1. Vocab: 1. Firebombing of Tokyo 2. Manhattan Project 3. August 15, 1945 Guiding Questions: 1. Why did the US decide to use the atomic bombs? What happened? The End of the War in the Pacific Thursday/Friday March 29-30

2. The End of the War Nears Even though the Americans were advancing, the Japanese refused to surrender. Americans began using more intense war tactics Tokyo fire bombings In March 1945 The US started using bombs that created a firestorm in Tokyo These killed 84,000 Japanese and destroyed 270,000 buildings While the effects were devastating, the Japanese would not surrender.

3. The Atomic Bombs The Manhattan Project: A top-secret scientific program that had was in charge of creating an atomic bomb Harry S. Truman became the President after FDR passed away and had to decide whether or not to use the bomb. He decided that more American lives would be saved if the US employed the use of the atomic bomb. On July 26 th, 1945 the US demanded that Japan surrender, and that failure to respond would result in “prompt and utter destruction.”

4. The Atomic Bombs continued… August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay, a B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Japan would not surrender August 9, 1945 the U.S. dropped another bomb on Nagasaki. Finally, on August 15 th, the Japanese surrendered to the Allies. This is known as V-J Day or Victory in Japan!! Eventually about 200,000 people would die from the bombings