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The Allied Victory in the Pacific: The Atomic Bomb. The Race for the Atomic Bomb Begins 1939-1941. By 1941, the Germans were leading the race for the atomic bomb.
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The Race for the Atomic Bomb Begins1939-1941 • By 1941, the Germans were leading the race for the atomic bomb. • They had a heavy-water plant, high-grade uranium compounds, a nearly complete cyclotron, capable scientists and engineers, and the greatest chemical engineering industry in the world. • The United States initiated its own program under the Army Corps of Engineers in June 1942. America needed to build an atomic weapon before Germany or Japan did. • It was a Top-Secret Project called The Manhattan Project
The Atomic Bomb • Developing the bomb took an incredible amount of money, resources, and science. • Roosevelt believed that Germany and Japan would use this type of bomb irresponsibly. • Therefore, the US had to develop it first
The Atomic Bomb • The process requires highly toxic elements such as plutonium and uranium. • These elements must undergo an intense chemical rearrangement by separating out their atoms to create another highly volatile element • Then these new scientifically created elements would be ignited and it would set off a chain reaction of atomic explosions
The Manhattan Project • After spending enormous sums of money, the Manhattan Project progressed to the test stage in May 1944. • Where do you test the deadliest bomb ever invented? • Needed to be a flat location • Isolated from people • And good weather and visibility to observe • New Mexico
The Manhattan Project • The First Atomic Test • The Trinity Device being lifted to the top of the 100-foot steel tower. Ground Zero is at the base of the tower. • The First Atomic Device • On Monday, July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 a.m., the first atomic device detonated at the Trinity Test Site
Hiroshima and Nagasaki • In the meantime, Roosevelt died and Harry Truman became the US President • He had to make a choice to invade Japan with the army and navy which would cost a lot of lives or use the new A-bomb and end the war quickly • Truman warned the Japanese that we would use a a new device that would “rain ruin from the air” • Japan did not reply
Hiroshima and Nagasaki • On August 6th 1945, the US dropped the first A-bomb on Hiroshima, a city with 350,000 people. 70-80,000 people died instantly from the attack. • On August 9th, the US dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki, a city with 270,000 people. Another 70,000 people died instantly • The Japanese finally surrendered to Gen. Douglas MacArthur on September 2nd 1945, bringing WWII finally to an end