War Without Mercy:

The Pacific Theater Mr. JohnsonU.S. History & World History

Created by Prof. John Tucker

(ECU) & John Johnson (HCHS)

ObjectivesN.C. Standard Course of Study

World History

• Objective 5.03 – Analyze the causes and course of World War II and evaluate it as the end of one era and the beginning of another

U.S. History

• Objective 10.02 - Identify military, political, and diplomatic turning points of the war and determine their significance to the outcome and aftermath of the conflict.

The War in ChinaSino-Japanese War, 1937-1945

“Rape of Nanjing”

Mao Zedong & Chiang Kai-Shek

US Aid

December 7, 1941:“A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”

FDR’s Pearl Harbor Address

Click here for text and audio of the address

U.S. Enters the War

Allied strategy: “Germany first”

War in the Pacific:Island Hopping

American CommandersGen. Douglas

MacArthur

U.S. Army

Adm. Chester Nimitz

U.S. Navy

Farthest Japanese Advance

Important Battles• Invasion of Philippines, 1941 – Japanese seize

control; Bataan death march

• Coral Sea, 1942 – Stopped Japanese expansion in South Pacific

• Midway, 1942 – Stopped Japanese expansion in mid-Pacific

• Guadalcanal, 1943 – First major landing of U.S. troops… island hopping

• Leyte Gulf, 1944 – Major defeat for Japanese navy, U.S. liberation of Philippines

• Iwo Jima & Okinawa, 1944-1945 – Small islands close to Japan, kamikaze attacks, bomber bases!!!

4

3

1

2

5

6

Desperation:

Kamikaze & Kaiten

Kaiten – “Shaking of the Heavens”

Kamikaze – “Divine Wind”

The Manhattan Project:

Developing the Atomic Bomb

Incendiary Bombing – 1945• 66 Japanese cities

were devastated by fire-bombing raids

• Incendiary bombs: meant to demoralize and cause mass destruction – “total war”

• Total casualties from incendiary bombings:−241,000 killed−313,000 wounded

Incendiary Bombing – 1945Tokyo 51%

Tokohama 58%

Toyama 99%

Nagoya 40%

Osaka 35%

Kure 42%

Kobe 56%

Omuta 36%

Wakayama 50%

Okayama 69%

Nishinomiya 12%

Shimonoseki 38%

Kawasaki 35%

Yawata 21%

Kagoshima 63%

Amagasaki 19%

F.D.R.• approved the

development of the atomic bomb – “Manhattan Project”

• died April 12, 1945

Harry S. Truman• VP for less than 3

months

• Knew nothing about the development of the atomic bomb

• Saw the atomic bomb as a way to save American lives

Atomic Politics• Potsdam Conference (July 1945)

−Japan was clearly defeated, but would not surrender

−U.S., U.K. and K.M.T. China call for unconditional Japanese surrender

−Japanese military refused to surrender, hoping that U.S.S.R. would help with a diplomatic settlement

• The Manhattan Project−Robert Oppenheimer and Los Alamos−Trinity test explosion

Oppenheimer & Los Alamos

July 16, 1945, 5:29:45 am First man-made atomic explosion “Trinity”

“I am become Death, destroyer of worlds.”

-Oppenheimer

General Leslie Groves• “The Atomic

General”

• saw use of atomic bomb as a preferable to Soviet entry into the Pacific war

Bomb Directive• Selected targets:

−Hiroshima−Kokura−Niigata−Nagasaki

• Cities relatively undamaged by previous bombing raids were selected

Tongues of Fire:Hiroshima & Nagasaki

The Two Atomic Bombs• August 6, 1945, 8:15 am

Hiroshima – “Little Boy” bomb−one bomb:

• 100,000 dead immediately• 100,000 more dead in five

years

• August 9, 1945, 11:02 am Nagasaki – “Fat Man” bomb−one bomb:

• 70,000 dead immediately• 70,000 more dead in five

years

Hiroshima

Nagasaki

Effects of the Atomic Bomb• temperature at hypocenter: 5,400° F

• “a silent flash” to close observers, resulting in death or severe burns

• black rain

• massive fire

• long term effects – “radiation sickness,” blood and bone cancers, miscarriages, birth defects, lesions, etc.

V-J Day:

Surrender & Occupation

V-J Day – Times Square, NY

U.S. Occupation of Japan