■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?

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

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

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

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

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

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 , a number of secret labs across the country developed & built the bomb

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

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

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

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

Whether to Drop the Atomic Bomb: Critical Thinking Decision C

Hiroshima Nagasaki

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)

WW2 Timeline (Allies, Axis, USSR)