Mar. 12th - Mar. 16th - Blogs

Monday

Expedition video
Battle of Midway- June 1942-Major Turning Point in Pacific
- Pictures of the battle
- Cartoon
- We had broken the Japanese code so we knew the attack was coming
Island Hopping- Strategy 1942-1945
- Guadalcanal-August 1942-February 1943
- Pictures
Kamikazes
- Pictures
Battle of Leyte Gulf-Philippines
- Pictures
MacArthur’s Return to the Philippines
Iwo Jima-February-March 1945
- Pictures
- Mountain Suribachi
- 6,821 US deaths at Iwo Jima
Raising Flag on Mt. Suribachi
Battle of Okinawa-April-June 1945
- Pictures
Summer of 1945- Preparing for the Invasion of Japan
- Operation Downfall
- Planned for October 1945
- Estimated to have 1 million causalities
- Estimated to have 267,000 deaths
- The pacific average for WW2 was 1.95 dead and missing
The Manhattan Project
- 1939-1945
Trinity Test-July 16, 1945

Tuesday

Quiz (not graded)
Losses at the battle of Iwo Jima
Losses at the battle of Okinawa
Child soldiers
- Japanese Army mobilized 1,780 boys aged 14-17 years into front-line service
- The ordinances mobilized students as volunteer soldiers
- About half of them were killed
Enola Gay
Paul Tibits
Hiroshima Bombing
- “Little Boy”
Map
Pictures
The Atomic Shadow
Radiation Sickness
Chart
- 60% of people died from burns
Nagasaki Bombing
- “Fat Man”
- Bockscar
VJ Day
- August 14/15, 1945 (Official UK)
- September 2, 1945 (Official US)
- When Japan officially signed on USS Missouri
Potsdam Conference -July 1945
- On July 26, the United States, Great Britain, and China issued the Potsdam Declaration
- Announced the terms for Japan’s surrender
- “We will not deviate from them. There are no alternatives’”
Potsdam Declaration
- Dismantle the current government of Japan (excluding Emperor Hirohito)
- The Allies (US) will occupy Japan
- Japan will consist only of the major islands. It will lose all territory gained in WW1 and years leading up to it.
- Japanese military forces will be disarmed and allowed to return home
- There will be war crimes trials for the atrocities committed by Japan throughout WW2

Wednesday

Potsdam continued
- Democracy will be promoted as well as freedom of speech, religion, and of thought, as well as respect for fundamental human rights (Universal Declaration of Human Rights-1948)
- Japan will be allowed to have industry so they can make money to pay war reparations. World trade will also be enabled at some point.
- Allied (US) occupation of Japan (1945-1952) will end once Japan accomplishes all the above points
Italy in WW2 1919-1945
Italy after WW1
- Italy was very displeased with the Treaty of Versailles
  - Wanted to get more land than they got
  - See map
- Italy joined the League of Nations and was a member from 1919 until they withdrew in 1937
- Signed 5 Power Pact
  - Designed to prevent an arm’s race
- Signed 9 Power Pact
  - Guaranteed Chinese independence and upheld Open Door Policy
- Signed Kellogg-Briand Pact
  - Countries pledged not to use war to settle disputes
- Cartoon
- March on Rome-October 1922
  - A march by Benito Mussolini’s National Fascist Party
  - Mussolini and the Fascists won and took over Italy
- King Victor Emmanuel
  - Did not fight Mussolini’s take over in Italy
  - Wanted to avoid a civil war and wanted to keep communists out of Italy
  - Saw Mussolini as the person that could do these things
- Mussolini and the Catholic Church
  - In 1929, the Lateran Accords were signed
    - Gave the Vatican specific territories in Rome
    - Catholicism became the state religion –
    - Separation of church and state was stopped
    - Recognition of religious marriages for the first time since 1870
    - Catholic church was given a lot of money
  - What did Mussolini get?
    - Official support from the Catholic Church
  - Established Fascism in Italy
    - A government led by a strong dictator
    - Stressed strong nationalism, militarism and imperialism
    - Wanted to dominate the Mediterranean area and Africa
      - Re-establish the Roman Empire
    - Used intimidation to get what they want
  - Ethiopia invaded by Mussolini 1935
    - Italy lost its Ethiopia colony in Africa t the 1896 Battle of Adwa
    - One of the worst colonial disasters of modern history
    - In 1935, Italy sends large forces into Ethiopia

Thursday

Italy/Ethiopia Invasion
- 18, 1935, League of Nations sanctions begin
  - Arms embargo, financial embargo, non-importation of Italian goods
- 29, 1936, FDR signed the 1936 Neutrality Act
  - Mandatory arms embargo with warring nations
  - Mandatory ban on loans to warring nations
- May 2, 1936, Italy occupied Addis Abada (capital)
  - Annexed Ethiopia on May 9
- Cartoon
- Generalissimo Francisco Franco and the Spanish Civil War- 1936
  - Hitler and Mussolini send troops and weapons to help Franco win the civil war against the communists
  - This war served as an important training ground for Hitler’s and Mussolini’s troops
- Rome-Berlin Axis- 1936
- Tripartite Pact is signed forming the Axis Powers
- Cartoons
- Italy’s goals in WW2
  - Make a new Roman Empire
  - Make the Mediterranean an “Italian Lake”
  - Take over North African colonies of Britain and France-especially Egypt
  - Take over southeastern Europe-Greece and Albania
  - Take over parts of the Middle East
- Picture of the Italian Invasion of Albania
- Picture of the Italian Invasion of Greece
- Map of Operation Torch
- Operation Avalanche
- Map of Italy’s Defeat (1943)
- Mussolini and his Mistress, Claretta Petacci, are hanged in Milan, 1945
- Italy and the Holocaust
  - In 1938, Mussolini instituted laws discriminating the Jews
    - 46,000 Jews in Italy at the time
  - After the Fascist government fell when the US invaded (1943), the Germans moved in and took control and started shipping Jews to camps outside of Italy
- Why did Italy lose?
  - Italy was not prepared military to fight a prolonged war
    - Germany had to constantly bail Italy out
  - Cartoon
  - Italian troops were spread too thin-Africa, Mediterranean, Albania, Greece, Soviet Union, France, Battle of Britain
  - The people of Italy were not prepared to fight or motivated to fight. They were forced to fight
  - Overall, Italy was just a weak country
- Impact WW2 had on Italy
  - 410,000 dead- 330,000 Military dead
  - Spent $94 Billion
  - Italy had joined the Allies by 1943 so the big concern for the US was making sure Italy became a democracy after the war and not fall to communism
  - US gave millions of dollars to Italy (Marshall Plan) to help rebuild after the war
  - Became a member of NATO in 1949
  - Became a member of the United Nations in 1955
- Starting with Germany

Friday

Forum post leader
Talking about expectations
Starting a WW1 and WW2 movie

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