A Beaten Country•Germany defeated – fury of British and American force now focused on Japan

•Armed forces under-resourced, Navy and Air force on brink of defeat

•Cities reduced to rubble and population starving

The Manhattan Project•Development programme for the production of nuclear weapons

•Programme cost $2 Billion creating pressure to see weapons used

•Successful test on July 16th 1945 provides favourable alternative to land invasion

Japan seeks peace•Defeat recognised by Japanese government in April 1945

•Attempts to negotiate peace through other countries declined by America

•Japan seeking to retain Emperor Hirohito

Revenge and the Soviet threat

• United States want revenge for pearl Harbour

• Atomic bomb on Japan would please American public

• Truman did not want Soviets to enter war as he feared the spread of communism

Potsdam and “unconditional

Surrender”• Allies meet at Potsdam to establish surrender

terms for Japan

• Allies unfairly push for unconditional surrender under Potsdam Declaration

Disagreements over atomic weapons

•Protest to use of atomic weapons by respected figures in U.S army

•Use of atomic weapons unnecessary and unjustified

Hiroshima• Truman issues bomb orders on 25th July 1945

• 4.4 tonne “Little boy” dropped on Hiroshima on 6th August 1945

The blast•Little boy caused destructive power never witnessed before flattening the city

•An estimated 100,000 people killed instantly

•Hospitals and doctors wiped out meaning horrific injuries go untreated

Political impacts of the bomb

• America willing to drop more atomic bombs to force Japanese surrender

• War council split over surrender terms

• Questioning to whether America possessed any more atomic weapons

Ethics•Thousand of children left orphans, no one to care for elderly survivors

•Years of suffering caused by radiation-related illness

•Crime against humanity

Was Hiroshima necessary?

•Japan already on brink of defeat before the bomb

•Americas arrogance meant Japans attempts at peace were unsuccessful

•Revenge rather than a tool to end the war

Threats of a second bomb• Second bomb would be used if Jpan did not

surrender

• U.S convinced Japan would surrender

• Truman failed to understand bond between people and emperor

Truman's final move• Truman orders second bomb to hammer

home his point

• Truman confesses remorse of killing civilians but it is deemed necessary

Nagasaki• “Fat man” twice as powerful as Hiroshima

blast- dropped on Nagasaki 9th August 1945

• Destruction reduced due to geography of city

• 74,000 killed instantly

U.S.S.R declare war•U.S.S.R attack Japanese manchuria after declaring war on the 8th August 1945

•Japan now forced to face Stalin from land and Truman from the air

•Truman anxious for surrender to halt soviet progression

Japanese leaders negotiate

• War council meet at Imperial palace to establish future of the war

• Consensus not reached as military leaders wish to continue the war

• Emperor Hirohito makes final decision to surrender under Potsdam terms

Japan Surrenders• U.s allow Hirohito to remain emperor of Japan

• Japanese instrument of surrender signed on 2nd September 1945 onboard USS Missouri

• World War Two ends

Was the collapse of Japan imminent after Hiroshima?

• Japan in same position as they were prior to atomic bomb

• War council still unwilling to hand over Emperor

• Peace could have been negotiated without “Little boy”

Why was Nagasaki necessary?

• Nagasaki atomic bomb required to force surrender

• Display of American power to bring japan to its knees

• Nagaski would not have been necessary if the atomic bomb at Hiroshima was not dropped

Conclusions• America determined to use atom ic weapons

despite Japans obvious attempts at peace

• Connection between Emperor and Japanese people not understood by Truman

• “The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war”