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CHAPTERS 24 + 25: WORLD WAR II American History Mussolini, Fascism, and Italy After returning from World War I, Benito Mussolini created fascism Believed in strong nationalism, that the nation was more important than the country, that individualism made a country weak, and a country’s strength was based upon its leader, expanding territory, and building its military Backed by the Fascist militia, or Blackshirts, Mussolini marched into Rome, where he quickly became premier due to members of parliament an the king resigning, quickly destroying democracy and establishing a dictatorship Stalin and the USSR After Vladimir Lenin died, a power struggle existed amongst Communist followers Josef Stalin became dictator in 1926 In 1927, Stalin began a massive campaign to make the Soviet Union industrialized 8-10 million people died due to the Soviet’s zero tolerance-zero oppression policy Hitler, the Nazis, & Germany A vet of World War I, Adolf Hitler joined the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi Party), which was nationalistic, anticommunist, and against the Treaty of Versailles Attempted a coup from Munich, but was imprisoned After his release, he focused on getting Nazis voted into parliament, the Reichstag With Nazis in parliament, they voted to make him chancellor Was appointed in 1933 After becoming chancellor, he authorized new elections and ordered his paramilitary force, the Storm Troopers, to crack down on Socialist and Communist parties The Reichstag, primarily Nazi, voted to make Hitler president and dictator After being voted in, Hitler began building his army, violating the Treaty of Versailles Tojo, Militarism, and Japan Hit with economic strife from the Great Depression, military leaders and their supporters argued that democracy was bad for Japan, and the only way it would get out of the Depression was to conquer east Asia, starting with Manchuria (in China) The Japanese army invaded Manchuria in 1931, assassinated the prime minister, placed Hideki Tojo in charge, and continued its goal of conquering east Asia Franco, the Falangists, & Spain In Spain, General Francisco Franco led a rebellion after a combination of Republican, Socialist, and Communist party official were elected to the parliament Was backed by the Spanish Fascists (Falangists), army officers, landowners, and the Catholic Church The Spanish Civil War attracted international attention USSR sent arms to the government Germany and Italy sent tanks and supplies to Franco The U.S. stayed neutral Isolationism in the U.S. Observing these dictatorships forming across Europe, the U.S. decided to stay neutral in order to avoid international commitments that may lead to war Stayed neutral for further reasons: All debtor nations decided not to pay back their war debts from World War I The Nye Committee-investigated profits from arms manufacturers from World War I, which created speculation that businesses encouraged the U.S. into war From the Nye Committee, the U.S. passed the Neutrality Act of 1935, prohibiting the selling of arms to any country at war Another act, the Neutrality Act of 1937, was passed, requiring that if nations at war wanted American goods, they had to send ships to pick them up, and pay cash only The forming of alliances After the Spanish Civil War, Hitler and Mussolini signed an agreement pledging to cooperate on several international issues The following month, Japan aligned with Germany and Italy Anti-Comintern Pact: agreement to share information of Communist countries These agreements were the beginnings of the establishment of the Axis Powers Roosevelt and internationalism Roosevelt believed in internationalism, or committing to trade with other countries in the pursuit of preventing war Many Americans wanted isolationism, however, so he adhered to their requests Once Japan began a full-scale invasion of China, the U.S. decided to help China Since neither country declared war on each other, the Neutrality Acts did not apply The Anschluss Hitler’s first strategy was to re-unite German speaking peoples in Austria and Czechoslovakia Thought the only way to expand was to unify everyone under one empire Would also gain food supplies, defenses, and soldiers Hitler threatened to invade Austria if Nazi party members weren’t given important positions Austrian chancellor quickly did so, in fear of Hitler The Austrian chancellor tried to place the unification under democratic vote, but fearing the results, Hitler sent troops and announce the Anschluss, or unification, which was accepted by the Austrian peoples The Munich Conference Hitler’s next goal was the Sudetenland, an area in Czechoslovakia with Germanspeaking peoples The Czechs resisted Hitler’s goal, with the back-up of France and the Soviet Union, in case Hitler invaded To avoid another war, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain went to Munich and granted Hitler appeasement, or giving concessions in exchange for peace Promised Hitler the Sudetenland if he promised not to take the rest of Czechoslovakia. Despite his agreement, Hitler invaded and broke up Czechoslovakia soon after Danzig and the Polish Corridor After taking the Sudetenland, Hitler desired Danzig, a portion of Germany separated by Poland at the end of World War I Hitler also desired to build a highway and railroad across Poland to connect Germany with Danzig and East Prussia Knowing appeasement had failed, Britain and France declared that it would back up Poland if Hitler invaded Encouraged Poland to refuse Hitler’s demands The