2. Allies Stem Japanese Tide
Priority was to defeat Nazis, but US did not wait to move against Japan
US submarines still existing
US aircraft carriers were at sea during attack on Pearl Harbor

3. Japanese Advances
1st 6 months after Pearl Harbor- conquered empire that dwarfed Hitler’s
Conquered most of South Pacific-as far west as Aleutians-part of Alaska

4. Japanese Advances
Philippines-80,000 Americans commanded by General Douglas MacArthur-held out against 200,000 Japanese for 4 months

5. Japanese Advances 14,000 killed, another 48,000 wounded
MacArthur eventually had to abandon Philippines- “I shall return”
Japanese military dazzled by their success
Now had 150 million new subjects spread over 1/7th of the globe

6. US Retaliation
4/18/42-16 bombers led by James Doolittle take off of USS Hornet
Bombed Tokyo military targets
Boosted American morale, caused concern among the Japanese

7. US Retaliation
May US and Australian forces intercept Japanese fleet targeting Australia-Battle of the Coral Sea
New Warfare-all fighting done with carrier-based planes-opposing ships never saw each other

8. US Retaliation Allies lost more ships than Japanese
Japanese fleet too short of fuel to continue to Australia-1st time Japanese had been stopped
Moral victory for the US

9. Battle of Midway
June Chester Nimitz-commander of American forces in Pacific- learned Japanese invasion force heading for Midway then on to Pearl Harbor
110 Japanese ships
Largest assemblage of naval power in history

10. Battle of Midway
US outnumbered 4 to 1-prepared a surprise for Japanese at Midway
Americans ordered to inflict maximum damage on the enemy

11. Battle of Midway
Japanese lose 4 aircraft carriers, a cruiser, 322 planes
Americans avenged Pearl Harbor

12. Island Hopping Lots of distance between island on in the Pacific
Japanese troops dug in on hundreds of islands
Taking each island would be long and costly

13. Island Hopping Americans “leapfrogged” Japanese strongholds
Seized less-fortified islands, built airfields, used airpower to cut Japanese supply lines
Starved out Japanese strong points

14. Island Hopping
1st land offensive of Japanese war- Guadalcanal in Solomon Islands
19,000 marines
6 months later-Japanese leave
1st Japanese defeat on land

15. Island Hopping
October ,000 Allied troops & 738 ships converge on Leyte Island in the Philippines
Japanese throw entire fleet into the battle
Japanese introduce kamikaze-suicide plane

16. Island Hopping
In the Philippines- 424 kamikazes-sunk 16 US ships and damaged another 80
Leyte Gulf a disaster for Japan
Lost 3 battleships
4 aircraft carriers
13 cruisers
400 planes

17. Island Hopping Americans next turned to Iwo Jima
US could use this a s abase to attack Japan
Most heavily defended spot on earth
20,700 Japanese dug into Iwo Jima
6,000 marines died taking Iwo Jima

18. Island Hopping
200 Japanese survived
Last obstacle was Okinawa

19. By the way…
April 12, 1945-FDR dies
Harry Truman becomes president

20. Okinawa Japan’s last defensive outpost Unleashed 1,900 kamikazes
Sunk 30 allied ships
Killed 5,000 US sailors

21. Okinawa Fighting ends June 22, 1945 More than 7,600 Americans died
110,000 Japanese die
If Okinawa was defended this fiercely, what would an invasion of Japan be like?
Churchill predicted 1million American lives and 500,000 British

22. Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project- project to develop the atomic bomb
Most ambitious scientific project in history
Best kept secret of he war
More than 600,000 Americans were involved in the project-few actually knew the purpose

23. Manhattan Project Work on atomic bomb began in 1942
Group of scientists under direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer worked in a secret laboratory to build the actual bomb

24. Manhattan Project Many concerns surrounding atomic bomb
Would it even work?
If it did, would it be very strong?
Would it set fire to the atmosphere?
Would it destroy the earth?

25. Manhattan Project
July 16, st atomic bomb detonated in New Mexico
Blinding flash visible from 180 miles away
Bomb more powerful than anticipated

26. To Bomb or not to Bomb
Many scientists said it would be immoral to drop the bomb without fair warning
Others wanted to give the Japanese a demonstration of the bomb
Problems with a test explosion:
Nothing less than dropping a bomb on a city would convince Japanese to surrender
The test might be a dud
Japanese might shoot down delivery plan
May move American prisoners to the test area

27. To Bomb or not to Bomb
Decision was made to drop the bomb without warning
Why?
Save American lives
Weapon needed to be used to justify cost of building it
Give Americans advantage over the Soviet Union in shaping the post war world

28. To Bomb or not to Bomb
US warns Japan that it faced “prompt and utter destruction” unless it surrendered
Japan refused

29. Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 6, 1945
Enola Gay released atomic bomb code named Little Boy over Hiroshima
an important Japanese military center
43 seconds later, the city collapsed to dust
Japanese leaders still hesitated to surrender

31. Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 9, a second atomic bomb-Fat Man- was dropped on Nagasaki
Leveled half the city
By the end of ,000 people had died due to the atomic bombs

33. Hiroshima and Nagasaki
September 2, 1945-Japanese formally surrender on board the USS Missouri

34. Preparing for Peace Yalta Conference-February 1945
Attended by FDR, Stalin and Churchill
Created the United Nations-and international peacekeeping body

35. Preparing for Peace
Also at Yalta-Stalin promises to enter the war against Japan
In exchange for:
Kuril and Sakhlin Islands
Stalin also promised to allow free elections in Poland and other Soviet occupied nations

36. Preparing for Peace July 1945- Potsdam Conferendce
Attended by Truman, Stalin, and Atlee (new British PM)
Created plan to disarm Germany & eliminate Nazis

37. Nuremberg Trials 22 Nazi officers and govmt. Officials put on trial
12 sentenced to death
For the 1st time in history, a nation’s leaders had been legally held responsible for their actions during war

38. Occupation of Japan Occupied by US forces
Under command of Douglas MacArthur
Tojo arrested and sentenced to death
More than 1,100 Japanese put on trial

39. Occupation of Japan Occupation lasted 6 years
MacArthur installed a democratic government
Japanese constitution still known as the Macarthur Constitution