World War II Ends (1944-1945)
Essential Question:
What was the cost of the war?
 European Theater
o The Battle of the Bulge (Dec 1944-Jan 1945)
 German offensive in Belgium
 Bloodiest battle on the Western Front
 Important Allied victory
 Hitler’s risky attack backfired
o Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)
 Meeting of the Big Three
 Roosevelt
 Churchill
 Stalin
 Began making plans for post-war Europe
o April 12, 1945
 FDR died a few months after his 4th term began
 Vice President Truman became president
o The Holocaust
 The systematic murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis
 Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s loss in World War One
 The Nazis began persecuting Jews before World War II
 Established concentration camps
 The “Final Solution”
 Last stage of the Holocaust
 Goal: wipe out the entire Jewish population
o Extermination camps were constructed
 More than 5 million non-Jews were also murdered
o Victory in Europe
 Hitler committed suicide on April 30
 Berlin’s defenders surrendered to the Soviets on May 2
 V-E Day (May 8, 1945)
 Victory in Europe Day
 The day the Allies accepted Germany’s unconditional
surrender
 Pacific Theater
o Battle of Iwo Jima (Feb-March 1945)
 Some of the fiercest fighting of the war
 American victory
 Raising the flag on Mount Suribachi
 Famous photo
o Ira Hayes of Arizona was one of the Marines
o Battle of Okinawa (April-June 1945)
 Attack on a heavily populated Japanese Home Island
(450,000 inhabitants)
 Lasted 82 days
 American victory
 Bloodiest battle in the Pacific Theater
 Helped convince President Truman to use the atomic
bomb
o Atomic bomb
 Manhattan Project
 The U.S. project to build the first atomic bomb
 First test in the New Mexico desert in July 1945
st
 1 bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on
August 6, 1945
 2nd bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki on
August 9, 1945
o V-J Day (August 14/15, 1945)
 Victory over Japan Day
 The day Japan announced its unconditional surrender
 Aftermath
o Death toll
 Military: 22-25 million
 Civilian: 40-55 million
o War crimes trials
 Nuremberg Trials
 Prosecuted Nazi leaders
o Several sentenced to death
 Japan
 Prosecuted Japanese leaders
o Many sentenced to death
o Emperor Hirohito and his family were not
prosecuted
 He continued as emperor until his death
in 1989
o United Nations
 International peacekeeping organization
 Established at the end of World War II
 Replaced the failed League of Nations