Nazi-Soviet Pact While Hitler was preparing to invade Poland, he was also preparing to negotiate with the Soviet Union in order to keep the peace with them Germany and the USSR signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact, which kept the Soviet Union out of the war if Germany were to go to war against Britain and France in exchange for Polish lands The war begins On September 1st, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, followed by an invasion from the Soviet Union from the east Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany Germany used a new type of warfare, blitzkrieg, or lightening war, to take Poland Used tanks to encircle positions, while aircrafts bombed positions and dropped paratroopers to cut off supplies On September 27th, Warsaw was taken, and October 5th, Poland surrendered The Fall of Norway, Denmark, and France After taking Poland, Germany moved towards Denmark and Norway in order to take its rich iron ore production Attacked in April, 1940, and had both countries within a month Hitler then turned his attention to France and getting around its protective wall, the Maginot Line Did so by going around it through the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg France and Britain expected tanks to come through central Belgium, but the Germans went through the Ardennes mountains in Luxembourg and eastern Belgium instead Easily broke French lines and headed towards the English Channel Dunkirk With Allied troops trapped in Belgium, the only way to save the remaining soldiers was to evacuate them by sea All sea ports in France were taken, except for Dunkirk Hitler stopped his advance, which gave the British three days to rescue its soldier Took home 338,000 French and British troops By June, France surrendered to Germany Germany installed a puppet government (Vichy France) in order to keep a close eye on it The Battle of Britain Germany, surprised by Britain’s unwillingness to surrender, prepared to invade across the English Channel Since the British air force would destroy any transport ships coming towards them, the first strategy was the defeat the Royal Air Force Began bombing ships in the English Channel, then Royal Air Force bases When the Luftwaffe accidentally bombed London, the British retaliated by bombing Berlin Hitler, infuriated, then focused on bombing London in order to terrorize the civilians into surrendering Londoners held their spirits high, despite the bombings With the use of radar stations, the Royal Air Force was able to find incoming German aircrafts, and send fighters to intercept them With continued damage to the Luftwaffe, Hitler canceled the invasion in October, 1940 American support While staying neutral, the U.S. still supported Great Britain and the Allies The Neutrality Act of 1939 was revised to state that if a country at war wanted to buy American weapons, it had to pay with cash, and send its own ships to pick up the cargo In an attempt to help Great Britain, Roosevelt found a loophole in the act and asked Churchill, in exchange for battleships, to build bases in Newfoundland, Bermuda, and islands in the Caribbean Debates on whether to help the Allies or not was the focus of the election of 1940, which Roosevelt won Promised to stay neutral, but help Allies Edging towards War With British funds running out, the United States offered to help Britain gain arms The Lend-Lease Act allowed the U.S. to give arms to Britain, if Britain promised to pay rent or return the arms With the invasion of the Soviet Union from Germany, the Lend- Lease Act applied to the Soviets as well With German U-boats patrolling the Atlantic and sinking British ships, the U.S. declared the western hemisphere as a hemispheric defense zone, with the U.S. patrolling the Atlantic and revealing locations of German submarines to the British Roosevelt and Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter, promising peace and freedom after the war between the two countries, and that the U.S. would find an incident which would get them involved in the war German U-boats and American destroyers began confronting each other in the Atlantic Japanese tension with the U.S. With its alliances with Great Britain, the U.S. made policies in order to protect British colonies in Asia from Japan Supplying Britain with warships so it could send some to its colonies in Asia Export Control Act, which gave the U.S. the power to restrict the sale of strategic materials, or materials used for fighting a war Included steel, scrap iron, and oil, which Japan needed from the U.S. The U.S. began sending lend-lease materials to China to help in their war effort against Japan Despite aid, China failed, and Japan moved closer to raiding Hong Kong and Singapore, which belonged to Britain Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets from the U.S. and sent Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines to mobilize its defenses In order to gain more oil and resources for the war effort, Japan not only planned to attack British ports, but American ports as well Pearl Harbor Even though Japan negotiated with the U.S., the military decoded messages that made it clear that Japan was secretly going to attack the U.S. somewhere On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor Destroyed 21 ships, 188 airplanes, and 2,403 lives The following day, the U.S. declares war on Japan Tired of the Atlantic battle, tied by the alliance, and hopeful that Japan easily defeat the U.S. then help with defeating the Soviets, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. 