Factors In The Invasion Of Normandy, And The Creation Of The Atomic Bomb
The year is 1941and all is well in the U.S. Then the bombing of Pearl Harbor forces America to make a very strong decision of entering World War 2. The bombing of Pearl Harbor claimed the lives 2,500 people on the land and on the 18 ships the Japanese attacked. Indeed an extremely melancholy day for the citizens of America. However, all was not lost, after some time in the war, two major events immediately changed the tide of the war. The Invasion of Normandy, and the creation of the Atomic Bomb were both determining factors in the Allies winning the war. The Invasion of Normandy was one of the most major turning points in the war. Set in June of 1944, the invasion lasted two months of constant fighting. Allied
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Many scientists enlisted in the project were refugees from fascist regimes throughout all of Europe. By the time of the Trinity test, the Allied powers had already defeated Germany in Europe. Japan, however, vowed to fight to the bitter end in the Pacific, despite clear indications (as early as 1944) that they had little chance of winning. In fact, between mid-April 1945 and mid-July, Japanese forces inflicted Allied casualties totaling nearly half those suffered in three full years of war in the Pacific, proving that Japan had become even more deadly when faced with defeat. In late July, Japan’s militarist government rejected the Allied demand for surrender put forth in the Potsdam Declaration, which threatened the Japanese with “prompt and utter destruction” if they refused. Many high ranking generals such as General Douglas MacArthur favored the idea of bombing the cities and also have a follow up invasion of Japan. However, in order to avoid the estimated casualties of 1 million American soldiers, Truman decided to only drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan. Hiroshima, a manufacturing center of some 350,000 people located about 500 miles from Tokyo, was selected as the first target. After arriving at the U.S. base on the Pacific island of Tinian, the more than 9,000-pound uranium-235 bomb was loaded aboard a modified B-29 bomber christened Enola Gay. The plane dropped the bomb–known as “Little Boy”–by parachute at 8:15 in the morning, and it exploded 2,000 feet above Hiroshima in a blast equal to 12-15,000 tons of TNT, destroying five square miles of the city. Despite the devastation of Hiroshima, Japan would still not surrender. On August 9, Major Charles Sweeney flew a second bomber to the city of Nagasaki
Many scientists enlisted in the project were refugees from fascist regimes throughout all of Europe. By the time of the Trinity test, the Allied powers had already defeated Germany in Europe. Japan, however, vowed to fight to the bitter end in the Pacific, despite clear indications (as early as 1944) that they had little chance of winning. In fact, between mid-April 1945 and mid-July, Japanese forces inflicted Allied casualties totaling nearly half those suffered in three full years of war in the Pacific, proving that Japan had become even more deadly when faced with defeat. In late July, Japan’s militarist government rejected the Allied demand for surrender put forth in the Potsdam Declaration, which threatened the Japanese with “prompt and utter destruction” if they refused. Many high ranking generals such as General Douglas MacArthur favored the idea of bombing the cities and also have a follow up invasion of Japan. However, in order to avoid the estimated casualties of 1 million American soldiers, Truman decided to only drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan. Hiroshima, a manufacturing center of some 350,000 people located about 500 miles from Tokyo, was selected as the first target. After arriving at the U.S. base on the Pacific island of Tinian, the more than 9,000-pound uranium-235 bomb was loaded aboard a modified B-29 bomber christened Enola Gay. The plane dropped the bomb–known as “Little Boy”–by parachute at 8:15 in the morning, and it exploded 2,000 feet above Hiroshima in a blast equal to 12-15,000 tons of TNT, destroying five square miles of the city. Despite the devastation of Hiroshima, Japan would still not surrender. On August 9, Major Charles Sweeney flew a second bomber to the city of Nagasaki