Endgame and the Atomic Bomb - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Endgame and the Atomic BombSlide2

The Battle of the Bulge

December 1944

Hitler’s desperate response to the advance of the Allied forces after D-Day

Attack came through the Ardennes Forest, intended target was Antwerp, Belgium

Splitting the Allied forces in half- forcing the British and Americans to ask for peace separate from the Soviets

That would allow him time and resources enough to defeat the Soviets

Almost ¼ million troops against 4 American units

American stubbornness slowed the German advance, allowing time for reinforcements to arrive and for Germany to run out of supplies

Most costly battle for the US Army in WWII- over 100,000 casualtiesSlide3

End of the 3rd Reich

Allied advance after the Battle of the Bulge

By early April 1945, US troops had crossed the Rhine River and the Soviets were beginning their final assault on Berlin

Hitler had retreated to an air-raid bunker beneath the chancellery in mid January

April 30- When he was informed that the Russians were closing in,

Hitler

and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide

Both took cyanide capsules (which he had tested on his dog), but the Fuhrer shot himself as well.

1 week after his suicide, Germany formally surrendered

Allied command decided that May 8th would be celebrated as VE-Day (Victory in Europe)Slide4

Yalta and Potsdam Conference

Yalta Conference- meeting of the “Big Three”(FDR, Churchill and Stalin) to discuss postwar Europe

February 1945

Soviets granted large spheres of influence in Eastern Europe

Agreements on German reparations after the war

Only weeks before the German surrender, FDR died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945

Harry Truman becomes

presidentSlide5

Yalta and Potsdam Conferences cont.

The Potsdam Conference was the last major peace conference held from July 17- August 2, 1945

Attended by Truman, Churchill, and Stalin

Talks centered on plans for postwar Europe, but also on how to bring an end to the war in the Pacific

Economy choices on managing postwar Germany- demilitarization and remaking their economy and political systems

Controversy over the German-Polish borderSlide6

Okinawa

Last and biggest Pacific island battle in WWII

April 1-June 22 1945

The determined Japanese implemented kamikaze tactics- making this a difficult, costly encounter

Japanese- 77,000 casualties

US- 65,000 causalities

Over 100,000 civilian casualties

The final surrender offered the US strategic airfields for bombing the main island of JapanSlide7

The Manhattan Project

Manhattan Project was a secret government project aimed at the development of the atomic bomb

Initiated by a 1939 letter from Albert Einstein to FDR telling of German experiments on splitting the atom- officially launched after Pearl Harbor

Led by scientist Robert Oppenheimer

Secret development and research in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (the Atomic City)

First successful test in

Trinity New Mexico

on July 16, 1945Slide8

Ending the War in the Pacific

Japanese refused to surrender

General MacArthur favored continuing traditional warfare, including an invasion of mainland Japan- estimated this could bring over 1 million US casualties

Despite moral misgivings of his generals and scientists, Truman decides to use the Atomic bomb on Japan in an attempt to bring the war to a quick end

Bomb nicknamed ‘Little Boy’ was dropped on Hiroshima on the morning of August 6, 1945

When this did not illicit immediate surrender, on August 9, ‘Fat Man’ was dropped on Nagasaki

By the end of December 1945, deaths in the 2 cities ranged from 140,000-200,000

Japan formally surrenders on August 15, 1945 ending WWII