MWH 4.F

The Aftermath

o The dropping of the atomic bomb caused countries to race to build

their own, and when the Soviet Union detonated a test in August of ’49 the Nuclear Arms Race began.

o Germany was split down the middle.

• The Soviet Union controlled much of the east, setting up

communist governments in order to buffer themselves from the western powers.

• The west was left to determine how they wanted to rule

themselves.

o In’45 and ’46 Nazi leaders were tried and condemned at the

Nuremberg Trials in Germany.

o Churchill called the division of Europe an Iron Curtain, and warned

of the Soviet Union, even going as far as mentioning war, only months after WWII had ended.

o 17 million had died in battle, with some 20 million civilians. Some

estimate that over 60 million souls died during the war.

The Nuclear Option

o The first bomb was dropped on the

Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6th.

• 190,000 of 350,000 inhabitants died, either instantly or later form the radiation.
• A second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki later.

o With two cities leveled, Japan gave into

US demands for peace on August 14th, 1945 (V-J Day).

The European Theater

The End of the Fascists

o On May 13th 1943 the allies captured Sicily

and moved to take Italy

• They captured Mussolini but he was soon

freed by the Germans, who were attempting to invade Italy.

• Bloody battles took the allies to Rome by

1944 but Italy became secondary to the new front opening up in France.

o June 6th 1944 the allied powers invaded

France from Omaha Beach.

•  The Germans responded slowly because

the allies fed them false information about where the invasion would happen.

• Allied troops liberated Paris by ’44 and

outlasted any German push back, moving into their country by April of ’45.

o By January of ’45 Hitler moved into a

bunker 55 feet underground.

• He committed suicide on April 30th.

o Two days before, Mussolini was

captured and shot by Italian partisans: resistance fighters.

o Germany surrendered on May 7th

1945 (V-E Day).

The Asian Theater

Into Nazi Territory

o After beating the Germans at the

Battle of Kursk, the greatest tank battle of the war, they pushed on, Sweeping through the Baltic States and reconnecting with the Allies in the north by July of ’44.

o As allied forces moved into Nazi

territory they liberated all the concentration camps they could find.

• Although the Nazis tried to burn

the evidence, the allies were able to see enough to know what was happening

o Beginning in ’43 the allies went on the

offensive and advanced into the Pacific.

• Early in ’45 the US captured Iwo

Jima and Okinawa, two key islands in the Air War against Japan.

• The battles were bloody and cost

the US many lives.

o Harry S. Truman, who took over as

president after Roosevelt died in April, was left with a difficult decision.

• Convinced the US would continue to

suffer heavy losses, Truman decided to use the newly developed atomic bomb on Japan

Unit IV Part F: The End of WWII