Download US Forces

Showdown in the Pacific:
Pearl Harbor
• 1941: U.S.–Japanese negotiations
• Japan’s demands
–
–
Free hand in China
Restoration of normal trade relations
• U.S. demanded Japanese troops out of China
• December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor attacked
• December 8: War declared
WWII: Pacific Theatre
Act I
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/pacificwar/2130.jpg
12/7/1941: Pearl
Harbor
12/1941-5/1942:
Grim Defeat and
Retreat
Fall of Dutch
East Indies, Fall
of Philippines,
Corregidor,
Bataan Death
March,
Gen. MacArthur
– “I shall return.”
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/ma
ps/photo/8-Bataan.jpg
PHILIPPINES
80,000 US
VS.
200,000 JAPAN
After 5 MonthsUS Forces:
14,000 KIA
48,000 WIA
http://ghostofbataan.com/image2/deathm1.jpg
Map: Closing the Circle on Japan, 1942-1945
Closing the Circle on Japan, 1942-1945
Following the Battle of Midway, with the invasion of Guadalcanal (August 1942), American forces began the costly process of
island hopping. This map shows the paths of the American campaign in the Pacific, closing the circle on Japan. After the Soviet
Union entered the war and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by atomic bombs, Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Japanese
American
Internment
Camps
A Nation on the Move:
Japanese Internment
• 120,000 Japanese moved from the West
Coast to detention camps
• 1944: Supreme Court rejected appeal for
release
• 1988: Congress voted indemnity of $1.2
billion for survivors
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h97000/h97502t.jpg
The Doolittle Raids
On April 18, 1942, sixteen B25 bombers,
with 80 volunteers commanded by
Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, took
off from the aircraft carrier Hornet. Their
mission was to drop the first bombs on
Tokyo, Nagoya and Yokohama. All
reached their targets successfully, with
little Japanese response. Then, low on
fuel, fifteen of the planes crashed or were
abandoned in China. (The Japanese would
eventually execute 250,000 Chinese for
helping the American fliers escape.) A
sixteenth plane landed near Vladivostok.
Two of the Doolittle raiders came down in
enemy territory and three crewmen were
executed. But 71 men eventually came
home.
http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/_images/photos/battlefield/doolittle/05.jpg
Checking Japan in the Pacific
• Two-pronged drive against Japan
–
–
Douglas MacArthur led drive through New
Guinea to the Philippines
Chester Nimitz led navy westward from Pearl
Harbor to the Philippines
• June, 1942: Victory at Midway launches
advance into Japanese-held territories
WWII: Pacific Theatre
Act II
May-June 1942: Allies Turn the Tide
Battle of the Coral Sea (saves Australia)
Battle of Midway (destroys Japanese Carriers)
Aug. 1942: “Island Hopping” begins
Guadalcanal (20K Japanese dead to 1200 USA)
Tarawa, Marianas, Solomon Islands
Aug. 1943: Recover Aleutian Islands
MEANWHILE: US subs destroy Japansese navy,
US begins bombing Tokyo and Japan
Battle of Midway
http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/_images/photos/battlefield/doolittle/11.jpg
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/science/9806/04/yorktown.found/midway.island.lg.jpg
• Admiral Chester Nimitz, US Commander
• US uses intercepted/decoded Japanese messages re:
invasion fleet of 110 ships
• Nimitz sets trap, destroys 332 planes, 4 aircraft carriers, and
many experienced Japanese pilots
Island Hopping
• By-pass Japanese
strong-points
• Seize small, unfortified
islands
• Build airfields on them
• Use air power to
destroy Japanese supply
lines
• Starve out Japanese
strong-points
• Repeat
Tarawa by Tom Lovell
Tarawa by Tom Lovell
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
On November 21, 1943, marines stormed ashore on the atoll of Tarawa, soon to be called
"Bloody Tarawa." The marines secured the island, but the cost was high. Of the 5,000 marines
who fought in the battle, more than 1,000 were killed and another 2,000 wounded. Nearly all of
the 5,000 Japanese defenders died, many in a final "death charge." (U.S. Marine Corps Museum)
Map: Closing the Circle on Japan, 1942-1945
Closing the Circle on Japan, 1942-1945
Following the Battle of Midway, with the invasion of Guadalcanal (August 1942), American forces began the costly process of
island hopping. This map shows the paths of the American campaign in the Pacific, closing the circle on Japan. After the Soviet
Union entered the war and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by atomic bombs, Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945.