3 days later The war effort in the U.S. The U.S. war effort was twice as productive as the efforts in Europe, and five times as productive as in Japan Instead of having companies bid for war contracts, the government signed cost-plus contracts, promising to pay the company whatever it cost to make the product plus a guaranteed percentage of the costs of the profit Allowed the companies to make more money To convince more companies to convert, the government gave the authority to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, loaning money to companies in order to participate in cost-plus contracts War production The automotive industry built tanks, aircrafts, jeeps, and trucks, as well as artillery, rifles, mines, helmets, pontoon bridges, cooking pots, and other pieces of military equipment Shipyards began mass producing battleships, submarines, and liberty ships, or basic cargo ships Welded instead of riveted, in order to make the ship more sturdy and powerful Roosevelt established the War Productions Board, which set priorities and production goals and to control the distribution of raw materials and supplies Clashed with military agencies, which caused the creation of the Office of War Mobilization, which settled disputes Building an army After Germany invaded Poland, the U.S. expanded its army to 227,000 In 1940, Congress passed the Selective Service and Training Act, allowing anyone who applied to the armed services to serve Basic training was quick and efficient and broke barriers, but many soldiers didn’t know how to do basic things in battle African Americans in the war African Americans desired to win victories both at home and abroad against racism during the war Double V campaign Since African Americans were a huge part in Roosevelt’s reelection, he ordered the armed forces to start recruiting African Americans Many all-African units were successful and pivotal during the war effort 99th Pursuit Squadron (Tuskegee Airmen) 761st Tank Battalion 614 Tank Destroyers Battalion Fall of the Philippines Hours after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked American air bases in the Philippines American forces retreated to the Bataan Peninsula, where they held their ground for 3 months Japanese forces took Bataan, and the surrendered Americans were forced to march 65 miles to a P.O.W. camp Bataan Death March The last of the Filipino positions, Corregidor, fell in May 1942 The Doolittle Raid Before the fall of the Philippines, Roosevelt wanted to boost American morale by bombing Tokyo Short-range bombers were unable to be launch from aircraft carriers because of Japanese ships preventing the carriers from getting anywhere close to Japan A military planner suggested using B25 bombers for the job, and having them land in China after bombing Tokyo Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle headed the operation, which was successful The Doolittle Raid Battle of the Coral Sea Japan desired to cut off American supplies coming from Australia Sent three carriers to block and invade New Guinea The Americans sent two carriers, the Lexington and Yorktown, to engage the Japanese The two launched an all-out airstrike, resulting in an American victory and a pull-out of the Japanese fleet Battle of Midway The second strategy of the Japanese was to defeat the American fleet at Midway while depleting their supply lines from Australia at the Coral Sea The Japanese launched an attack against the Americans, not knowing the Americans were ready for them Barraged the carriers and aircrafts with anti-aircraft fire, along with dogfighting in the skies and bombings in the sea The Japanese retreated, losing four of its major carriers, and resulting in an American victory Major turning point in the war, and an end to the Japanese offensive Strategy for Europe By 1942, the Germans did away with the NaziSoviet Pact and began to invade the Soviet Union Stalin, appreciative of the Lend-Lease supplies from the United States, urged Roosevelt to send troops to open up a Western front in order to distract the Germans from advancing further into the Soviet Union Churchill declared that the British and American forces were not ready for Europe, so instead sent forces to help out in North Africa to give troops more experience and to protect Egypt Suez Canal was vital to the transportation of goods from British colonies to Europe Battles in North Africa The German Afrika Corps, led by Erwin Rommel, was successful in taking North Africa until the British forced them to retreat at the Battle of El Alamein The Americans invaded Morocco in 1942, taking Casablanca and moving east, taking Algiers, Oran, and Tunisia The British moved west from El Alamein, with the goal of trapping the Afrika Corps between the Americans from the east and the British from the west After a loss in the Battle of Kasserine Pass, General Dwight Eisenhower appointed General George Patton in charge of the Americans in North Africa Quickly pushed the Germans out of Africa in 1943 Battle of the Atlantic After declaring war on the U.S., German submarines made their way to the American coast, sinking merchant and cargo ships along the coast The loss of so many ships convinced the U.S. to set up a convoy system, where merchant ships would travel in groups and be escorted by navy warships The Germans sunk 1.2 million tons of shipping, but the Americans built up 1.1 million between May-June 1942 Along with building up shipping, American airplanes and warships used radar, sonar, and depth charges to help locate and sink German submarines Stalingrad In May, 1942, Hitler