1. The End of WWII

2. European Front (1945)
• Jan. 25 – Battle of the Bulge ends
– Germany’s last offensive ends in defeat
• April 12 – President Roosevelt dies
– Harry S. Truman sworn in
• April 21 – Soviets enter Berlin
• April 30 – Hitler commits suicide
• May 7 – Germany unconditionally surrenders
• May 8 – V-E Day

4. Political Issues
• Potsdam Conference
– July 16 – Aug. 2, 1945
– meeting between “The Big Three”
– decide Germany’s fate
– create lasting international peace
– discussed war in the Pacific

6. War in the Pacific (1945)
• June 22 – Japanese resistance ends at
Okinawa
• July 14 – first bombs hit Japanese home
islands
• Japanese soldiers fight to the death
– shaped decision to drop the A-Bomb
• Japanese fear of enslavement

7. Pacific Theater (cont.)
• Allies want unconditional surrender from
Japan
• August 6, 1945 – first atomic bomb dropped
on Hiroshima
– 90,000 – 160,000 killed
• August 9, 1945 – second atomic bomb
dropped on Nagasaki
– 60,000 – 80,000 killed
• August 14 – Japan surrenders
– Sept. 2 – V-J Day (Japan’s formal surrender)

9. “That is the question.”
• To drop the bomb or to not drop the bomb?
• Manhattan Project
• called “The Gadget”
• locations picked to “break the will of the
people”
• bombs called “Little Boy” and “Fat Man

15. Assignment
• 1-page written paper
• Answer These Questions
– Do you feel the use of the atomic bombs was necessary? Why
or why not?
– Do you feel the dropping of the atomic bombs was morally
justifiable? Why or why not?
– Were there any military alternatives to dropping the atomic
bombs that would have ended the war equally as fast?
– Had the U.S. been more flexible about the demand for
unconditional surrender, do you feel the Japanese would have
surrendered sooner?
– What implications do the dropping of the atomic bombs have
on modern warfare and societies?