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur
• Supreme Commander of
Allies in Pacific
• Utilized “island hopping”
• Brilliant strategist
• 1/10 kill ratio US/Jap.
• Put in charge of
governing Japan after
WWII
• Led US forces in Korean
War
• Fired by Truman for
insubordination
http://www.e-yliko.gr/Fyyl/Istoria/prosopawwarII/Douglas%20MacArthur.gif
WWII: Pacific Theatre
Act III
Oct. 1944: Battle of Leyte Gulf (final destruction of J
navy)
Jan.-July 1945-: Liberation of Philippines
March 1945: Iwo Jima
April-June 1945: Okinawa (Kamikaze)
July 1945: Potsdam Conference (US, UK, USSR’s
ultimatum)
Aug. 6, 1945: Hiroshima – 180,000 deaths
Aug. 9, 1945: Nagasaki – 80,000 deaths
Sep. 2, 1945: V-J Day
Kamikaze
http://www.rotten.com/library/death/kamikaze/kamikaze.jpg
• “divine wind”
• Used in Battle of Leyte
Gulf, Philippines
• 424 kamikaze pilots sunk
16 ships, damaged 80
• Similar suicidal resistance
shown by Japanese army
on Iwo Jima, Okinawa
• Okinawa: 1900 kamikaze
attacks sink 30 ships,
damage 300, kill 5,000
sailors
Triumph and Tragedy
in the Pacific
• June 21, 1945: U.S. captured Okinawa,
complete control of Pacific, defeat of Japan
only a matter of time
• May–August: Intense air attacks on Japan
• Manhattan Project offered way to crush Japan
without invasion
– August 6: Atom bomb destroyed Hiroshima
– August 9: Atom bomb destroyed Nagasaki
• August 14: Japan surrenders
http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/images/OppenheimeBlackboardLarge.jpg
http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/images/TrinityLarge.jpg
Manhattan Project
•
•
•
•
Secret project to develop atomic bomb
Racing Germans and Soviets
Began in 1942
Scientists organized by J. Robert
Oppenheimer (above right)
• many scientists are refugees from fascist
countries
• Bombs use plutonium and uranium 235
• First bomb, “Trinity,” tested July 16,
1945 near Alamogordo, NM –
beginning of atomic age
TRUMAN
•
•
•
•
•
TRUMAN REPLACES
FDR
VET OF WWI
MISSOURI
HIGH SCHOOL
EDUCATION
COMES TO POLITICS
AFTER FAILING AT
BUSINESS
WHO DOES
HE REMIND YOU OF?
http://www.cia.gov/csi/monograph/firstln/955pres12.gif
Island Bases in Marianas
and on Iwo Jima provided
strategic staging areas
for the bombing of Japan
and dropping of the bomb.
http://www.mbe.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/potsdam_decision.htm
Hiroshima & Nagasaki
World War II in the Pacific
War Aims and
Wartime Diplomacy
• Yalta Conference February, 1945
– Agreement let Soviets control elections in
Eastern Europe
– Soviets agreed to enter war against Japan 3
months after Germany surrendered
• April 12, 1945: Death of FDR
YALTA: February 1945
•Last meeting of the Big Three
•Stalin joins fight against Japan
•USSR gets Manchuria, Kuril, Sakhalin
•Founding of the United Nations, based on Atlantic Charter
What is it?
Pact? Agreement? Sell-out?
Is it Versailles?
Is it Munich?
Or…?
The Transforming Power of
War
• U.S. the most powerful nation on earth
• Unprecedented economic prosperity
• Federal government a permanent force in
daily life
New World Order (?)
• Nuremburg Trials: 1945
– Trial of Nazi and German Military Leaders
– Foundations of International Human Rights
• New Crimes:
– Crimes against Humanity
– Crimes against Geneva Convention
• Division of Germany among “Big Four”
– US, UK, USSR, and France
– East and West Germany
• Military Administration of Germany and Japan
– Gen. MacArthur runs Japan, writes democratic
constitution