launched an offensive that would try to capture strategic oil fields, farmlands, and industries in the Ukraine in order to alter the Soviet Union’s economy Hitler desired to take Stalingrad because it was a major railway city and was located on the Volga River Would cut off resources the Soviet Union needed if the city was taken by the Germans Stalin ordered the Soviet troops to hold the city at all costs, and not to surrender or retreat Major reinforcements came in by November, trapping all the German forces involved Major turning point in the war because it placed the Germans on the defensive for the remainder of the war Women during the war Many women began enlisting in the armed forces Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, which became the Women’s Army Corps Others, specifically married women, worked in factories and industrial plants in order to keep the flow of the work force while their husbands were away at war “Rosie the Riveter” Minorities during the war African Americans were not being hired for defense jobs because of discrimination from factory owners A. Philip Rudolph threatened to gather African Americans and march on Washington in order to make a statement Roosevelt issued Order 8802, which became the Fair Employment Practices Commission, which made discrimination towards hiring illegal To help in the harvest of crops, the U.S. government introduced the Bracero (worker) Program, which allowed 200,000 Mexican farmworkers to come to the U.S. to help Changes in American society Because of the economic boom, the South and the West became major industrial regions in the U.S. The Sunbelt To accommodate workers moving across the country to their new jobs, the government allocated $1.2 billion to build new houses for them Racial tensions and violence erupted in the North and West African Americans migrating to the North Mexican Americans and juvenile deliquents in the West Zoot Suit Riots Japanese relocation After Pearl Harbor, many Americans were angry with and suspicious of Japanese Americans Many thought they were spies Succumbing to pressure, Roosevelt signed an order that the War Department could declare any place on the U.S. a military zone and remove anyone from that zone War Department declared all West Coast a military zone and sent Japanese Americans to internment camps In Korematsu v. United States, Fred Korematsu argued that his rights had been violated by being detained Decision was that it was essential to detain Japanese Americans not because of race, but because of “military urgency” Despite this, many Japanese Americans fought in the war 442nd Regimental Combat Team-most decorated After the war, the Japanese American Citizens League helped those who lost property during their internment Life in Wartime America To keep low and avoid inflation, Roosevelt created the Office of Price Administration and the Office of Economic Stabilization OES regulated wages and price of farm products OPA regulated other prices for goods To prevent strikes, the War Labor Board helped mediate negotiations between workers and owners To make sure necessary supplies were available for the war effort, the OPA began rationing, or limiting the availability of, many household products Households were given ration coupons to cover the purchases of their goods “Blue points” and “Red points” Many planted victory gardens in order to grow their own food, and rationed off spare metal parts, grease, and oils for the war effort To pay for the war, along with raising taxes, the government issued war bonds for citizens to buy The next phase At the Casablanca Conferences, after the successful North Africa campaign, Roosevelt and Churchill insisted that two things happen An invasion of Sicily from the sea Continued bombing of Germany to weaken their military, industry, economy, and moral The bombing campaign on Germany increased, resulting in damaged railroads and airplane factories, and a shortage of oil Invasion of Sicily Dwight D. Eisenhower was placed under control of the invasion, while Generals George Patton and Bernard Montgomery were placed on the frontline The use of the DUKW as an amphibious vehicle was successful in transporting troops and supplies Patton quickly took the western half of the island, then headed east, while Montgomery took the southern end of the island, causing the Germans to evacuate Because of the unsuccessful defense of Sicily, Mussolini was placed under arrest and out of power The Italian Campaign Desperate to have Italy still in play, Hitler advanced into Italy, taking all lands north of Rome, and placing Mussolini back into power Instead of fighting the Germans at the heavily fortified city of Cassino, the Allies landed at Anzio, behind enemy lines Were surrounded by the Germans from Cassino After five months, the Allies broke through Anzio and Cassino, forcing the Germans to retreat After two weeks, the Allies took Rome, but fighting continued until May 2nd, 1944 The Tehran Conference After the success of Italy, Roosevelt and Churchill wanted to meet with Stalin to plan an invasion of Europe The meeting came to several conclusions The Soviets would begin a massive offensive while the Americans and British invaded France The Americans and Soviets would break up Germany in order to prevent another world war Once Germany was beaten, the Soviets would help the Americans defeat Japan Roosevelt wanted to begin an international organization that would keep peace in the world Operation Overlord Hitler knew the Allies would invade France, but did not know when or where Fortified the