Review What were the two turning points of the war? How was the German Army defeated in the Soviet Union? What was the Normandy Invasion? Which countries made up the “Big Three”? What is appeasement?

EQ: (1) How did the atomic bomb affect the outcome of the war? (2) Was it justified?

Background: War in the Pacific Mainly the U.S. vs Japan After Pearl Harbor, US’s strategy is “island hopping”  Take over Japanese held islands and move closer to the country of Japan

U.S. soldier describes islands in the Pacific “Hell was furry red spiders as big as your fist, giant lizards as long as your leg, leeches falling from the trees to suck your blood, armies of white ants with bites of fire, scurrying scorpions inflaming any flesh they touched, enormous rats and bats everywhere, and rivers with waiting crocodiles. Hell was the foul smelling, humid jungle that entrapped its occupants.”

Japanese get Desperate Use Kamikaze (“divine wind”) – suicide pilots would crash into the enemy Tell troops to fight to the death Death toll increases on both sides

Manhattan Project Top secret project to design a new powerful weapon: an atomic bomb Headed by J. R. Oppenheimer

Dropping the Atomic Bombs After bloody battles, U.S. chooses to use its atomic bombs against Japan Otherwise the U.S. would have to invade Japan Atomic Bombs are dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 1945)   “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” were the codenames for the bombs  Equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT

Aftermath 110,000 – 120,000 die instantly in the two cities  Thousands more from radiation Japan surrenders on September 2, 1945 The world enters the “Nuclear Age” US emerges as world’s first superpower