War in the Pacific

Allies Stem Japanese Tide

• Following Pearl Harbor – Japanese conquer Asia– Hong Kong, French

Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Thailand & ½ of China

– Formosa, Dutch East Indies, Guam , Wake and Solomon Islands

“I Shall Return” – MacArthur

• General MacArthur– Held out against

Japanese troops in Philippines

– Ordered to abandon after severe death toll

– Vowed to return– Hirohito claims land is

Japan’s

United States Retaliation

• Doolittle Raids– April 1942– 16 bombers attack

Tokyo– 4 other cities attacked– “We started to doubt

that we were invincible” ~ Japanese civilian

• Battle of the Coral Sea– Early May 1942– US/Australia fleet

intercept Japanese strike

– Battle ensues with Allies losing

– Japan does not reach Australia

The Battle of Midway

• June 1942• Japan planned to move

toward Hawaii to finish off US fleet

• Admiral Chester Nimitz led surprise attack– Japan lost 4 aircraft

carriers, cruiser, 322 planes

– “American has avenged Pearl Harbor”

Island Hopping

• Guadalcanal– August 1942– “Island of Death”– Marked Japan’s 1st

Defeat

Island Hopping

• Leyte Island, Philippines– MacArthur: “I Have

Returned”– Japan threw whole

fleet into battle– Kamikaze: 424

suicide planes– Disaster for Japanese

Army– Allies gain victory

Island Hopping

• Battle of Iwo Jima• Critical island for US• 6,000 marines die• Largest death toll in

any single battle

Death of President Roosevelt

• Posing for a portrait in Georgia

• Died of stroke• April 12, 1945• Harry S. Truman

sworn in

Battle of Okinawa

• Japan’s Defensive Outpost

• Japan uses 1900+ kamikazes

• Fighting ends June 22, 1945

• Allies lost many (7600)• Japanese lost 110,000• Japanese mainland could

now be invaded

The Manhattan Project

• The Atomic Bomb• More than 600,000

worked on project• J. Robert

Oppenheimer developed bomb in Los Alamos, NM

• Truman learns of bomb shortly after taking office

To Bomb or Not to Bomb

• Many critics to using A-bomb

• Truman doesn’t hesitate

• July 25, 1945

• Orders military to prepare plans for dropping of only 2 atomic bombs in existence

• Japan warned to surrender or else

Hiroshima

• August 6, 1945• Enola Gay drops

“Little Boy” on Hiroshima

• 43 seconds later entire city collapses

Nagasaki

• August 9, 1945• “Fat Man” dropped on

Nagasaki• By end of year over

200,000 people die from radiation poisoning

Japan Surrenders

• Hirohito: “I cannot bear to see my innocent people suffer any longer”

• September 2, 1945: V-J Day

• “The skies will no longer rain death-the seas bear only commerce-men everywhere walk upright in the sunlight. The entire world is at peace” ~ MacArthur

Essay Prompt

• Was the US justified in the dropping of 2 atomic bombs on Japan during August of 1945?– Read & annotate packet (see focus

questions)– Rough draft due (peer edit)

• 30 Points… 0 or 30• Intro, 3 body paragraphs, conclusion• In-text citations, MLA works cited

– Final draft due 12/20/13