coast of France, just in case Since the Germans thought the invasion would take place at Pas-de-Calais, the Allies set up rubber tanks and fake tents along the coast across from Calais The invasion would not be in Calais, but in Normandy Several conditions had to occur for the invasion to be successful Low tides to help the soldiers see obstacles Had to occur at dawn so the gunners could see their targets The night before had to be moonlit for paratroopers to see their landings Weather had to be good Upon these conditions, the date of the invasion was set at June 6th, 1944 D-Day 7,000 ships with 100,000 soldiers set sail for Normandy Stormed five beaches (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword, and Juno) The storming of Utah Beach was quick and successful Not heavily fortified by Germans The storming of Omaha Beach was difficult Heavily fortified by Germans and took a while for the Americans, British, and Canadians to advance past the beach and take down the forts At the end of the day, the invasion was successful Island Hopping in the Pacific The Pacific Fleet’s strategy was to advance through the central Pacific by hopping from island to island, while General MacArthur’s troops would advance through the Solomon Islands, take New Guinea, and launch and invasion in the Philippines However, many of the islands were made of reefs, and sometimes the water wasn’t deep enough for amphibious vessels to land on The solution to the problem was the use of the amphtrac, or an amphibious vessel that had tank tracks on it Made island hopping safer for Marines, and operations more successful in the Marshall Island Battles toward the Philippines While Nimitz took key positions in the Mariana Islands that would now be used for storing B-29’s, MacArthur headed towards the Philippines His first campaign was at Guadalcanal, and from there, jumped 600 miles from other islands to take New Guinea and Morotai, the last stop before the Philippines Troops assembled at Leyte Gulf, while warships headed north to stop incoming Japanese crafts Japanese took this chance and attacked Leyte Gulf with warships and kamikazes, or suicide planes The Americans held the Japanese off, and fearful more ships would come, the Japanese retreated Advance from Normandy From the landing in Normandy, the Allies had to combat the Germans, who were defending their positions behind hedgerows, or walls covered in shrubbery Defenses ended by continuous Allied bombings After breaking out of Normandy, the Allies, along with French resistance, were able to liberate Paris in August, and advance to points 20 miles outside of the German border The Battle of the Bulge In a last offensive, Hitler ordered troops to cut off Allied supplies coming into Antwerp, Belgium The Germans were met with Allied resistance, causing the offensive lines to bulge outward The Americans held the Germans off from taking Bastogne, a town with many interconnecting roads General Patton advanced through a snow storm in 3 days to help the Americans who had been surrounded by German troops With taking Bastogne and continuously bombing German fuel depots, the Germans retreated, leaving the Americans a path to invade Germany The Holocaust Once the Allies crossed into Germany, they found evidence of the Nazis committing genocide against the peoples of Europe The Holocaust, or what’s referred to be the Jews as the Shoah Once the camps were liberated, the Allies discovered the atrocities and the history behind what the Nazis were doing inside of its own country Nazi ideology Once the Nazis came into power, they desired strongly to implement the political ideologies of Hitler They persecuted against anyone who opposed them, the disabled, Gypsies, homosexuals, and Slavic peoples, but most of all, the Jews The Nazis believed that the Jews started World War I and the Depression, and that they were generally evil and money grubbing, greedy businessmen The Nuremberg Laws As soon as the Nazis took power, they immediately deprived German Jews of their rights The Nuremberg Laws Took away German citizenship to Jews Banned marriage between Jews and Germans Defined Jewish heritage by having at least one grandparent Jewish Prohibited Jews from running for or holding public office Forbade Jews from employing female German servants under age 35 Compelled Jews with German names to adopt Jewish names instead Required all Jews to have a “J” on their passports to identify them as Jewish Banned Jews from practicing law or medicine and from operating businesses The Nuremberg Laws resulted in many Jews being jobless, but some still desired to stay Kristallnacht On November 7th, 1938, a young Jewish refugee, forced to deport to Poland, shot and killed a German diplomat in retaliation for the treatment of Jews In response, Hitler order propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels to stage attacks against the Jews The attacks came to be known as “Kristallnacht” or “The Night of Broken Glass” Resulted in 90 Jews dead and hundred injured Afterwards, the German secret police, the Gestapo, arrested hundreds of others, releasing them only if they moved from Germany and gave away all their possessions Jews begin to flee When Hitler took power, many German Jews fled from Germany and headed to neighboring countries Albert Einstein and Anne Frank Many tried to immigrate to the United States, but were met with limitations Nazis limited Jews to taking anything more than $4 outside of the country Many refused to accept Jewish immigrants High unemployment made immigration unpopular due to the threat of immigrants