1. Asia in the 1930s
In the 1930s, just before the war began, Japan invaded parts of China (imperialism)
Japan’s imperialism was partially motivated by their lack of natural resources
Needed to get them from somewhere…
They ruled harshly, angered the Chinese, took their resources, massacred civilians (especially at Nanking)
Japan & China were at war. Soviet Union = ally of China, Germany = ally of Japans…

2. Then what happened?
On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan dropped an atomic bomb on a US Navy Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Why? The US & Japan had a 100+ year history of trade competition & the US was refusing to buy oil from Japan, which hurt their economy
This caused the US to declare war on Japan & her allies
Japan’s strong army then invaded Hong Kong, Singapore & other parts of Asia

3. The War in Asia
The US, Great Britain, Canada & Soviet Union had to split their armies between the war in Europe & the war in Asia (“The Pacific”)
Bloody, deadly battles killed thousands
Japan used kamikaze: suicide missions
Japan ruled its new territories brutally & many were tortured and/or killed, including POWs
The US & allies slowly began defeating the Japanese in 1944
Island by island, closer & closer to Japan…

4. The Atomic Bomb
The US & Germany both were developing the 1st atomic bombs
New science, highly dangerous, very deadly
The war in Europe ended in May 1945 but Japan did not surrender
USA had 1st successful atomic bomb test in July 1945
US had a choice: invade Japan (risk American soldiers’ lives) or drop the bomb (kill Japanese civilians)

5. The Atomic Bomb
The entire war was over.
Finally, Japan surrendered.
A 2nd atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki
Japan did not surrender
The US warned Japan to surrender or another bomb would be dropped
In August 1945, the US dropped the 1st atomic bomb used in war on Hiroshima, causing devastation

6. Images of the Destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki

7. "Little Boy" unit rests on a trailer cradle in a pit below the open bomb bay doors of the B-29 Superfortress bomber "Enola Gay" on the 509th Composite Group base at Tinian Island in the Marianas Islands in Little Boy was 3 m (10 ft) long, and weighed 4,000 kg (8,900 lb), but only carried contained 64 kg (141 lbs) of uranium which would be used to create a nuclear chain reaction, and resulting explosion.

9. Photo by US Army The huge atomic cloud 6 August, 1945
Photo by US Army The huge atomic cloud 6 August, A Uranium bomb, the first nuclear weapon in the world, was dropped in Hiroshima City. It was estimated that its energy was equivalent to 15 kilotons of TNT. Aerial photograph from the 80 kilometers away of the Inland Sea, taken about 1 hour after the dropping.

10. Utter destruction of Hiroshima by 6 August 1945 bombing with a single atomic weapon. Written note is from Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. 

11. Color photograph of the ruins of central Hiroshima in autumn of 1945

12. The foreground shows the ruins of the Hiroshima Gas Company Building (800 feet from the hypocenter). In the center are the ruins of the Honkawa Elementary School.

13. Bridge across the Ota river, 880 meters from the hypocenter of the bomb burst above Hiroshima. Note where roadway is burned and the ghostly shadow imprints left where the surface was shielded by cement pillars.

14. A man looks over the expanse of ruins left by the explosion of the atomic bomb on in Hiroshima, Japan

15. A trolley car completely destroyed by the explosion
A trolley car completely destroyed by the explosion. Note that the trolley car is no longer on its tracks.

16. Twisted iron girders are all that remain of this theatre building located about 800 meters from ground zero.

17. On August 6,1945 Hiroshima, Japan was bombed by the B-29 bomber called Enola Gay and its crew. America dropped the bomb on this city and 3 days later they dropped another bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. The aftermath showed the power of nuclear war. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of Hiroshima and 120,000 people were killed in total.

18. The thermal energy from the blast burned shadows into the building

20. Keloids form on the legs of a solider exposed to the radiation 2,950 feet (900 meters) from the hypocenter.

21. Severe keloids, or scarring, caused by thermal radiation.

22. A simple clock, completely ruined in an instant