The Allied Victory in the Pacific: The Atomic Bomb

The Race for the Atomic Bomb Begins 1939-1941 By 1941, the Germans were leading the race for the atomic bomb. They had a heavy-water plant, high-grade uranium compounds, a nearly complete cyclotron, capable scientists and engineers, and the greatest chemical engineering industry in the world. The United States initiated its own program under the Army Corps of Engineers in June 1942. America needed to build an atomic weapon before Germany or Japan did. It was a Top-Secret Project called The Manhattan Project

The Atomic Bomb Developing the bomb took an incredible amount of money, resources, and science. Roosevelt believed that Germany and Japan would use this type of bomb irresponsibly. Therefore, the US had to develop it first

The Atomic Bomb The process requires highly toxic elements such as plutonium and uranium. These elements must undergo an intense chemical rearrangement by separating out their atoms to create another highly volatile element Then these new scientifically created elements would be ignited and it would set off a chain reaction of atomic explosions

The Manhattan Project After spending enormous sums of money, the Manhattan Project progressed to the test stage in May 1944. Where do you test the deadliest bomb ever invented? Needed to be a flat location Isolated from people And good weather and visibility to observe New Mexico

The Manhattan Project The First Atomic Test The Trinity Device being lifted to the top of the 100-foot steel tower. Ground Zero is at the base of the tower. The First Atomic Device On Monday, July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m., the first atomic device detonated at the Trinity Test Site

Hiroshima and Nagasaki In the meantime, Roosevelt died and Harry Truman became the US President He had to make a choice to invade Japan with the army and navy which would cost a lot of lives or use the new A-bomb and end the war quickly Truman warned the Japanese that we would use a a new device that would “rain ruin from the air” Japan did not reply

Hiroshima and Nagasaki On August 6th 1945, the US dropped the first A-bomb on Hiroshima, a city with 350,000 people. 70-80,000 people died instantly from the attack. On August 9th, the US dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki, a city with 270,000 people. Another 70,000 people died instantly The Japanese finally surrendered to Gen. Douglas MacArthur on September 2nd 1945, bringing WWII finally to an end