Exploring American History Unit VIII- Boom Times and Challenges

1. Exploring American HistoryUnit VIII- Boom Times and Challenges Chapter 26 – Section 5 Victory and Consequences Lecture Notes

2. Victory and Consequences • The Big Idea • The Allies won World War II, the most devastating war in world history. • Main Ideas • The Allies gained victory in Europe with Germany’s surrender. • Nazis murdered millions of Jews and other people in the Holocaust. • Victory in the Pacific came after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan.

3. Main Idea 1:The Allies gained victory in Europe with Germany’s surrender. • After D-Day invasion, hundreds of thousands of Allied troops land • Allies begin moving toward Germany. • July 1944– Allied forces break western front. • August 1944– Paris is liberated. • Allies push through Belgium and Luxembourg. • Germans plan desperate attack. • Push Allied forces back about 65 miles in the Battle of the Bulge • Allies recover quickly and stop German advance.

4. The Yalta Conference Allied leaders Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin—the so-called Big Three —met in the resort town of Yalta in the Soviet Union to discuss the end of the war and the peace that was to follow. A key goal was to determine what to do with Germany. The leaders agreed to divide the country into four sectors. The Americans, Soviets, British, and French would each occupy one of these sectors. Berlin was also divided into four sectors. Another agreement had to do with the fate of Poland and other Eastern European countries now occupied by the Soviets. Stalin agreed to hold elections in these countries after the war. Stalin also said that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan three months after Germany was defeated.

6. Allied Push Toward Germany • January 1945– Germans began to retreat. • Losses heavy– between 70,000 and 81,000 American casualties and even greater German loss • Allied bombing raids devastate major German cities. • April 1945– Soviet troops enter Berlin. • April 12, 1945– U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of stroke. • May 8, 1945– V-E (Victory in Europe) Day • New United States president Harry S. Truman faces challenge of winning war in Pacific.

7. Hitler’s Death On April 30, 1945, Hitler realized that all hope for a German victory was lost. He committed suicide in his Berlin bunker. Berlin surrendered on May 2, 1945. Karl Dönitz, who had taken over as Germany’s leader, agreed to a surrender on May 7, which would take place the following day. In the United States, May 8 was proclaimed V-E Day—Victory in Europe Day.

8. The Death of Hitler • The generally accepted cause of the death of Adolf Hitler on April 30, 1945 is suicide by gunshot and cyanide poisoning. • Hitler, having dictated his last will and testament to his secretary and signed them at 04:00 on April 29. Shortly after midnight on April 29, 1945, Hitler married Eva Braun in a small civil ceremony in a map room within the bunker complex, before finally retiring to bed at around 04:00. • Hitler appeared to have shot himself at right temple, with an exit wound towards the top, left side of his head, with a 7.65 mm pistol which lay at his feet. Eva had no visible physical wounds and it is assumed she had poisoned herself. • The bodies were carried outside, covered with gasoline and set afire. The SS were unable to completely destroy the bodies with the fire and it is commonly believed that the Russian recovered the remains.

10. VE Day • On May 6, Admiral Donitz authorized General Alfred Jodl to "conclude an armistice agreement" with General Eisenhower. The Germans wanted a separate peace with the allied troops in the West in order to continue their battle with the Russians in the East. • Eisenhower would have none of it. He ordered the Germans to surrender unconditionally the next day. • The Germans acquiesced, signing the surrender document on May 7, in the French city of Reims. The cessation of fighting took effect at 11:01 PM on May 8. • May 8, 1945, the day on which the Allies announced the surrender of German forces in Europe.

11. Germany Surrenders • Recall – From which direction did Bradley’s troops fight toward Germany? • Identify – When was Paris Liberated? • Describe – What was Hitler’s reaction to the Allied advance? • Make Judgments – Judge the effectiveness and the character of Hitler’s leadership.

12. Main Idea 2:Nazis murdered millions of Jews and other people in the Holocaust. • Nazi’s attempted to exterminate the entire Jewish population in a program of mass murder known as the Holocaust. • January 1942– Nazi officials met to plan their “final solution to the Jewish question,” which was genocide, or the extermination of an entire group of people. Final Solution The Death Camps • Nazis forced Jews and others, including Gypsies, Slavs, and political opponents, into concentration camps. • Camps were equipped with gas chambers designed to kill large numbers of people, and furnaces to cremate victims’ bodies. • More than 6 million Jews were killed as well as millions of others.

13. Horrors of the Holocaust • Recall – Where were Jews made to live in German territory? • Explain – What were Hitler and the Nazis trying to do? • Describe – What were the living conditions like at Buchenwald? • Make Inferences – Why do you think the Jews of Warsaw fought back?

14. Horrors of the Holocaust • Recall – What happened to elderly and ill people sent to concentrations camps? • Analyze – Why were some non-Jews murdered by the Nazis??

