This map shows the Allied armies pushing the

This map shows the Allied armies pushing the German army back across Europe in 1945

On the 7 th May 1945 Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. They signed the surrender on 7 th May in Rheims, France and on 8 th May in Berlin.

On 8 th May the German defeat was celebrated in VE day, Victory in Europe Day.

Churchill gave a speech to crowds eager to celebrate the end of the war in Europe.

However, one of the Axis powers(the countries fighting with Germany) had not yet been defeated…

Japan had not yet been defeated and the USA, helped by the UK, was still fighting against them in the Pacific, like they had been since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, an American naval base on Hawaii. The Japanese had sunk 8 US battleships, destroyed 188 aircraft, killing 2, 335 American servicemen.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Japan went on to capture many islands in South East Asia, including Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies and much of Burma. The Japanese fleet now ruled the Pacific and the American fleet was slowly being worn down.

At the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the Americans had managed to destroy four Japanese aircraft carriers, for the loss of just one of their own. Without air protection, the Japanese navy was hopelessly vulnerable. Even worse, they simply couldn’t match US production of ships and aircraft. The Japanese navy was never again a match for the American navy.

The USA could now start to recapture the islands that had been captured by the Japanese and push the Japanese back. However, the fighting was incredibly costly as the Japanese fought fanatically for each island in the Pacific and each piece of territory in China, Burma and India. By summer 1945, it was clear the USA was going to win the war; what wasn’t clear was when the fighting would finally end.

This is a picture of how America thought they could win the war. The picture shows an Atomic Bomb (a nuclear bomb)

The Americans dropped this type of bomb on 2 cities. This is a picture of the destruction caused by the first bomb.

As you can see, this type of bomb has totally flattened the vast majority of the buildings.

The bomb that was dropped on that city was known as ‘Little Boy’. This kind of weapon had been developed by the Americans during World War II. It had never been used before.

On 6 th August 1945 this single bomb was dropped by the B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

It was dropped with no warning because the USA wanted to maximise the psychological (mental) shock for Japan in order to force them to surrender.

It unleashed horrific destruction, the likes of which had never been seen before.

The co-pilot, Robert Lewis wrote in his log book: “My God, what have we done? ”

Just three days later, on 9 th August, the USA dropped another nuclear bomb, Fat Man, on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki, August 1945 Add these two events to your timeline.

Watch this video clip by Andrew Marr. http: //www. bbc. co. uk/learningzone/clips/the-atomicbomb/13935. html

This is a picture of President Harry Truman. He ordered the dropping of the Atomic Bombs. We are now going to think about why he decided to do this.

1. Copy the text in the red circle into your book. We are going to draw a mind map in your book. 2. Why did the USA drop the atomic Read/listen to bomb the information the next 3 slides to finish on on Japan? the sentences in the thought bubbles. If I use the bomb on Japan then… Why did Truman decide to drop the atomic bomb on Japan? If I use the bomb on Japan then…

American troops on Iwo Jima Bitter fighting over Iwo Jima Difficulty of invading Japan The war between the USA and Japan had already been very bloody. America had to invade Japan by ‘island hopping’, moving from island to island, forcing the Japanese back. On one island, called Luzon, 31, 000 US soldiers and 156, 000 Japanese soldiers were killed. On Iwo Jima, 20, 000 US soldiers and 22, 000 Japanese soldiers were killed. Japanese soldiers had been told to fight to the death and that they could never surrender or they would bring shame on themselves and their families. An invasion of Japan would therefore lead to many deaths on both sides. Truman knew that dropping the atomic bomb would lead to thousands of deaths. He believed, however, that if this led to Japan’s surrender, then fewer lives would be lost in the long run. He feared that the war might last at least another year and his military advisers estimated that there would be at least 350, 000 American casualties. Truman later said that: “Dropping the bomb stopped the war and saved millions of lives. ”

Desire to use the bomb The atomic bomb had taken many years to develop and had cost around $2 billion. Many people in the American military did not want to see this money and investment go to waste and thought that the bomb needed to be used. They wanted to judge its effectiveness and how good a weapon it would be to use in the future. The USA also wanted to send a clear message to the rest of the world. At the end of the war, it was clear that the USA was now the world’s most powerful country. Using the atomic bomb would prove that this was the case.

Land taken by Stalin during the war Fear of Stalin and the USSR In 1944 and early 1945 the Russians made huge advances across eastern Europe. The enormous ‘Red Army’, under Stalin’s control, marched across and freed eastern Europe. It was the Russians who arrived first in Berlin and raised their flag. Russian troops raise flag on the roof of the Reichstag, the German parliament. Stalin was now a very powerful man with a large army in eastern Europe. He was also determined to set up communist governments in these countries, by imprisoning any opponents of the communists. He wanted these countries to be dependent on the Soviet Union so that they could act as a buffer zone to defend Russia from any future attacks. Truman, as a fierce anti-communist, became alarmed by the growth of communism in these countries. He feared that western Europe might also come under threat and that Stalin’s Red Army would not stop in Germany. By dropping the atomic bombs on Japan, the USA showed the USSR what it could do. No other country in the world had an atomic bomb and this would make it clear to the Soviet Union that they could not invade western Europe.