Do Now

• Describe what you know about how the Japanese were defeated in World War II.

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• As the Allies were closing in on Nazi Germany in late 1944 and early 1945, the war in the Pacific against Japan was raging on, despite significant Allied advances. By this time, the US had reconquered most of the Philippines, including the capital Manila. Out of sheer determination to win against all odds, the Japanese air force began employing a new tactic: kamikaze pilots. Instead of trying to bomb or out-maneuver Allied ships, kamikaze pilots simply flew their planes directly at the ship control towers, committing suicide for the sake of the Japanese military.

• The tactic came at the ultimate personal cost for the kamikaze fighters, and most of the time was for nothing – most kamikaze planes were shot down before they reached Allied ships, or missed and crashed into the ocean. But when they managed to get through, it was relatively effective – about 2,800 kamikaze attacks in total resulted in over 4,900 Allied soldier deaths.

• By July 1945, the war with Japan seemed to have no end in sight. Military experts agreed that Japan could continue fighting for years if the war continued at its current pace, so the United States decided to change the situation by issuing Japan an ultimatum that month – if Japan did not unconditionally surrender, the Allies would unleash attacks resulting in “the inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.” The reason for their confidence came from one secret they held – the first successful test of an atomic bomb that same month.

• Before the United States even entered the war, in 1939, the CIA learned that Nazi scientists were secretly trying to develop a new, unimaginably powerful type of weapon, an atomic bomb. Such a device was only an idea at that time, but the German-Jewish scientist Albert Einstein believed it was a very real possibility. He fled to the US that year to escape the Holocaust, and encouraged President Roosevelt to start the Manhattan Project – a top-secret project to develop an atomic bomb before the Nazis did.

• Early theoretical work lasted for 3 years, including Einstein and dozens of other top scientists, working in a secret underground laboratory underneath Columbia University in New York City. By 1942, their theories were firm enough that they needed to be tested, so the US government quietly purchased hundreds of thousands of acres of land in rural Tennessee to build the enormous Oak Ridge Laboratory. Tens of thousands of scientists and engineers were brought there from all over the United States and Allied Europe to work on the project – carefully kept in the dark about what they were working on, and sworn to strict secrecy about their work. The leaders of the Manhattan Project were desperately worried about their important research getting leaked to the Nazis, so information was kept under strict lock and key. All that the workers knew was that they were working the military on a special project.

• Once the first prototype bombs were built, a special testing site was built in rural New Mexico, called Los Alamos. The first atomic bomb was successfully detonated there on July 16, 1945, less than two weeks before the Allies issued their ultimatum to Japan. Over those six years, the Manhattan Project employed over 130,000 people and cost over $2 billion, but it had resulted in two brand new and frighteningly powerful types of atomic bombs – a uranium bomb, and an even stronger plutonium bomb. After the Japanese government never responded to the Allies’ ultimatum, they decided to use an atomic bomb on Japan, hoping to force them to surrender.

• The target for the first atomic attack in Japan was the city of Hiroshima, an important military manufacturing city which had experienced very little Allied bombing up to that point. The date for the attack was set for August 6, 1945. That day, a single American plane containing a uranium atomic bomb flew over the city and dropped it right into the city’s downtown core. The bomb detonated just 45 seconds after being launched, immediately unleashing a level of devastation never before seen on Earth. In less than a second, more than 75,000 people were killed, instantly vaporized into dust. The shock wave and heat wave rippled outward, leveling all of the city’s downtown and devastating the surrounding areas.

• Incredibly, the Japanese government did not respond to the Hiroshima attack, refusing to surrender, and carrying on with military operations throughout the Pacific. The next day, President Truman ominously said, “If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.” He lived up to his words within days – on August 9, 1945 an even more powerful plutonium bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, another important military manufacturing city. Although the blast was more powerful, the damage was more contained because of hills surrounding the downtown target. Even so, about 50,000 people were killed instantly.

• This time, the Japanese responded with silence – all military operations suddenly ceased, but still no official response. Not knowing what to expect, the Allies planned for a third atomic attack on August 17th, but thankfully it was never carried out, because with no warning, on August 14th, the Emperor of Japan unconditionally surrendered.

• In a speech to the Japanese people that day, he said, “the enemy now possesses a new and terrible weapon with the power to destroy many innocent lives and do incalculable damage. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization. Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects, or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors? This is the reason why We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers.”

• The next day, August 15, 1945, was declared Victory in Japan (VJ) Day – the end of World War II. Like with VE Day, spontaneous celebrations erupted all over the world, particularly in the United States, who had seen most of the fighting with Japan over the last few months.

• Although the United States and Europe were left in a state of peace and hope by the end of 1945, the surviving residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were in a desperate state. Over the next few months after the atomic attacks, another 75,000 Hiroshima residents died of burns and various types of cancer, and another 30,000 in Nagasaki as well, bringing the total to over 200,000 dead, almost entirely civilians.

• For the rest of their lives, the survivors continued to experience an increased incidence of cancer (particularly leukemia) and birth defects (particularly unexplained stillbirth and brain malformation).

Exit Ticket

1. Describe the Manhattan Project. 2. Describe some of the short-term and long-term effects of the atomic bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.