HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI

Unit II – World War II

THE YALTA CONFERENCE

■ The Big Three

– Winston Churchill (Britain), Franklin Roosevelt (United States), and

Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)

■ February 1945

– Discuss postwar reconstruction

– Different ideas on end of war treatment and government

■ April 1945

– President Roosevelt dies

– Harry S. Truman becomes President

THE PACIFIC THEATER■ The European Theater

– Hitler’s death - April 30, 1945

– Germany surrenders May 7

– Who is still fighting?

■ Iwo Jima (Feb. 1945)

– Essential to air war on Japan

– Aid the invasion of the mainland

■ Okinawa (April-June 1945)

– Final battle of World War II

THE MANHATTEN PROJECT

■ German Scientists

– Albert Einstein and others

– Warned of German advances

– What if the Nazis get it first?

■ Top Secret

– Harness nuclear energy

– Formed under Roosevelt

■ J. Robert Oppenheimer

– Father of the atomic bomb

– "Now I am become Death, the

destroyer of worlds.”

THE ATOMIC BOMB

■ Two Types

– Uranium gun-type fission bomb (“Little Boy”)

– Plutonium implosion-type fission bomb (“Fat Man”)

■ Power

– Average – Equals 20,000 tons of TNT

– Modern Nukes – Equals 1.2 million tons of TNT

– “Little Boy” – 16 kilotons of TNT

– “Fat Man” – 21 kilotons of TNT

– VIDEO – Nuclear Explosions

THE POTSDAM CONFERENCE■ The “New” Big Three

– Winston Churchill, Harry Truman, and Joseph Stalin

■ July – August 1945

– How to deal with Germany’s surrender (V-E Day)

– Worried about Stalin’s growing power

■ “The Baby is born…”

– "a new weapon of unusually destructive force."

■ Potsdam Declaration

– Japan – Surrender now or face total destruction

– If Japan had only known…

Nuclear Dilemma

■ Pacific War Continuing

– Casualties high

– Japanese mindset

■ If war continues, how much longer

until the end? How many more people

need to die?

– Convinced Japan will fight until

the last person

■ How else might we benefit from

dropping the atomic bomb?

HIROSHIMA, JAPAN

■ Truman Decides to Use the Bomb

– Strategic targets selected

– Japan continues to ignore Potsdam

Declaration

■ August 6th, 1945

– First nuclear bomb in history is

dropped on Hiroshima, Japan

– “Little Boy”

EFFECTS OF THE BOMB

NAGASAKI, JAPAN■ Still No Response from Japan

– Emperor Hirohito does not respond to demands

– Why might he not respond immediately?

■ Three Days Later

– August 9th, 1945

– Second nuclear bomb in history detonated in Nagasaki, Japan

– “Fat Man”

■ Why do you think we do this?

– Problem? We only have 2…

EFFECTS OF THE BOMB

■ First Two to Four Months

– 90,000 to 166,000 people dead (Hiroshima)

– 60,000 to 80,000 people dead (Nagasaki)

– Half of those deaths occurred the very first day…

– Most were civilians

■ Following Months and Years

– Effects of the burns, radiation poisoning, and other injuries

– Total – Over 246,000 deaths

– But compared to a longer war…

WORLD WAR II FINALLY ENDS…

■ V-J Day

– 5 days after Nagasaki

– August 14, 1945

– Celebration!

■ Total Losses

– 17 million dead from battle

– At least 20 million civilians

– Some estimates place total losses at

60 million

YOU DECIDE…

■ Should the United States have dropped the nuclear bomb on

Hiroshima? Was it necessary to drop the second bomb on

Nagasaki?