Ending the War in the Pacific The Atomic Bomb

Closing in on Japan- 1945 Island Hopping: SUCCESS Japanese navy destroyed Air force crippled In position to invade mainland Japan What did the Potsdam Declaration call for?

Options to End the War: A. Amphibious invasion Pro and Con? B. Bomb Japan into submission Fire bombing of Toky0- March 1945 At least 80,000 Japanese killed in one night C. Nuclear Weapon

Nuclear Weapons Manhattan Project: Goal: Create a nuclear weapon The most powerful weapon in the world Trinity test: July 16th, 1945 the first nuclear weapon in successfully tested in New Mexico.

The Atomic Bomb By the late summer of 1945, the United States and Japanese fighting forces had waged war in the Southern Pacific for 3 ½ years. During this period of intense warfare, an estimated 200,000 American lives had been lost. The possibility of a quick end to the combat was questionable, if not unlikely. Under these conditions, the United States made the decision to unleash the most powerful and destructive weapon in existence on the Japanese to hasten the end of the war and force the Japanese to submit to peace. On August 6th, the atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The devastation of the bomb was unparalleled; 90 percent of the city was wiped out and an estimated 70-80 thousand Japanese citizen were killed immediately, with an estimated 70 thousand to die within the next five years due to the effects of radiation. The use of the atomic weapon achieved its main objective, prompting a Japanese surrender in a matter of days. But, due to the incredible destruction and mass death caused by the bomb, its deployment has been the subject of intense debate for over ½ of a century.

TARGETS: Hiroshima—August 6, 1945 Kokura—too cloudy to see target Nagasaki– August 9, 1945

Enola Gay

The Atomic Bomb:

Hiroshima: The Bomb—8-6-1945

Hiroshima: The Devastation

Hiroshima: The Devastation

Hiroshima: The Devastation

Hiroshima: Victims

Eyewitness account: 16 year old boy “The entire town of Hiroshima was ablaze…A lot of people were floating in the river…Their skin was red and their clothes were nothing but strips of cloth hanging from them.”

Eyewitness account: Michie Hattori (15 year old girl) When the bomb exploded, it caught me standing in the entrance to the shelter, motioning for the pokey girls to come in. First came the light — the brightest light I have ever seen. It was an overcast day, and in an instant every object lost all color and blanched a brilliant white. My eyes couldn’t cope, and for a little while I went blind. A searing hot flash accompanied the light that blasted me. For a second I dimly saw it burn the girls standing in front of the cave. They appeared as bowling pins, falling in all directions, screaming and slapping at their burning school uniforms. I saw nothing for a while after that.

Michie Hattori continued “The route to the school seemed strangely flat and empty. Someone asked, ‘Weren’t there houses here when we came to the shelter?’ The whole world appeared so surreal we just accepted that structures could disappear off the face of the earth. We were living a terrible nightmare.”

The Aftermath: Vaporized people Blew off their clothes Severe burns Buildings vanished Death toll from the two bombs: 200,000