Battle of Leyte Gulf (Oct., 1944):

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• Battle of Leyte Gulf (Oct., 1944)
• Japanese attempt to destroy the American fleet in
  the Philippines FAILS.
• Goal prevent resupply of U.S. ground forces (in
  the island-hopping campaign)
• Also to prevent a U.S. invasion of the Japanese
  main islands!
• Major Japanese loss destroyed what was left of
  the Japanese navy
• Largest naval battle in history
• Japanese get increasingly desperate turn to
  kamikaze attacks on U.S. ships (suicide pilots)

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• 2) Iwo Jima (Feb-Mar 1945) Okinawa (Apr-Jun
  1945)
• Last stops on the U.S. island-hopping campaign.
• Put U.S. bombers within several hundred miles of
  the main Japanese islands, for daily bombing
  raids.
• Substantial Japanese military losses (at immense
  cost to the U.S. highest casualties of the
  island-hopping campaign).
• 3) What was the name of the government research
  development project to create an atomic bomb?
• The Manhattan Project

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• 4) Why did U.S. President Truman decide to use
  atomic weapons on Japan in August, 1945?
• A U.S. invasion of Japan would cost a half
  million (or more?) U.S. lives.
• Desire to end the war as quickly as possible (war
  in Europe had been over for 3 months!)
• SEND A MESSAGE TO THE USSR! (demonstrate new
  weapon to our ideological foes, prevent Soviet
  invasion occupation of Japan)

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• By 1952, ATOMIC bombs (nuclear fission) are
  replaced by HYDROGEN bombs (nuclear fusion)

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5) Japan surrenders September, 1945. Reasons
- Two atomic bombs dropped on Japanese cities
(Hiroshima Nagasaki) - Superior
U.S. performance in naval air battles
(Japan lost proportionately more planes ships)
- Successful U.S. island-hopping
strategy, allows US to choke off Japanese
resources, and get close enough to do
regular bombing raids on Japan - Cultural
refusal to surrender (death is the only
honorable option bushido) leads to high
casualties - Japan loses war of ATTRITION
(US can outproduce)
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6) Atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki
justifiable? (YES!) ? Quick end to war (war
over in Europe, no desire continue long,
bloody expensive fight in Pacific). ? Emperor's
directive to fight to the death, w/o
surrender. ? Avoid higher casualties (on both
sides) that would occur if Japan itself were
invaded ? All's fair in total war? (Most
Japanese cities had already been massively
fire-bombed... whats the
difference between thousands of small bombs vs.
one big bomb?) ? If Axis powers had the bomb,
they would have used it first?
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(NO!) ? Indiscriminant killing of non-combatants
(civilians), hitting non-military targets, is
ALWAYS wrong, regardless of which nation is doing
so. ? Japan was close to losing anyway (Japan
already bombed, navy and air force destroyed,
USSR now attacking Japan as well), reasonable
treaty could have been agreed upon? ? Radiation
punishes victims long after war is over ? Motive
to send a message to Stalin, at Japanese
expense? ? Motive of vengeance, vs. military
necessity? ? Initiates a nuclear arms race (the
proverbial genie is out of the bottle) ?
Alternative of a demonstration bombing, to
scare Japan into surrender?
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• 7) Post-war problems for Europe
• at least 40 million dead (mostly civilians)
• Billions of dollars of property damage
  destruction
• Bombed-out cities reduced to rubble
• Destroyed infrastructure broken transportation
  networks, water sewage systems, electricity
• Homelessness
• Disruption in agricultural production food
  shortages
• Deaths from hunger, disease, exposure continue
  for years after the war

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• 8) Post-WWII displaced persons (aka DPs)
• Homeless survivors of the war (who often had no
  home to reclaim)
• Holocaust survivors from concentration camps
• POWs
• Refugees of nations whose borders had shifted

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• 9) WWII DEATHS (estimates - numbers rounded)
• WWI WWII change
• USSR 3,700,000 23,400,000
  532
• China n/a
  15,000,000 n/a
• Germany 2,600,000 7,600,000
  192
• Poland n/a 5,700,000
  n/a
• Japan 415 2,850,000
  687,000
• France 1,400,000 568,000 -
  61
• Italy 1,240,000 457,000 - 63
• UK (Great Britain) 734,000
  451,000 - 39
• USA 126,000 418,000
  232
• TOTAL ALL 16,000,000
  71,000,000 354
• Nations for which CIVILIAN deaths outnumber
  military deaths
• includes other nations not listed
• SPENT the most on the war the United States
  (296 billion 4.1 trillion in 2011)

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• 10) The Nuremburg Trials
• The trial of surviving top Nazi officials for
  waging war of aggression and crimes against
  humanity.

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• 11) Japans unconditional surrender to the U.S.,
  Sep 1945
• Japan occupied by U.S. forces (through 1952)
• Remaining U.S. military presence to protect Japan
• Demilitarization de-mobilizing the Japanese
  armed forces, replaced by a small police force
• War criminals brought to trial
• Democratization a new, American-style
  constitution (Japan permitted to keep the Emperor
  as their symbolic head of state, who further
  renounced divine status)
• Land redistribution, for broader property
  ownership among lower classes
• Independent labor unions established

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• 12) Post-WWII shifting alliances
• The U.S. becomes allied with Japan and West
  Germany
• The U.S. Britain become adversaries of the USSR
• (the COLD WAR!)
• New, post-war alliances
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) vs.
  Warsaw Pact

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13) Which nations emerged after WWII as the most
powerful? The US and USSR (both become nuclear
superpowers)  
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14) Dominant competing political systems became
dominant after WWII market capitalist
democracy vs. communism Less prevalent (and
almost entirely gone from Europe!) fascist
dictatorship