Download WORLD WAR II atomic bomb and holocaust

WORLD WAR II
DROPPING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB
THE HOLOCAUST
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
• The Manhattan Project
– Scientists create the atomic bomb
• Many of the scientists are European Jews who
escaped
– The principal motivation for this project was the fear
that the Germans would develop the bomb first
– Tested the bomb successfully in New Mexico in July
1945
• President Roosevelt dies, his Vice-President Truman
takes over and orders the dropping of the bomb
• Reasons for dropping the bomb
– “An Okinawa from one end of Japan to the other”
– Save American lives – est. it would cost 1 million
killed soldiers
– Save Japanese lives
– Save time and money
– People tired of the war
• The Allies issue a demand for Japan’s surrender on July
26 – Japan doesn’t respond
• Little Boy falls on Hiroshima
– Aug. 6th, the Enola Gay drops the atomic bomb on the
city of Hiroshima
• 80,000 die instantly, 35,000 injured
• 2/3 of the buildings are destroyed
• Over the years it is believed that up to 200,00 died
– At ground zero
• 7,000 degrees fahrenheit
• Wind 980 m.p.h.
– The Japanese still do not surrender
• Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki – August 9th
– Between 40,000 to 75,000 die
• The Japanese agree to unconditional surrender
on August 14th
– August 15th is known as V-J Day = Victory Over Japan
Day
– Huge number of casualties inflicted by just two
planes dropping only two bombs
The Internment
• Removal of Japanese from the American west
coast to internment camps
– Fear of sabotage and spies
– 110,000 interned, 2/3 are American born
– They had to leave their homes and businesses, most
lose everything
• Most of the camps are located in the desert
– Harsh climate, surrounded by fences and guards
– Crowded conditions, poor health care
The Holocaust
• Holocaust = the mass murder of the Jews by
Germany
• Why were the Jews hated?
– Hitler and many German people blamed the Jews for
Germany’s problems
• The Jewish people were blamed for Germany’s
loss in World War I
– Racial superiority of the German master race
• Hitler is obsessed – diverts the war effort to destroy the
Jews
– He is fighting two wars: one in Europe and one
against the Jews
• First isolate and dehumanize
– Boycott of businesses, some violence, property and
rights taken away
• Laws aimed at excluding Jews from mainstream
German life
– Nuremberg Racial Laws (1935)
• Created a separate legal status for German Jews
• Took away their citizenship and many civil and
property rights
– Night of Broken Glass (Nov. 1938)
• Known as Kristallnacht – refers to anti-Jewish riots
across Germany and Austria
• Jews were attacked and windows and store fronts
shattered
• Thousands of Jewish buildings and businesses
destroyed and about 100 Jews were killed
– Hitler issues the “Night and Fog” decree
• Authorized the arrest of anyone endangering
German security
• Those who were seized were to “vanish without a
trace into the night and fog”
• The Final Solution
– Hitler and his advisors come up with the final
solution to the Jewish question = kill the Jews
– First removed the Jews into ghettos = confined areas
within a city
• Starved, disease spreads, thousands die
• Guards shot Jews trying to escape
– From the ghettos Jews were sent to concentration
camps
• Long, crowded train ride in cattle cars – many die
• Concentration Camps
– At first special Nazi squads went from village to
village carrying out mass executions of Jews
• These mobile killing units were too slow, so Hitler
established the concentration camps as a more
efficient way of getting rid of the Jews
– The Jews arrive, families are separated, and then the
selection process begins
• Separated into strong and weak, slave labor or
“shower”
– Gas chambers killed thousands every day and
furnaces were used to get rid of the dead bodies
– The ones who escaped the gas chambers worked as
slave laborers and endured much hunger
– Some were subjected to cruel medical experiments
• Victims
– 6 million Jewish people perish in the Holocaust
• 2 out of every 3 in Europe – there were 9 million
Jews in Europe when Hitler took power
– Other groups at the concentration camps that the
Nazis viewed as inferior:
• Gypsies, homosexuals, Slavs, Poles, people with
disabilities, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other
political enemies
• Another 6 million from these groups died
Post War
• Six years of fighting led to millions of lives lost, millions
more injured, horrific property damage, and economies
were on the verge of collapse
• Peace treaty
– The Allies wanted no territorial or financial gains, just
peace
– Germany was divided into four occupation zones
–The Soviet Union received 1/3, the French, British,
and U.S. divided up the rest
–Berlin, which was in Soviet-held territory, was also
divided
–Nuremberg trials – couple hundred Nazi officials
put on trial, some were executed
– Japan was also placed under Allied occupation for
several years
• Had to adopt a new constitution that forbid it to
wage wars
• The United States and the Soviet Union emerge as world
powers and leaders
– Britain won the war, but at great cost
• Economy nearly destroyed, will begin to dismantle
their empire because they can no longer afford to
keep it
– France makes a successful recovery, but will never
again regain its status as a major world power
• Two months after the war in Europe ends, a new conflict
called the Cold War begins, once again dividing Europe