The End of the War

1
The End of the War

• Section 5

2
War in the Pacific

• Island Hopping
• U.S. tries to gain control of the Pacific
• Attacked islands as they closed in on Japan
• Tarawa
• Gaudalcanal
• Saipan
• Iwo Jima
• Guam
• Okinawa
• Philippines
• Passed over islands of no strategic importance

3
A Deadly Routine

• American ships would shell the island with an
  artillery barrage
• Marines would come ashore under heavy gunfire
• Hand-to-Hand fighting would lead to Americans
  overcome the fierce Japanese resistance

4
Navajo Code-Talkers

• Used their own language to radio messages from
  island to island
• Japanese were unable to decode/decipher messages
• Examples
• besh-lo iron fish submarine
• Ne-as-jah owl observation plane

5
Japanese Military

• Bushido Way of the Warrior
• Emphasized loyalty, honor, and sacrifice
• Surrendering was dishonorable
• Japanese fought to the death or commited suicide
  rather than surrender
• Kamikaze suicide missions were Japanese pilots
  deliberately crashed into U.S. ships

6
Attacking the Home Islands

• April 1945 U.S. prepared to invade Japan
• Operation Downfall
• Bombers continually hit factories and cities
• Japanese people suffered terribly, yet leaders
  still promised victory

7
Bomb or invade?

• Expected casualties
• Between 250,000 and 1,000,000
• Japanese were training civilians to fight back
• Japanese threatened to execute POWs if U.S.
  invaded
• Casualties in other parts of Asia expected to be
  as high as 250,000 if U.S. waited
• Prevented Soviets from attacking Japan as well

8
Potsdam Declaration

• Issued Ultimatum
• Requested surrender or
• Face the inevitable and complete destruction of
  the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably
  the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland

9
Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma

• "I now have come to accept in my mind that in
  order to end the war, it could not be helped that
  an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and that
  countless numbers of people suffered great
  tragedy." Mr.Fumio Kyuma, who is from Nagasaki,
  said the bombing caused great suffering in the
  city, but he does not resent the U.S. because it
  prevented the Soviet Union from entering the war
  with Japan

10
Opposition

• Considered to be immoral
• War crimes, crimes against humanity, state
  terrorism
• Unnecessary, Japan ready to surrender
• Hiroshima August 6, 1945
• 90,000-140,000 total deaths
• 1950-1990 9 of cancer deaths caused by
  radiation

11
Cont.

• Nagasaki August 9th, 1945
• 40,000-80,000 deaths
• Many survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima were
  in Nagasaki
• Approx 400,000 Hibakusha explosion-affected
  people
• Unintended casualties
• Allied POWs.
• Korean and Chinese laborers.
• Students from Malaya on scholarships.
• Some 3,200 Japanese American citizens.

12
Deadliest War in History

• Total loss of Human life
• Approx. 72 million people
• http//worldwar2-database.blogspot.com/2010/10/wor
  ld-war-ii-casualties.html
• China 20 m
• Germany 7.2 m
• Japan 2.7 m
• Poland 5.6 m
• Soviet Union 23 m
• United Kingdom 450,000
• United States 418,500

13
Nuremberg Trials

• 12 Nazi Leaders sentenced to death.
• Thousands of other Nazis imprisoned.
• Japanese leaders tried and executed as well.