditional surrender.

• If Japan refused, Truman threatened to deliver "prompt and utter destruction“ – he received no response.

The Manhattan Project Two bombs were prepared:

Little Boy and Fat Man Little Boy was delivered from

Tinian Island by Col. Paul Tibbets and the Enola Gay crew

So What Does the Bomb Do?• The atomic bombs were either uranium or plutonium based and involved fission (splitting atoms) or fusion (joining atomic nuclei).

• The bombs are designed to be detonated about 1900ft. in the sky.

• The explosions generated heat estimated at 3,900°C (7,000°F) and winds that were estimated at 1005 km/h (624 mph) and extreme radiation.

Dropping the Bomb – Hiroshima• Hiroshima was a city of both industrial and military significance. The city was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops.

• It was expected that the bomb would kill 40,000-60,000 people. Radiation was not greatly considered.

• August 6,1945, the U.S. orders the dropping of a uranium-based bomb called “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, from the B-29 Bomber “Enola Gay”

• 70,000–80,000 people were killed instantaneously, with estimates of total deaths by the end of 1945 from burns, radiation and related disease, the effects of which were aggravated by lack of medical resources, range from 90,000 to 166,000.

Hiroshima

Truman’s Second Ultimatum“If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.”

Dropping the Bomb - Nagasaki• The US allowed Japan three days to unconditionally surrender.

• The city of Nagasaki had been one of the largest sea ports in southern Japan and was of great wartime importance because of its wide-ranging industrial activity, including the production of ordnance, ships, military equipment, and other war materials.

• On August 9, the United States dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki.

• Casualty estimates for immediate deaths range from 40,000 to 75,000, with total deaths by the end of 1945 reaching 80,000. The epicenter was located in a small valley, limiting the number of casualties.

It is believed that a person sat down on the steps facing the direction of the hypocenter, possibly waiting for the bank to open. By a flash of the heat rays with temperatures up to 100 million degrees, that person was incinerated on the stone steps.

Atomic Shadows

This photo shows the shadow made by the heat rays. This place is about 800 meters from the hypocenter, and the unshielded asphalt surface was scorched, whereas the surface shielded by the handrail appears to be a whitish shadow.

Soviets Declare War on Japan

• On the same day as the bomb on Nagasaki, the Soviets declare war on Japan (bad day huh?)

• Emperor Hirohito ordered his govt. to surrender.

• V-J Day was August 15, 1945.

U.S.S. MissouriAugust 15, 1945

Victory Over Japan (V-J Day)

The End of the War• Ticker tape parades erupted all over the US, resulting in one of the most iconic images in history.

• In 2008, Glenn McDuffy was identified as the sailor, and Greta Friedman as the nurse.

Building a New WorldOn April 25, 1945, representatives from 50 countries came to San Francisco to establish the United Nations Charter.

United Nations (UN): a new international organization of peace (to replace the ineffectual League of Nations)

• General Assembly: every member nation would have one vote.• Security Council: 11 member group, with 5 permanent positions

(Britain, France, China, USSR, and USA) and 6 rotating positions; given veto power.

• What do you notice about the permanent positions of the Security Council?

The United Nations

• There are currently 192 member states, including nearly every recognized independent state in the world.

• The UN is located in New York City.

Nuremberg Trials

• In Nuremberg, Germany, the International Military Tribunal (IMT) tried German leaders suspected of committing war crimes. Similar trials were also held in Tokyo, Japan against Japanese leaders.

• Several military leaders were sentenced to death and many more were given prison sentences. Many others evaded capture and some committed suicide.

No Hitler, So Who was Next?• Hermann Göring, Commander of the Luftwaffe 1935-1945, Chief of the 4-Year Plan 1936-1945, and several departments of the SS. Second only to Hitler in the Nazi hierarchy during the last years of the war. Committed suicide the night before his execution.

What About Japan?• As Prime Minister, he was

directly responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as ordering, authorizing, and permitting inhumane treatment of Prisoners of War

• Tojo shot himself in the chest 4 times but survived. He had surgery in an American hospital.

• He was later tried by the IMT. He was sentenced to death on 12 November 1948 and executed by hanging on 23 December 1948.

What About Japan?• Emperor Hirohito was exonerated

for his role in the war.• The issue of Hirohito's responsibility

for war crimes is a debate regarding how much real control the Emperor had over the Japanese military during WWII.• The view promoted by both the

Japanese Imperial Palace and the American occupation forces immediately after World War II had Emperor Hirohito as a powerless figurehead behaving strictly according to protocol, while remaining at a distance from the decision-making processes.

• U.S. General Douglas MacArthur insisted that the Emperor retain the throne. MacArthur saw the emperor as a symbol of the continuity and cohesion of the Japanese people.

Final NumbersSee pages 611 of your text.

To Bomb, or Not to Bomb?

• Write a 2 paragraph letter to President Truman encouraging him to bomb or not to bomb.

• Use at least three arguments to back up your decision. When you mention an argument, underline or highlight it.

• No text-speak. Write grammatically correct.