1) Battle of Leyte Gulf (Oct., 1944):
•
•
•
•
•
•
Japanese attempt to destroy the American fleet in the
Philippines… FAILS.
Goal: prevent resupply of U.S. ground forces (in the
island-hopping campaign)
Also to prevent a U.S. invasion of the Japanese main
islands!
Major Japanese loss – destroyed what was left of the
Japanese navy
Largest naval battle in history
Japanese get increasingly desperate… turn to kamikaze
attacks on U.S. ships (suicide pilots)
2) Iwo Jima (Feb-Mar 1945) & Okinawa (Apr-Jun 1945):
• Last stops on the U.S. island-hopping campaign.
• Put U.S. bombers within several hundred miles of the
main Japanese islands, for daily bombing raids.
• Substantial Japanese military losses (at immense
cost to the U.S.: highest casualties of the islandhopping campaign).
3) What was the name of the government research &
development project to create an atomic bomb?
The Manhattan Project
4) Why did U.S. President Truman decide to use atomic
weapons on Japan in August, 1945?
• A U.S. invasion of Japan would cost a half million (or
more?) U.S. lives.
• Desire to end the war as quickly as possible (war in
Europe had been over for 3 months!)
• SEND A MESSAGE TO THE USSR! (demonstrate
new weapon to our ideological foes, prevent Soviet
invasion & occupation of Japan)
By 1952, ATOMIC bombs (nuclear fission) are replaced by
HYDROGEN bombs (nuclear fusion)…
5) Japan surrenders September, 1945. Reasons:
- Two atomic bombs dropped on Japanese cities
(Hiroshima & Nagasaki)
- Superior U.S. performance in naval & air battles
(Japan lost proportionately more planes & ships)
- Successful U.S. “island-hopping” strategy, allows US
to choke off Japanese resources, and get close
enough to do regular bombing raids on Japan
- Cultural refusal to surrender (death is the only
honorable option = “bushido”)… leads to high
casualties
- Japan loses war of ATTRITION (US can outproduce)
6) Atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki… justifiable?
(YES!)
→ Quick end to war (war over in Europe, no desire
continue long, bloody & expensive fight in Pacific).
→ Emperor's directive to fight to the death, w/o
surrender.
→ Avoid higher casualties (on both sides) that would
occur if Japan itself were invaded
→ All's “fair” in total war? (Most Japanese cities had
already been massively fire-bombed...
what’s the difference between thousands of small
bombs vs. one big bomb?)
→ If Axis powers had the bomb, they would have used it
first?
(NO!)
→ Indiscriminant killing of non-combatants (civilians),
hitting non-military targets, is ALWAYS wrong,
regardless of which nation is doing so.
→ Japan was close to losing anyway (Japan already
bombed, navy and air force destroyed, USSR now
attacking Japan as well), “reasonable” treaty could
have been agreed upon?
→ Radiation punishes victims long after war is over
→ Motive to send a message to Stalin, at Japanese
expense?
→ Motive of vengeance, vs. military necessity?
→ Initiates a nuclear arms race (the proverbial “genie is
out of the bottle”)
→ Alternative of a “demonstration” bombing, to scare
Japan into surrender?
7) Post-war problems for Europe:
• [at least] 40 million dead (mostly civilians)
• Billions of dollars of property damage & destruction
• Bombed-out cities reduced to rubble
• Destroyed infrastructure: broken transportation
networks, water & sewage systems, electricity
• Homelessness
• Disruption in agricultural production = food shortages
• Deaths from hunger, disease, exposure continue for
years after the war
8) Post-WWII “displaced persons” (aka “DP’s”):
Homeless survivors of the war (who often had no
home to reclaim):
• Holocaust survivors from concentration camps
• POW’s
• Refugees of nations whose borders had shifted
9) WWII DEATHS (estimates - numbers rounded):
WWII
WWI
% change
USSR
3,700,000
China
n/a
Germany
192%
2,600,000
23,400,000*
15,000,000*
n/a
5,700,000*
Japan
+687,000%
415
2,850,000
1,400,000
Italy
1,240,000
568,000*
457,000
UK (Great Britain)
39%
734,000
451,000
USA
232%
126,000
418,000
TOTAL ALL***
16,000,000
n/a
7,600,000
Poland
n/a
France
61%
+ 532%
71,000,000
+
- 63%
-
+
+ 354%
10) The Nuremburg Trials:
The trial of surviving top Nazi officials for “waging war
of aggression” and “crimes against humanity”.
11) Japan’s unconditional surrender to the U.S.,
Sep 1945:
• Japan occupied by U.S. forces (through 1952)
• Remaining U.S. military presence to protect Japan
• Demilitarization: de-mobilizing the Japanese armed
forces, replaced by a small police force
• War criminals brought to trial
• Democratization: a new, American-style constitution
(Japan permitted to keep the Emperor as their
symbolic head of state, who further renounced “divine
status”)
• Land redistribution, for broader property ownership
among lower classes
• Independent labor unions established
12) Post-WWII – shifting alliances:
• The U.S. becomes allied with Japan… and [West]
Germany
• The U.S. & Britain become adversaries of the USSR
(the COLD WAR!)
New, post-war alliances:
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) vs. Warsaw Pact
13) Which nations emerged after WWII as the most
powerful?
The US and USSR
(both become nuclear superpowers)
14) Dominant competing political systems became
dominant after WWII:
market [capitalist] democracy vs. communism
Less prevalent (and almost entirely gone from
Europe!):
fascist dictatorship