The Fighting in the Pacific was Different than in
Europe
• Japanese soldiers had a different philosophy
of fighting
• They followed a philosophy that originated
as the samurai warrior code of bushido
Japanese Soldiers’ Philosophy in WWII
• Fight to the death for the emperor
• Being captured is a disgrace worse than death never surrender (explains their torture of POWs)
• Always save the last bullet for yourself, but try to
kill as many enemies as you can before you
commit suicide
• kamikaze attacks (video): Suicide bombers who crashed
planes into targets
• Banzai attacks: Mass suicidal charges of Japanese soldiers
Strategy to Defeat Japan:
• STEP ONE: Island hopping: regain control of
the Pacific islands held by Japan one by
one, moving closer to Japan
• STEP TWO: Invade Japan
The Manhattan Project:
• 1939: Germans had split the uranium atom, so there was
a fear they could use that technology to create a bomb
• Einstein: wrote a letter to FDR urging him to develop an
atomic research program
• 1941: the U.S. began a top secret project to develop an
atomic bomb, called the Manhattan Project
• Enrico Fermi: first controlled nuclear chain reaction at the
U of Chicago
• Robert Oppenheimer: Scientist in charge of main
assembly plant in Los Alamos, NM
• TOP SECRET: Not even Stalin or Truman knew!!
• In July, 1945, the first A-bomb is tested in Alamogordo,
New Mexico (“Trinity test”)
• https://youtu.be/RF_Q5YDVRhY
• https://google.discoveryeducation.com/player/view/
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