World War II

1
World War II

• From Appeasement to Victory

2
Q.O.D. 13 2/4/10

• Why did Japan see the United States as an enemy?
  Why did the United States end its isolationist
  policy?

The U.S. attempted to stop Japanese aggression in Asia by banning the sale of war materials. This hampered the Japanese expansion in Asia, which angered Japan. The U.S. was directly attacked at Pearl Harbor and declared war on Japan.

3
Yalta Conference

• Stalin wanted control of Eastern Europe,
  Churchill and Roosevelt wanted self-determination
• Needed Stalin to help win the war
• Big Three agreed
• USSR would enter the war against Japan after
  Germany surrendered
• USSR would be given some territory in Asia
• Germany would be divided into four zones to be
  governed by the USSR, Britain, U.S. and France
• Stalin agreed to hold free elections in Europe

4
War in Europe

• By early 1945 Nazi defeat was imminent
• Allies turned attention to Asia
• Nazis
• March 1945 Allies crossed the Rhine into western
  Germany
• Soviets were closing in on Berlin

5
Elbe River

• In late April 1945, Americans advancing from the
  west and Soviets coming from the east met at the
  Elbe River in Germany

6
War in Europe

• Italy Guerillas captured and killed Mussolini
• Germany As the Soviets closed in on Berlin,
  Hitler committed suicide in his bunker on April
  30, 1945.
• May 7 Germany surrendered.
• May 8 V-E Day (Victory in Europe)
• Many factors contributed to Nazi defeat
• Nazis had to fight on several fronts
• Hitler made bad decisions
• Underestimated the USSR
• The productive capacity of the U.S.

7
War in Asia

• Japan controlled much of Southeast Asia by
  mid-1942.
• May 1942 Bataan Death March
• Japanese defeated the Allied troops at Bataan,
  and the American Maj. King surrendered (against
  the orders of Gen. MacArthur).
• 72,000 prisoners were forced to march 61 miles
  and endured random beatings and were denied food
  and water.
• 54,000 made it to Camp ODonnell

8
War in Asia

• Coral Sea
• Midway
• Decisive victory for U.S.
• Superior communications
• Knew Japanese were coming and were ready
• Codebreakers
• Guadalcanal beginning of island-hopping
  campaign
• Goal to recapture some Japanese held islands
  while skipping others.
• Served as stepping stones to the next objective

9
Island Hopping in the Pacific

• U.S. forces in the Pacific, led by General
  Douglas MacArthur, moved north toward Japan
• U.S. Navy, led by Admiral Chester Nimitz, was
  blockading Japan
• British were fighting Japanese in Burma and Malaya

10
Atomic Bomb

• Japanese would not surrender for any reason
• In 1944 Japanese introduced kamikazes
• Military planned invasion, but it would be costly
• Group of scientists had been working on the
  Manhattan Project
• They could create the most powerful explosion
  ever known by splitting atoms
• President Truman decided to use the bomb

11
Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• August 6, 1945 American plane dropped an atomic
  bomb on city of Hiroshima
• Instantly killed more than 70,000
• Japanese did not surrender
• August 8 USSR declared war on Japan
• August 9 Second bomb dropped on Nagasaki
• 40,000 killed
• August 10 Japan surrendered
• September 2, 1945 formal peace treaty signed on
  USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay