1 Battle of Leyte Gulf Oct 1944 Japanese

1) 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)

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 islandhopping campaign). 3) What was the name of the government research & development project to create an atomic bomb? The Manhattan Project

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)

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

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)

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. . . what’s the difference between thousands of small bombs vs. one big bomb? ) → If Axis powers had the bomb, they would have used it first?

(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?

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

8) Post-WWII “displaced persons” (aka “DP’s”): Homeless survivors of the war (who often had no home to reclaim): • Holocaust survivors from concentration camps • POW’s • Refugees of nations whose borders had shifted

9) WWII DEATHS (estimates - numbers rounded): WWII % change USSR 3, 700, 000 China n/a Germany 192% 2, 600, 000 23, 400, 000* 15, 000* n/a 7, 600, 000 Poland n/a 5, 700, 000* Japan +687, 000% 415 2, 850, 000 France 61% 1, 400, 000 568, 000* Italy 1, 240, 000 457, 000 UK (Great Britain) 39% 734, 000 451, 000 USA 232% 126, 000 418, 000 TOTAL ALL*** 16, 000 + 532% 71, 000 + - 63% + + 354%

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

11) Japan’s 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

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

13) Which nations emerged after WWII as the most powerful? The US and USSR (both become nuclear superpowers)

14) Dominant competing political systems became dominant after WWII: market [capitalist] democracy vs. communism Less prevalent (and almost entirely gone from Europe!): fascist dictatorship