15. The Potsdam Conference, July - August 1945 • President Truman, Soviet Premier Stalin and British Prime Ministers Churchill and Atlee discussed post-war arrangements in Europe, frequently without agreement. • Potsdam divided postwar Germany into four occupation zones, administered by Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union, and reorganized Germany's institutions and economy. • The "Potsdam Declaration" described Japan's present perilous condition, gave the terms for her surrender and stated the Allies' intentions concerning her postwar status. It ended with an ultimatum: Japan must immediately agree to unconditionally surrender, or face "prompt and utter destruction". • Although the Potsdam Conference was considered successful, many of the agreements reached were dishonored within a year as a result of the growing rift between the USSR and Western Europe.

17. Why Truman Decided to Drop the Bomb • As a result of the war, noncombatants were dying throughout Asia at a rate of about 200,000 per month • The U.S. blockade of Japan could result in the starvation of over 10 million. • Japanese War Ministry on August 1, 1944, ordered the disposal and execution of all Allied POWs, numbering over 100,000, if an invasion of the Japanese mainland took place. • Japanese government waged total war, ordering many civilians (including women and children) to work in factories and military offices and to fight against any invading force. The Japanese army was already training its civilians to fight with sharpened bamboo poles in the Samuri tradition die for Japan and the Emperor. training of young children to be “Sherman carpets.” Japanese children were to be strapped with TNT and throw themselves under American tanks, thereby dying in the most honorable way possible--by killing the enemy. • Hastening the end of the war would stop further bloodshed in Japanese occupied territories. It can be assumed that at least as many civilians would have died as soldiers, bringing the totals somewhere around 200,000 to four million Japanese dead, along with the 50,000 to one million American dead, totaling 250,000 to five million total dead. • Operation Downfall was the overall Allied plan for the invasion of Japan at the end of World War II. The operation was canceled when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan.

18. Main Idea 3:Victory in the Pacific came after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan. • Allied scientists developed the atomic bomb, a weapon that produces tremendous power by splitting atoms, in a secret program known as the Manhattan Project. • When Japanese leaders refused to surrender, President Truman ordered use of the bomb. • August 6, 1945– the B-29 bomber Enola Gay drops an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. • Explosion killed almost 80,000 people instantly. • Thousands more died from burns and radiation poisoning. • Japanese leaders still refused to surrender.

19. The Atomic Bomb Harry S Truman became president when Roosevelt died. He had to decide whether the United States should use the Manhattan Project’s atomic bomb. After consulting with his advisors, Truman decided to drop the bomb on a Japanese city. There would be no warning. On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped its atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Despite the horror caused by the bomb, the Japanese did not surrender. On August 9, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Even this did not bring an end to the war. Finally, on August 15 – known from then on as V-J Day—the Japanese emperor Hirohito announced the end of the war.

20. End of World War II • August 9, 1945– U.S. forces drop a second atomic bomb on city of Nagasaki. • One-third of the city destroyed • 22,000 people killed instantly • August 15, 1945– Japanese announce their surrender thus ending World War II. • The war took a harsh toll. • 50 million people killed • National economies in Europe and Asia devastated • Millions of people left without food, water, or shelter

21. First Atomic Blast- New Mexico • Took place on July 16, 1945 at Alamogordo Testing Range in New Mexico • The explosions fireball fused the desert sand into a green glasslike solid, and created a crater 10 feet deep and 2,400 feet across.

23. V-J Day Events Leading Up to the Surrender • July 26, 1945: Potsdam Declaration is issued. Truman tells Japan, "Surrender or suffer prompt and utter destruction.“ • July 29: Japan rejects the Potsdam Declaration. • Aug 2: Potsdam conference ends. • Aug 6: A nuclear bomb, "Little Boy" is dropped on Hiroshima. • Aug 8: USSR declares war on Japan. • Aug 9: Another nuclear bomb, "Fat Man" is dropped on Nagasaki. • Aug 15: Japan surrenders.

24. V-J Day • V-J Day is the abbreviation for Victory over Japan Day, the celebration of the Surrender of Japan, which took place on August 15, 1945, ending the Second World War. • In Japan, the day is known as, Shusen-kinenbi, which literally means the "Memorial day for the end of the war". • The formal Japanese signing of the surrender terms took place on board the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945 and at that time Truman actually declared September 2 to be VJ-Day

25. Challenges after the War • United Nations • Representatives from 50 countries met to form a new organization, the United Nations. • The UN was meant to encourage cooperation among nations and to prevent wars. • Potsdam Conference • Allied leaders met in the German city of Potsdam to discuss the spread of communism and Soviet influence in the postwar world. • Truman hoped to get Stalin to live up to his promises from Yalta. • Stalin did not do this. • Rebuilding • MacArthur led efforts to help Japan rebuild its government and economy. • Seven Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes. • Rebuilding Europe caused tensions between the U.S and the Soviet Union.

28. Victory in the Pacific • Explain – Why was it to the Allies advantage to use the atomic bomb instead of invading Japan? • Contrast – What is the difference in devastation between bombs used previously and the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima?

29. Victory in the Pacific • Recall – What was the reason the United States dropped the second atomic bomb? • Identify – How many civilians were killed in World War II? • Evaluate – What is your opinion about the United States bearing much of the responsibility for postwar rebuilding?