the pacific theatre and peace. the pacific war u.s. war strategy in the pacific divided...
TRANSCRIPT
The Pacific War
• U.S. war strategy in the Pacific divided responsibilities between Gen. Douglas MacArthur led forces in a “Island hopping campaign” from Australia to the Philippines, and Admiral Chester Nimitz who commanded the Central Pacific fleet.
• Plan was to isolate Japan from its southern conquests
• British moved from India to retake Burma
The Pacific War
• With Japans army bogged down in China – Allies planned to bomb Japan
• Island Hopping campaign – American naval version of blitzkrieg: planes from aircraft carriers control the skies while navy and land forces isolated and captured the most strategically Japanese-held islands while by passing the rest
• Racial hatred between American & Japanese forces intensified the fighting in the Pacific
The Pacific War
• Leyte Gulf – Allied invasion of Japanese-held Philippines and the destruction of the Japanese fleet leaving the homeland of Japan undefended against invasion
• U.S. naval blockade of Japanese imports and heavy bombing of Japanese cities continually weakened Japanese war capabilities
• U.S. capture of strategic Japanese islands: Iwo Jima & Okinawa (April-June 1945)
Searching for Peace
• Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945) – Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin debated plans for the postwar world
• American goal was to enlist the USSR in finishing off the Japanese
• Stalin wanted control of Manchuria, China in exchange for joining the
• Stalin would only give vague pledges to allow non-communist to participate in the coalition governments in Eastern Europe
Searching for Peace
• April 12, 1945 – FDR died of a cerebral hemorrhage
• Harry Truman – Vice President succeeds FDR• Potsdam Conference (July 1945) – British-
Soviet-American conference where they debated the future of Germany
• Potsdam Declaration - Truman made it clear that the U.S. expected to dominate the occupation of Japan
Searching for Peace
• Goal was to democratize the Japanese political system and reintroduce Japan into the international community - intended to give Japan an opening for surrender
• Sec. of state James Byrnes – urged Truman to use the new atomic bomb
• U.S. was convinced Japan would fight to the death in an invasion of the homeland
• Using the bomb offered a quick end to the war and it might intimidate Stalin
End of the war in the Pacific
• U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on August 6, 1945 at Hiroshima (killed approx. 80,000) and the second on Aug. 8 at Nagasaki (killed approx. 40,000)
• V.J. Day: Victory in Japan Day - Japan ceased hostilities on Aug. 14th and surrendered formally on Sept. 2nd
• Japanese government signed the terms of surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri a battle ship nearly destroyed at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th, 1941
Captain Paul Tibbets in the Enola Gay minutes before takeoff to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, 1945