War in the Pacific Unit 8

Japanese Advances Japan was capturing territory in the Pacific very easily Japan felt invincible after Pearl Harbor

US Retaliation April 18, 1942, the US bombs Tokyo Wanton destruction Revenge for Pearl Harbor Battle of the Coral Sea This battle marked a new type of Warfare in World History The ships of the two fleets never saw each other. Aircraft carriers sent planes to bombard one another

Battle of Midway Turning point of the war with Japan 110 Japanese Ships – largest naval fleet in history US destroyed 4 Japanese Aircraft carriers, 322 Japanese planes. US Forces Led by Admiral Nimitz Equivalent to the destruction Japan inflicted on the US at Pearl Harbor

Island Hopping America advanced one island at a time, capturing key bases and using them for the next advance towards the mainland of Japan. Buna Gona Lae Guadalcanal New Georgia Bouganville Gilbert Islands (Flame Throwers) Phillipines Marshall Islands Aleutian Islands Iwo Jima Okinawa

Japan on the defensive Kamikaze – Japanese pilots who would pack their planes with explosives and make suicide dives into American ships sunk 16 American ships, and damaged 80.

Japan on the Defensive Yamamoto Battleship – Japanese Flagship - Japan intentionally sunk this ship to block a harbor Before it sank it took 5 torpedoes and 6 bombs and was still afloat

Iwo Jima “Among the Americans who served on Iwo Islands, uncommon valor was a common virtue.” – Admiral Nimitz 6,281 American Casualties 20,000 Japanese Deaths

Okinawa Japan’s last stand Japan used 1,900 Kamikaze attacks Destroying 30 ships and killing 5,000 men America lost 12,000 lives Japan lost 110,000 lives

Manhattan Project A government scientific project that created the atomic bomb 1 bomb to destroy a whole city It was the military’s best kept secret 600,000 people worked on it Roosevelt dies and Truman is left with the responsibility of deciding whether or not to use the bomb.

Should we Bomb? Arguments to Bomb Argument to not bomb The closer the US gets the more casualties we take The emperor is arming his citizens and telling them to fight to the end Churchill predicted that a Japanese invasion would mean over a million casualties for the Allies Argument to not bomb It is immoral to use such a destructive weapon without warning Bomb would cause mostly civilian casualties Weapon had not been tested enough

Hiroshima & Nagasaki The US dropped an atomic bomb, Little Boy, on Hiroshima. Japan refused to surrender 3 Days later, the US dropped a second atomic bomb, Fat Man, on Nagasaki Japan surrenders

Japan Surrenders Allies begin to rebuild Created the United Nations At the Potsdam conference Stalin & Truman agreed that “stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals.” Nuremberg Trials Put Nazi’s on trial for “war crimes” 12 of 22 were put to death America occupied and rebuilt Japan MacArthur was put in charge of reconstruction Tojo and 7 others were put to death Emperor Hirohito was made into a figurehead Free-market economy & democracy was institutued Japanese Constitution is known as the MacArthur Constitution