War in the Pacific – You Decide How to End the War
You are the United States of America and you have four options available to you to end the war in the
Pacific against the Empire of Japan. Your options are the following:
1. ACCEPT A CONDITIONAL SURRENDER FROM
JAPAN
You have been asking for an unconditional surrender, but
it is obvious to you now that the Japanese will not
surrender if you harm the emperor. If you tell them that
they can keep the emperor they might give up. Up until
now, your goal has always been the TOTAL defeat of
Japan. Are you willing to change your plan?? Will you
look weak?
2. FULL INVASION OF JAPAN’S MAIN ISLAND
You’ve always known that this would be inevitable. Your experiences
at Normandy and the invasions of islands in the Pacific, such as
Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, have shown you that you can
accomplish this successfully but at a very great cost. The thousands
of thousands of men you have lost to other similar invasions have
caused you to look for other options.
3. WAIT FOR THE SOVIETS
This would allow you to hit Japan from two directions. At
Potsdam, Stalin guaranteed to you that the Russian Red
Army would be ready to strike in September 1945. You
still don’t completely trust Stalin. The history with the
Russians is that they have made territorial demands in
Europe and they will probably make them in the Pacific if
they come to help out. Are you willing to accept a
Communist presence in the Pacific as well as Europe?
4. DROP THE ATOMIC BOMB
While at Potsdam, you are told that scientists have successfully
developed and tested a single bomb that can destroy an entire city.
You are being encouraged to use this weapon to avoid all of the
above options, mainly to avoid more loss of American lives. It has
only been tested once, and the full effects of the bomb are
relatively unknown. If you use this bomb, where would you use it?
TASK – Using the back of this page, write a short essay that answers
the following questions. You will be evaluated on your supporting
evidence (content – 10 marks) as well as your mechanics (spelling and
grammar – 5 marks).
1. Decide on which option is the best course of action.
2. Give reasons for your choice.
3. Provide a summary and a justification for your choice.
Name: ____________________________________________________
Content
(10)
Mech.
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(5)
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TOTAL
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(15)
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