1. The good of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
4 Corners
The good of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

2. All citizens must sacrifice when their country goes to war.
4 Corners
All citizens must sacrifice when their country goes to war.

3. Killing civilians is a war crime.
4 Corners
Killing civilians is a war crime.

4. Winning the war means destroying the enemy completely.
4 Corners
Winning the war means destroying the enemy completely.

5. Firebombing of Japanese Cities During World War II

6. Total War
Total War: war that is unrestricted in terms of the weapons used, the territory or combatants involved, or the objectives pursued, especially one in which the laws of war are disregarded.
The term can also be applied when the war effort requires significant sacrifices by most of the friendly civilian population.

7. Firebombing Japan’s major cities were mainly
built of wooden structures
With concentrated bombing in urban
areas fires would break out
Fires would spread throughout
the city and burn large amounts
of cities to the ground killing
countless civilians while
crippling war capacity

8. Purpose of Firebombing
Destroy infrastructure used for making materials for war
Casualties- Inflict casualties on Japan and prevent American deaths by avoiding an invasion
Change minds of leaders to end the war

9. Robert McNamara
Served during World War II in the statistical control office
First non-family president of the Ford Motor Company
Pioneered ways to make bombing
more efficient during World War II
Served as the Secretary of
Defense from 1961 to 1968

10. General LeMay
Designed and implemented firebombing techniques in Pacific Theatre
Was McNamara’s commanding officer during his time in WW2
Was in charge of bombing
campaigns

11. War Criminals
What do you think a war criminal is?

12. War Crimes Defined
War crimes are serious violations of international humanitarian law giving rise to individual criminal responsibility.
Examples of such conduct include "murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave labor camps", "the murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war", the killing of prisoners, "the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and any devastation not justified by military, or civilian necessity”.
Gary D. Solish (2010) The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War, Cambridge University Press ISBN pp

13. Video Clip
(3:54)

14. Dropping the Atom Bomb
Following the fire bombing of Japanese cities, President Truman made the decision to drop the newly developed atom bomb on Hiroshima.
On August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb used in warfare. Almost instantaneously 70,000-80,000 people died.
9 days later on August 15, 2015 a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

15. Dropping the Atomic Bomb
Immediately following the atomic attacks on Japan the U.S. drew intense criticism.
There were many arguments for and against the dropping of the bombs.

16. Why the bomb was needed or justified:
The Japanese had demonstrated near-fanatical resistance, fighting to almost the last man on Pacific islands, committing mass suicide on Saipan and unleashing kamikaze attacks at Okinawa. Fire bombing had killed 100,000 in Tokyo with no discernible political effect. Only the atomic bomb could jolt Japan's leadership to surrender.
With only two bombs ready (and a third on the way by late August 1945) it was too risky to "waste" one in a demonstration over an unpopulated area.
An invasion of Japan would have caused casualties on both sides that could easily have exceeded the toll at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The two targeted cities would have been firebombed anyway.
Immediate use of the bomb convinced the world of its horror and prevented future use when nuclear stockpiles were far larger.
The bomb's use impressed the Soviet Union and halted the war quickly enough that the USSR did not demand joint occupation of Japan.

17. Why the bomb was not needed, or unjustified:
Japan was ready to call it quits. More than 60 of its cities had been destroyed by conventional bombing, the home islands were being blockaded, and the Soviet Union entered the war by attacking Japanese troops in Manchuria.
American refusal to modify its "unconditional surrender" demand to allow the Japanese to keep their emperor needlessly prolonged Japan's resistance.
A demonstration explosion over Tokyo harbor would have convinced Japan's leaders to quit without killing many people.
Even if Hiroshima was necessary, the U.S. did not give enough time for word to filter out of its devastation before bombing Nagasaki.
The bomb was used partly to justify the $2 billion spent on its development.
The two cities were of limited military value. Civilians outnumbered troops in Hiroshima five or six to one.
Japanese lives were sacrificed for power politics between the U.S. and the USSR.
Conventional firebombing would have caused as much significant damage without making the U.S. the first nation to use nuclear weapons.

18. Should the U.S. have dropped the bombs?
The good of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
All citizens must sacrifice when their country goes to war.
Killing civilians is a war crime.
Winning the war means destroying the enemy completely.