Download Endgame-and-the-Atomic

Endgame and the
Atomic Bomb
The Battle of the Bulge
•
•
•
•
•
•
December 1944
Hitler’s desperate response to the advance of the Allied forces after D-Day
Attack came through the Ardennes Forest, intended target was Antwerp,
Belgium
o Splitting the Allied forces in half- forcing the British and Americans to
ask for peace separate from the Soviets
o That would allow him time and resources enough to defeat the Soviets
Almost ¼ million troops against 4 American units
American stubbornness slowed the German advance, allowing time for
reinforcements to arrive and for Germany to run out of supplies
Most costly battle for the US Army in WWII- over 100,000 casualties
End of the 3rd Reich
•
•
•
•
Allied advance after the Battle of the Bulge
o By early April 1945, US troops had crossed the Rhine River and the
Soviets were beginning their final assault on Berlin
Hitler had retreated to an air-raid bunker beneath the chancellery in mid
January
o April 30- When he was informed that the Russians were closing in,
Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide
o Both took cyanide capsules (which he had tested on his dog), but the
Fuhrer shot himself as well.
1 week after his suicide, Germany formally surrendered
Allied command decided that May 8th would be celebrated as VE-Day
(Victory in Europe)
Yalta and Potsdam Conference
•
•
Yalta Conference- meeting of the “Big Three”(FDR, Churchill and Stalin) to
discuss postwar Europe
o February 1945
o Soviets granted large spheres of influence in Eastern Europe
o Agreements on German reparations after the war
Only weeks before the German surrender, FDR died of a cerebral
hemorrhage on April 12, 1945
o Harry Truman becomes president
Yalta and Potsdam Conferences cont.
•
The Potsdam Conference was the last major peace conference held from
July 17- August 2, 1945
o Attended by Truman, Churchill, and Stalin
o Talks centered on plans for postwar Europe, but also on how to bring
an end to the war in the Pacific
o Economy choices on managing postwar Germany- demilitarization
and remaking their economy and political systems
o Controversy over the German-Polish border
Okinawa
•
•
•
•
Last and biggest Pacific island battle in WWII
• April 1-June 22 1945
The determined Japanese implemented kamikaze tactics- making
this a difficult, costly encounter
• Japanese- 77,000 casualties
• US- 65,000 causalities
Over 100,000 civilian casualties
The final surrender offered the US strategic airfields for bombing
the main island of Japan
The Manhattan Project
•
Manhattan Project was a secret government project aimed at the
development of the atomic bomb
•
Initiated by a 1939 letter from Albert Einstein to FDR telling of
German experiments on splitting the atom- officially launched after
Pearl Harbor
•
Led by scientist Robert Oppenheimer
•
Secret development and research in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (the
Atomic City)
•
First successful test in Trinity New Mexico on July 16, 1945
Ending the War in the Pacific
•
Japanese refused to surrender
•
General MacArthur favored continuing traditional warfare, including
an invasion of mainland Japan- estimated this could bring over 1
million US casualties
•
Despite moral misgivings of his generals and scientists, Truman decides
to use the Atomic bomb on Japan in an attempt to bring the war to a
quick end
•
Bomb nicknamed ‘Little Boy’ was dropped on Hiroshima on the morning
of August 6, 1945
•
When this did not illicit immediate surrender, on August 9, ‘Fat Man’ was
dropped on Nagasaki
•
•
By the end of December 1945, deaths in the 2 cities ranged from 140,000200,000
Japan formally surrenders on August 15, 1945 ending WWII