Download World War II in the Pacific

April 22, 2015
Wednesday
LT: I will analyze primary sources and
use discussion to understand the
historical background to US
involvement in the Pacific Theater of
World War II.
Warm-up
What do you know about World War II?
Warm-up, Part II
• Draw and label a triangle map of the
world, include the oceans and continents.
Europe 1937-39
• Germany, led by Hitler, kept invading more
countries.
• France and Britain tried to appease Hitler by
giving land.
• Diplomacy was Failing
– Sept 1940: Germany, Italy, and Japan signed
the Tripartite Pact (Axis Powers)
U.S. Neutrality
• Biased?
– 1940: WWI destroyers given to Britain
– 1941: Lend-Lease Act --> U.S. became the
“Arsenal of Democracy”
– 1941: U.S. attempted to stop Japan’s invasion
of China
• Sent ultimatum (warning)
• Issued a scrap metal and oil embargo
The European Theater
–By Aug. 1941: Indo-China fell to Japan
• U.S. began a full trade embargo against Japan
• Japan responded by:
–Sending a negotiator to Washington D.C.
–Preparing for an attack on the U.S. (decoded
message)
Imperial Japan
• Japan saw the US and
others as a threat to its
influence in Asia and in
1940 the Japanese
began developing plans
to destroy the US Navy
in Hawaii
• On Dec 7, 1941, the
Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor
In May 1940, the main part of the
US fleet was transferred to Pearl
Harbor from the west coast
Pearl Harbor
• Dec 7, 1941
– “a date which will live
in infamy”
• Americans taken
completely by
surprise
• The first attack wave
targeted airfields and
battleships
• The second wave
targeted other ships
and shipyard facilities
Tactical Damage
• Eight battleships were damaged, with five sunk
• Three light cruisers, three destroyers, three
smaller vessels, and 188 aircraft were destroyed
• 2,335 servicemen and 68 civilians killed
• 1,178 wounded
– 1,104 men aboard the Battleship USS Arizona were
killed after a 1,760-pound air bomb penetrated into
the forward magazine causing catastrophic
explosions.
Broader Results
• In spite of the tactical
success, the attack on
Pearl Harbor was an
operational and strategic
failure for the Japanese
– The attack failed to destroy
the American aircraft
carriers, fleet repair
facilities, or fuel reserves
– The “sneak attack” created
American support for entry
into the war
Plan to Invade Japan
• US planned to invade
Japan with eleven
Army and Marine
divisions (650,000
troops)
• Casualty estimates
for the operation were
as high as 1,400,000
• Truman decided to
use the atomic bomb
to avoid such losses
Operation Cornet, the plan to take Tokyo
The Atomic Bomb
• In the early 1940s,
America had started
an atomic weapons
development program
code named the
“Manhattan Project”
• A successful test was
conducted at
Alamogordo in New
Mexico in July 1945
J. Robert Oppenheimer and
General Leslie Groves at the Trinity
Site soon after the test
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Hiroshima Aug 6, 1945
– 90,000 killed
• On Aug 8, the USSR
declared war on Japan
and invaded Manchuria
the next day
• Nagasaki Aug 9, 1945
– 35,000 killed
• Okinawa had been
much more costly than
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
Captain Paul Tibbets piloted the
plane that dropped the bomb on
Hiroshima
Hiroshima, vicinity of ground zero
Surrender
Japan surrenders Sept 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri
Discuss in your groups
• What caused World War II?
• Why was the U.S. successful in the Pacific?
• Do you think it was necessary for the United States to
drop the atomic bombs on Japan? Explain your position.
Exit Ticket
What effects do you think events in the
Pacific had on Washington State?