Transcript End of WWII - Forest Lake Area High School
End of WWII Mr. Koch US History B Forest Lake High School
End of WWII • 1944 – FDR elected to 4 th term as President!!!
Battle of the Bulge • Dec. 16, 1944 – Germans drive into the Ardennes region of eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg into Allied territory – creating a “bulge” – Goal: Germans wanted to trap the Allied forces – MANY losses in men and supplies, so in 1 month the battle ends
Liberation of the Death Camps • • Soviets find 1 st death camp – July 1944 Find 800,000 shoes in a pile
End of WWII • • • April 25, 1945 – Soviets in Berlin April 29, 1945 – Hitler marries Eva Braun April 30, 1945 – Hitler shoots himself and Eva drinks poison – burn bodies
V-E Day • Victory in Europe Day!!!
– May 8, 1945 – War in Europe is over! Germany surrenders!
But one person in particular never got to see it…
End of WWII • April 12, 1945 – FDR dies of a stroke – Harry S. Truman becomes 33 rd President
Atomic Bomb • Manhattan Project – Research and creation of the Atomic Bomb – 600,000 people involved, but few know what it is – Test July 16, 1945 in New Mexico Einstein with Oppenheimer
Dropping the Bomb • • • Hiroshima – Aug. 6, 1945 (Enola Gay) – Code-named “Little Boy” – Took 43 seconds for the entire city to turn to dust Nagasaki – Aug. 9, 1945 – Code-named “Fat Man” Total of about 200,000 people die
Hiroshima and Nagasaki WARNING!!!
The next visual is particularly disturbing… please look away if you are sensitive to disturbing visual imagery
• Japan surrenders Sept. 2, 1945 (V-J Day)
Yalta Conference • • • • Big 3 met Feb. 1945 (before V E Day) – FDR, Churchill, Stalin Stalin wanted to keep Germany divided, Churchill disagreed FDR wanted to make concessions for two reasons: 1.
2.
USSR help fight Japan USSR support United Nations Results: Germany split, United Nations, Stalin helping in Japan
Nuremberg Trials • 25 of Hitler’s top officials put on trial for: 1. Crimes against peace 2. War crimes 3. Crimes against humanity
US in Japan • • • 7 (including Tojo) put to death 7 year occupation Macarthur Constitution