the pacific theatre and peace
DESCRIPTION
The Pacific Theatre and Peace. The Pacific War. U.S. war strategy in the Pacific divided responsibilities between Gen. Douglas MacArthur led forces in a “ Island hopping campaign ” from Australia to the Philippines, and Admiral Chester Nimitz who commanded the Central Pacific fleet. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The Pacific Theatre and Peace
![Page 2: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
The Pacific War
• U.S. war strategy in the Pacific divided responsibilities between Gen. Douglas MacArthur led forces in a “Island hopping campaign” from Australia to the Philippines, and Admiral Chester Nimitz who commanded the Central Pacific fleet.
• Plan was to isolate Japan from its southern conquests
• British moved from India to retake Burma
![Page 3: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
The Pacific War
• With Japans army bogged down in China – Allies planned to bomb Japan
• Island Hopping campaign – American naval version of blitzkrieg: planes from aircraft carriers control the skies while navy and land forces isolated and captured the most strategically Japanese-held islands while by passing the rest
• Racial hatred between American & Japanese forces intensified the fighting in the Pacific
![Page 4: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
The Pacific War
• Leyte Gulf – Allied invasion of Japanese-held Philippines and the destruction of the Japanese fleet leaving the homeland of Japan undefended against invasion
• U.S. naval blockade of Japanese imports and heavy bombing of Japanese cities continually weakened Japanese war capabilities
• U.S. capture of strategic Japanese islands: Iwo Jima & Okinawa (April-June 1945)
![Page 5: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Searching for Peace
• Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945) – Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin debated plans for the postwar world
• American goal was to enlist the USSR in finishing off the Japanese
• Stalin wanted control of Manchuria, China in exchange for joining the
• Stalin would only give vague pledges to allow non-communist to participate in the coalition governments in Eastern Europe
![Page 6: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Searching for Peace
• April 12, 1945 – FDR died of a cerebral hemorrhage
• Harry Truman – Vice President succeeds FDR• Potsdam Conference (July 1945) – British-Soviet-
American conference where they debated the future of Germany
• Potsdam Declaration - Truman made it clear that the U.S. expected to dominate the occupation of Japan
![Page 7: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
Searching for Peace
• Goal was to democratize the Japanese political system and reintroduce Japan into the international community - intended to give Japan an opening for surrender
• Sec. of state James Byrnes – urged Truman to use the new atomic bomb
• U.S. was convinced Japan would fight to the death in an invasion of the homeland
• Using the bomb offered a quick end to the war and it might intimidate Stalin
![Page 8: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
End of the war in the Pacific
• U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 at Hiroshima (killed approx. 80,000) and the second on Aug. 8 at Nagasaki (killed approx. 40,000)
• V.J. Day: Victory in Japan Day - Japan ceased hostilities on Aug. 14th and surrendered formally on Sept. 2nd
• Japanese government signed the terms of surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri a battle ship nearly destroyed at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th, 1941
![Page 9: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Captain Paul Tibbets in the Enola Gay minutes before takeoff to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, 1945
![Page 10: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Harold Agnew carrying the plutonium core of the Nagasaki Fat Man bomb, 1945
![Page 11: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
The Fat Man on transport carriage, Tinian Island, 1945
![Page 12: The Pacific Theatre and Peace](https://reader035.vdocuments.us/reader035/viewer/2022081507/56816490550346895dd66265/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Nagasaki, 20 minutes after the atomic bombing in 1945