taking jobs The U.S. restricted visas on anyone who was going to be a financial inconvenience to the government Jews weren’t allowed to leave Germany with much money, so this applied to them The Final Solution On January 20th, 1942, German leaders met at the Wannsee Conference to discuss the “final solution to the Jewish question” The solution was to round up the Jews, along with other undesirable races, and place them in concentration camps, where they would work in forced labor conditions until the died of exhaustion or illness Others, including the elderly, the infirmed, and young children, would be placed in extermination camps, where they would be killed in large gas chambers Ex. Treblinka and Auschwitz V-E Day While the British and American forces fought to liberate France, the Soviets were beginning a massive offensive against the Germans When the Battle of the Bulge ended, the Soviets were attacking from the eastern front, while the British and Americans were attacking from the western front Breaking through German barriers, the Allies reached Berlin in April, with the Soviets entering first Knowing the end was near, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his protective bunker His successor, Karl Doenitz, wanted to surrender to the British and Americans while fighting the Soviets, but Eisenhower requested an unconditional surrender On May 7th, 1945, V-E (Victory in Europe) Day came, and the war in Europe was over The war against Japan While the war in Europe had ended, the war against Japan was still underway President Roosevelt, before the surrender of Germany, had suffered a stroke and died, leaving Vice President Harry Truman in charge He continued to press on with the war against Japan, immediately sending troops finished in Europe and willing to continue to fight to Asia to fight the Japanese Iwo Jima Bombers being sent to Japan from the Mariana Island bases did not have enough fuel to accomplish the mission The next task for the Americans was to take a closer island and turn it into a base for the bombers Chosen island was Iwo Jima On February 19, 1945, 60,000 Marines landed on the rugged island, attacked by heavy Japanese artillery More than 6,800 Marines died before the island was taken by the Americans Okinawa Now that the B-29 bombers were able to lift from Iwo Jima, the bombers reached Tokyo, unleashing napalm, or jellied gasoline, onto its targets, spreading fire and destroying vast areas Thinking Japan was far from defeat, the Americans decided to invade Japan itself, and develop the island of Okinawa into a base for supplies The Americans invaded Okinawa in April, with the Japanese taking positions in the mountains instead of on the beaches More than 12,000 Americans died before Okinawa was taken in June, 1945 After Okinawa, the Japanese were willing to surrenders, as long as the emperor was still in power Americans viewed the emperor as the one who began the war, and Truman wanted to test his new weapon on the Japanese, the atomic bomb The Manhattan Project In 1939, the Americans discovered that the Germans had found a way to split uranium, harnessing enormous energy Fearing the Germans might harness this energy as a weapon, Leo Szilard had Albert Einstein endorse a letter to Roosevelt, suggesting a weapon that could hold this energy could be constructed Convinced from British research on the atomic bomb, Roosevelt set up a secret program, code-named the Manhattan Project, to develop and test such a weapon Led by General Leslie Groves and J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Americans detonated the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945 Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and V-J Day In order to prevent further American casualties, Truman ask the Japanese to surrender, or face utter destruction They refused On August 6, 1945, the Anola Gay dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima Destroyed 76,000 buildings, and killed between 80,000-120,000 people On August 9th, 1945, “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki To prevent further destruction, Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945 V-J Day World War II was officially over Building a New World Before the war ended, Roosevelt wanted to set up an organization whose goal was to prevent another war of this magnitude from happening again 39 delegates met to finalize plans for that organization, called the United Nations The United Nations would have a General Assembly where each nation would have one vote on a topic, and there would also be a Security Council, led by the five major nations of the Allied Powers On April 25th, 1945, representatives from 50 nations met in San Francisco to design the organization’s charter, or constitution General Assembly was given the power to vote on resolutions, to choose non-permanent members of the Security Council, and vote on a UN budget Security Council would investigate international problems, propose settlement to countries that had disputes, and preserve peace by any means The Nuremberg Trials The Allies made it clear that they would punish the Germans and Japanese for war crimes and genocide In the summer of 1945, the Allies created the International Military Tribunal, and its first case was the Nuremberg Trials 22 were prosecuted, 3 were acquitted, 7 were given prison terms, and the remaining 12 were executed by hanging The IMT for the Far East was established similar to Nuremberg 25 were prosecuted, 18 were given prison terms, and the remaining 7, including Hideki Tojo, were executed by hanging