1. ■Essential Question: –What role did the United States play in fighting in Asia during World War II? ■Warm-Up Question: –What was the significance of : The Battle of the Atlantic? Stalingrad? Operation Overlord (D-Day)? The Battle of the Bulge?

2. Quick World War 2 in Europe Review “Europe First” & Battle of the Atlantic

3. Quick World War 2 in Europe Review Fighting in Europe, 1942-1943 Victory in North Africa Turning Point: Stalingrad Operation Torch & liberation of Italy

4. Europe 1944-1945 D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France Battle of the Bulge Soviet army seizes Berlin; Germany surrenders May 7, 1945

5. While American forces fought in North Africa in 1942, the U.S. Navy began fighting Japan

8. Whether to Drop the Atomic Bomb: Critical Thinking Decision A FDR’s Decision: B

9. The Manhattan Project ■Based on scientific research, FDR created the Manhattan Project, the code name for developing an atomic bomb: –Robert Oppenheimer was put in charge of developing the bomb –From 1942-1945, a number of secret labs across the country developed & built the bomb

10. Physicist Enrico Fermi at the University of Chicago developed the nuclear reaction Nuclear plant in Hanford, WA developed the plutonium The bomb was constructed in a secret city in Oak Ridge, TN In July 1945, the bomb was successfully tested at Los Alamos, New Mexico during Project Trinity

11. Whether to Drop the Atomic Bomb: Critical Thinking Decision B Truman’s Decision: C

12. The Japanese refused to surrender even in the face of defeat By 1944, Americans gained supremacy of the air & ran daily fire bombings on Japanese cities In addition, Japanese soldiers resorted to horrific acts of barbarity on the battlefield

13. Dropping the Atomic Bomb ■Truman issued the Potsdam Declaration to Japan: surrender or face prompt & utter destruction –When Japan refused to surrender Truman ordered the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 –After 3 days, the Japanese gov’t did not respond to the bombing –The U.S. dropped a 2 nd atomic bomb in the city of Nagasaki

14. Whether to Drop the Atomic Bomb: Critical Thinking Decision C

15. Hiroshima Nagasaki

18. Dropping the Atomic Bomb ■Effect of the atomic bomb: –Saved hundreds of thousands of lives because it prevented a U.S. land invasion of Japan –Revenge for Pearl Harbor –Showed the USSR that the USA had the ultimate weapon (began the Cold War nuclear arms race)

19. WW2 Timeline (Allies, Axis, USSR)