Download Pacific Theater

1942-1945
UNITED STATES AND THE
PACIFIC THEATER
Fall of the Philippines
• On Dec 8th 1941 the
Empire of Japan attacked
the Philippines
• Bombed our bases
• Took over the islands of
Guam, Wake Island and
Gilbert Island
Bataan Peninsula
• Part of the Japanese Initial invasion
• 20,000 Allied troops “hole up” on Manila
Peninsula for 3 months.
• Eventually will surrender to Japanese
troops
– Largest surrender of US troops since Harper’s
Ferry (Civil War)
– Would lead to the Bataan Death March
• Bataan Death March
– 85 miles of forced march of US and Filipino
GIs
– Tortured and most would eventually die
Click the Newspaper
for a video clip
Doolittle Raid
•
•
•
•
April 1942
Militarily insignificant
In retaliation for Pearl Harbor
Helped US moral
Click the Map for a
video clip
Battle of the Coral Sea
• May 1942
• Entire battle is fought with aircraft
• Fighting to protect against a Japanese
invasion of the island of New Guinea and
Australia
Battle of Midway
• June 4-7 1942
• Turning Point in
the Pacific war
• Allies break
Japanese code
• Japan lost 4 out
of their 10 aircraft
carriers
• 7-11 other ships
are destroyed
• Japan lost 250
planes
• No more threat of
Japan attack
mainland USA
• US uses native
speaking Navajos
to communicate
– Due to it being
another language
and hard to learn
the US code was
never broken
Click the word for a
video clip
Click the Map for a
video clip
Island Hopping (1943)
Take one island at a time by land, sea or air…
Guadalcanal
• August 1942-Feb.
1943
• 1st land defeat of
Japan
• Took 6 long months
• Troops introduced to
the Jungle Fighting
that would last
throughout the war
• Helped protect against
a Japanese invasion of
Australia
Island Hopping (1943)
Take one island at a time by land, sea or air…
Iwo Jima
• February 19th 1945
• Main objective to win
the island so that Allied
aircraft could bomb
main land Japan
• Japanese built tunnels
throughout the island
• 21,000 Japanese
waited for US Marines
• 110,000 Marines storm
the beach
– 25,851 die in this
battle
– Bloodiest battle ever
for the Marines
More Island Hopping
Okinawa
• April1st – Mid June 1945
• Invasion of the island only
340(+/-)miles away from
mainland Japan
• Use for an air strip for Allied
Forces
• 50,000 American casualties
– Highest Causalities in WWII
Pacific
– Japan is said to have lost
77,000 + soldiers
• Fierce Fighting
• Heavy Air, Sea and land
attacks
Ending the War
FDR and Truman
• FDR runs for his 4th
term and wins
• April 12, 1945 FDR
passes away in
Warm Springs GA
• Harry S. Truman
becomes president
of the USA
Potsdam Conference
• Mid July-August 1945
• Allied forces meet
– Truman, Stalin,
Churchill and later
Attlee
– What to do about
Europe. ( V-E day was
2 months earlier)
• Threaten Japan that if
they don’t surrender
or “complete and
utter destruction
would occur”
Atomic Bombs and A Surrender
Hiroshima
th
Click the Word for a• August 6 1945
video clip
• 1st Atomic bomb
dropped
– Lil’ Boy
• 80,000 people killed
immediately
• 100,000 injured
• Countless victims
have radiation
poisoning
• Still no surrender
Nagasaki
• August 9th 1945
• 2nd Atomic bomb
dropped
– Fat man
• 60,000 killed
• August 14, 1945 Japan
surrendered
– V-J Day
• Signed papers on
September 2, 1945
– WWII is officially over
The Great Debate
Should we have dropped the bomb?
• Save American lives
• Iwo Jima and
Okinawa were just
the beginning of what
would happen to our
troops if we had
continued to invade
with our men
• Japan was preparing
women and children
to defend Japan
• Japan started the war
and we needed to
finish it
• Truman sought to
intimidate the Soviet
Union
• Didn’t know if the
bombs would work
• There were only the
two that we used in
Aug. 1945
• Navy blockade could
have worked
• Hiroshima was not a
crucial military target
• Nagasaki is not
justifiable
• Misleading and
incorrect information to
the public
WW II Aftermath
• 46-55 Million
dead
• 35 million
wounded
• 3 million
missing
• 30 million
soldiers died
– 405,000 were
US soldiers
• 25 million
civilians
– 15 Million in
USSR alone
• 30 Million
Europeans lost
their homeland
and relocated
– 60% of them
Germans
Aftermath Continued
• Massive
destruction of
cities
– 4 million homes
in Britain
– 7 million
buildings in
Germany
– 1,700 towns in
USSR
– US mainland
barely a scratch
• Holocaust
WWII and Diplomacy
1943
• Casablanca
Conference FDR
and Churchill enforce
the idea do
unconditional
surrender agree that
Italy would be invaded
first before opening
the second front
1943
• Moscow
Conference
Secretary of State
Hull gets Soviet
Union to agree to
enter the war against
Japan after
Germany’s campaign
– Also will join the UN
after the war ends
WWII and Diplomacy
1943
• Tehran Nov- Dec
– Meeting of the Big 3
and agree on the
invasion to begin in
1944
1945
• Feb- Yalta ConferenceBig 3 Meet to discuss
plans after the war,
Stalin agrees to free
elections
– War crime trial plans
– Germany will be divided
into 4 different zones
– World organization is to
meet April in 1945
WWII and Diplomacy
1945
• Potsdam Conference
– Truman Stalin, Attlee
and Churchill meet in
eastern Germany
– Disagreed on most
topics discussed
– Warn Japan
surrender or else
– Decide to drop the
bomb
Post War Politics
United Nations
• Was formed officially
and has been
running ever since
– General assembly
– 15 members of the
security council
– Can do things with
Military
– Fights against
hunger, diseases and
promotes education
Post War Politics
•
•
Nuremburg Trails
•
The prosecution entered
indictments against 24
major war criminals and
seven organizations
•
– the leadership of
the Nazi party,
– the Reich Cabinet,
– the Schutzstaffel (SS),
– Sicherheitsdienst (SD),
– the Gestapo,
– the Sturmabteilung (SA)
– the "General Staff and
High Command",
Comprising several
categories of senior military
officers. These organizations
were to be declared
"criminal" if found guilty.
The indictments were for:
– Participation in a common
plan or conspiracy for the
accomplishment of a crime
against peace
– Planning, initiating and
waging wars of
aggression and other
crimes against peace
– War crimes
– Crimes against humanity
Superpowers
The Start of the Cold War
• Although the US • Germany split
and the USSR
into four parts
were allies
– Each part ran by
a different
tension by the
country
end of the war
– West Germany=
was high
• Strong economy
• East vs. West
– East Germany=
• Power struggle
• Weak economy
– Beginning of
the Cold War