1. What about the Pacific War?
The US (mostly) fought the Japanese.
December 7, 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to sink US ships there.
Two hours = most US navy destroyed and 2,000 sailors killed

4. Key Battles in Pacific
Allies focused most effort in Europe—so they had to rely on defensive strategy to stop Japanese expansion
Major turning point: Battle at Midway
US intercepted Japan message & knew Japan would attack Midway
US was ready & destroyed Japan—destroyed 4 carriers & 300 aircraft; Japan never fully recovers—Japan’s last offensive action
Halts Japan from expanding power into Central & South Pacific
Allies use island hopping technique—capture Japanese held islands & use those as bases for attacks—push Japan back closer to their home
US takes over Philippines & Marianas islands--gives US ability to launch long-range bombing raids to Japan—this was a BIG deal
Battles at Iwo Jima & Okinawa were some of bloodiest in war—victory for Allies shrink Japan’s defensive perimeter

5. One of his first decisions = should U.S. use atomic weapons???
War Comes to an End
President Harry Truman became president following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
One of his first decisions = should U.S. use atomic weapons???
Truman told if we invade Japan & fight…1/2 million Allies could be killed or wounded
Japan was stubborn—even though they knew they couldn’t win….they refused to surrender & Truman wanted an unconditional surrender
SO…..
On August 6th, 1945, the US dropped a bomb on Hiroshima, Japan (80,000 dead).
On August 9th, 1945, the US dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki, Japan (40,000 dead).
Around 250,000 people die from impact or radiation
Japan surrenders shortly after: Aug. 14, 1945 (V-J Day)
Short video clip:

6. A nuclear weapon of the "Little Boy" type, the uranium gun-type detonated over Hiroshima. It is 28 inches in diameter and 120 inches long. "Little Boy" weighed about 9,000 pounds and had a yield approximating 15,000 tons of high explosives. (Copy from U.S. National Archives, RG 77-AEC)
A nuclear weapon of the "Fat Man" type, the plutonium implosion type detonated over Nagasaki. 60 inches in diameter and 128 inches long, the weapon weighed about 10,000 pounds and had a yield approximating 21,000 tons of high explosives (Copy from U.S. National Archives, RG 77-AEC)

7. The Holocaust and the “Final Solution”
Holocaust: “sacrifice by fire”, the systematic, state-sponsored, persecution & murder of Jews by Nazis
Hitler passed laws to strip Jews of all rights when he came to power
Nazis forced Jews into ghettos: small sectioned off parts of city…hundreds of thousands die here from starvation & disease

8. “Final Solution”: Hitler’s plan to systematically exterminate all Jews
-used mobile killing squads to kill a million Soviet Jews in 1941
-started to build death camps & started sending Jews there in early 1942
-death camps had gas chambers: pregnant women, children, elderly, & sick were gassed as soon as they arrived
Once Hitler knew they were going to lose war; started moving prisoners from concentration camps & killing all in death camps
Nazis murdered 6 million Jews (1/3 of world’s Jewish pop) & another 5 million (mentally ill, homosexuals, Gypsies)

10. Cost & Outcomes
Around 60 million deaths during the war: about ½ civilians
Money spent worldwide: more than a trillion dollars
Germany & Japan had to disarm & give up all territory they had taken
-Germany divided into 4 occupation zones: one for US, GB, FRA, USSR
-Japan: under control of the US, bring a democratic form of gov’t there
Nuremberg Trials: 22 Nazi leaders put on trial for war crimes in Nuremberg, Germany; 12 sent to death, others imprisoned
Similar trials in Tokyo; also many sent to death & life prison terms