The End of World War II

• Hitler’s last counter-strike

• “Nuts”

• German teenagers

• U.S. and Brits crush it

Battle of the Bulge Dec. 1944

Liberation of the camps

Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)

meeting of the “big three”

formationof the U.N.

USSR & Japan

zones ofoccupation

border disputes

Eisenhower and Stalin

Hitler’s proclamation & suicide (4/30/45)

V-E Day 8 May 1945--Germany “ceased to exist”

The Fall of Berlin--May 1945

HamburgDresden

Destruction of Germany

Berlin

Potsdam Conference (July 1945)

• Japan must surrender or face “a rain of ruin from the air”

• reparations

• three D’s for Germany

• USSR invades China

• U.S. island hopping

• goal: unconditional surrender

The Pacific Theater

Occupy

Rebuild--Marshall Plan

New constitutions

Trials for war criminals

military restrictions

effective int’l organization

Lessons Learned from WW II:How to prevent WW III?

Decision to drop the a-bomb

• Arguments FOR

• Arguments AGAINST

“little boy”

Impact of the a-bomb on Hiroshima

More Hiroshima

And More Hiroshima