989-993 Flashcards
First successful atomic bomb test
early 1945 – New Mexico
Truman’s Chief of Staff. Admiral. Anti bomb.
William D. Leahy
What did Leahy say about why the US shouldn’t bomb Japan?
“Japanese already defeated + ready to surrender”
Scientists prediction on how many the bomb will kill
20, 000
How did Truman justify dropping the bomb?
“We faced 1/2 million casualties taking Japan by land”
“It was either that or the bomb, I didn’t hesitate a minute, I’ve never lost sleep over it since”
Potsdam Declaration
Outlaws Nazism
Orders japan surrender by Aug 3 or “face prompt/utter destruction” (bomb Hiroshima
Potsdam, Germany
How did Truman feel about post-war relations w/ Stalin after Potsdam ?
“I can deal w Stalin”
“He’s honest- smart as hell”
(truman changes his mind later about stalins honesty”
When was the first bomb dropped?
Name of Plane & bomb?
what was the bomb made of?
How many killed instantly?
Aug. 6, 1945
Enola Gay
“little boy” uranium bomb kills 78k + 23 American POW
After a year, what is the death toll of the bombs?
How many sq miles of Hiroshima are turned to rubble?
140k die in total (radiation)
4 sq. miles → rubble
Which “opportunistic” nation invades Japan after Hiroshima?
Where?
Two days later, Soviet Union invades Manchuria
Second bomb
“Fat Man” dropped on Nagasaki (Aug 9)
Japan surrenders
Aug 14, 1945
civilian/ combat deaths during wwii
50 mill civilian / 22 mill combatants die
In the US, how many die
110k non-combat
300k combat deaths
= ~ 400k
For every 1 American killed
59 Soviets died
What is ended in Germany/Japan after WWII
Ends facism (Germany) and militarism (Japan)
What does Soviet Union turn into after war?
What happens to China &. Korea shortly after?
Soviet superpower
War leads to fall of communism (China) and Korean War
Churchill describes the US after winning wwiii
“at the summit of the world”
Why Allies won
national morale
US’s industrial production (outproduces all countries combined)
Soviets “absorb” German attack + push them back to Berlin
Why did Germany/Japan lose?
Japan - no food
Germany - no fuel
Which Nazi engineer thought the US would win, even after pearl harbor
Fritz Todt
“war already lost b/c US production”
Which nations are especially devastated by the war
France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan
Which publisher described the state of the world after WWII
Henry Luce “moral and practical bankruptcy of all forms of Isolationism”
What -ism word describes the “New World”
Internationalism.
What does WWII end in the US?
What new tech is created?
What sector is transformed?
What happens to big businesses?
Ends Great Depression
radar, computer, electronics, synthetics, engineers, nuclear power
Private sector.
Business → corporations.
how do opportunities for minorities create movements? which ones?
Civil rights movement (60s) Feminist movement (70s)
Truman describes US after WWII
“emerged from war the most powerful nation is the world–perhaps in all history”
who correctly predicts that the US/Soviet Union will overshadow EU.
Tocqueville
