World War II,

 D-Day (June 6, 1944)  “Operation Overlord”  Allied invasion of France at Normandy (opens a 2 nd front)  High casualties as Germans were entrenched all along coast  By end of August, Paris had been liberated  Soviet Victories  By end of 1945, Red Army only 40 mi. outside Berlin

 December, 1944: Germans launch fierce counter-offensive in Belgium  U.S. forces were pushed back in the middle of their lines, causing a “bulge” in Allied front  January, 1945: U.S. break through German line of attack and start rolling eastward to Germany  Germany Surrenders (May 7,1945)  Soviet and U.S. armies meet in Berlin early May  May 8: “V-E Day” (Victory in Europe)

 Final Battles  Late 1944, Allies moving closer to Japan  Battle of Iwo Jima (Feb.1945) ▪ Only 750 mi. from Japan; U.S. needed launch area for its bombers to reach Japan safely ▪ High casualties: U.S. lost 7,000; Japanese around 19,000  Okinawa (March-June,1945) ▪ Only 350 mi. from Japan ▪ Americans lost 12,000 to Japan’s 100,000! ▪ Way now open for U.S. invasion of Japan

 The Manhattan Project (code name for the development of an atomic bomb) began in 1939; FDR wanted to build it before Nazis  Los Alamos, N.M. (July 1945): 1 st successful test of the bomb completed  Oak Ridge Tennessee, government facility where much of the research was done.  Pres. Harry S. Truman forced to make decision--- invade Japan/ or drop bomb?  July 26, 1945: U.S. demands unconditional surrender from Japanese; no response

 August 6, 1945:  Col. Paul Tibbets and crew of the Enola Gay, drop the 1 st atomic bomb (Little Boy) on Hiroshima (killing 70,000 instantaneously while destroying much of the city)  August 9:  2 nd bomb (Fat Man) is dropped on Nagasaki killing 75,000.  Allies ask for undconditional surrender, threaten the city of Tokyo with next bomb (Secret: the U.S. had no more bombs, they had built 3, and the first (Gadget) they had tested in the desert in Los Alamos New Mexico)  August 15: Japan formally agrees to surrender (V-J Day)

Europe in state of destruction, chaos, and instability  Farms, buildings, & entire towns had been destroyed  Many Central European nations’ economies near collapse  Thousands had been uprooted: POWs, concentration camp survivors looking for lost loved ones, refugees who had fled homes during war

 Yalta Conference (February,1945)  “Big Three” meet to discuss plans for future of postwar Europe  Germany was to be divided into Allied sectors  Stalin would be allowed to keep some of Poland as a “buffer” btwn. USSR & Germany  USSR promised to allow democratic elections in nations of Eastern Europe that had been taken by Red Army  FDR got Stalin to promise to enter Pacific war with Japan and join a United Nations organization that was being established after WWII

 The Potsdam Conference (July,1945)  Big Three (Truman replaced FDR who had died in May) met once again amid growing suspicion that Stalin could not be trusted in Eastern Europe  Truman and Stalin took immediate dislike for one another as Truman was given the news about the successful test of the atom bomb at this conference  Stage was set for beginnings of a new conflict: The Cold War