War and Diplomacy

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War and Diplomacy
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Albert Einstein's Letter to FDR

• As a Jewish refugee from Berlin, Einstein, well
  aware of the advanced state of German physics,
  dispatched a letter to FDR warning him of the
  enormous potential of atomic power and of the
  grave danger if the Nazis succeeded in acquiring
  a nuclear weapon.

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The Trinity Test

• Until the atomic bomb could be tested, doubt
  would remain about its effectiveness.
  
• The world had never seen a nuclear explosion
  before, and estimates varied widely on how much
  energy would be released.
  
• There was only enough weapons-grade uranium
  available for one bomb, so on July 14, 1945, most
  of the uranium bomb ("Little Boy") began its trip
  westward to the Pacific without its design having
  ever been fully tested.
• A test of the plutonium bomb seemed vital,
  however, both to confirm its novel implosion
  design and to gather data on nuclear explosions
  in general.
• Several plutonium bombs were now "in the
  pipeline" and would be available over the next
  few weeks and months. It was therefore decided to
  test one of these.

Oppenheimer
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The Trinity Test

• A remote corner on the Alamagordo Bombing Range
  210 miles south of Los Alamos became the test
  site.
  
• The elaborate instrumentation surrounding the
  site was tested with an explosion of a large
  amount of conventional explosives on May 7.
  
• Three observation bunkers located 10,000 yards
  north, west, and south of the firing tower at
  ground zero would attempt to measure key aspects
  of the reaction.
• On July 12, the plutonium core was taken to the
  test area in an army sedan.
  
• The non-nuclear components left for the test site
  at 1201 a.m., Friday the 13th.
  
• By 500 p.m. on the 15th, the device had been
  assembled and hoisted atop the 100-foot firing
  tower.
  
• At precisely 530 a.m. on Monday, July 16, 1945,
  the nuclear age began.
  

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Hiroshima

• Hiroshima was the primary target of the first
  atomic bomb mission.
  
• The bomb exploded over Hiroshima at 815 on the
  morning of August 6, 1945.
  
• At 816 A.M., the Tokyo control operator of the
  Japanese Broadcasting Corporation noticed that
  the Hiroshima station had gone off the air.
  
• A young officer of the Japanese General Staff was
  instructed to fly immediately to Hiroshima, to
  land, survey the damage, and return to Tokyo with
  reliable information for the staff.
• After flying for about three hours, while still
  nearly 100 miles from Hiroshima, he and his pilot
  saw a great cloud of smoke from the bomb
  
• Tokyo's first knowledge of what had really caused
  the disaster came from the White House public
  announcement in Washington sixteen hours after
  Hiroshima had been hit by the atomic bomb.

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Hiroshima
The Enola Gay carried the Bomb to Hiroshima.
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Nagasaki

• On the morning of August 9th, 1945, at about 750
  A.M., Japanese time, an air raid alert was
  sounded in Nagasaki, but the "All clear" signal
  was given at 830.
• When only two B-29 super fortresses were sighted
  at 1053 the Japanese apparently assumed that the
  planes were only on reconnaissance and no further
  alarm was given.
• A few moments later, at 1100 o'clock, the
  observation B-29 dropped instruments attached to
  three parachutes and at 1102 the other plane
  released the atomic bomb.
• The bomb exploded high over the industrial valley
  of Nagasaki, almost midway between the Mitsubishi
  Steel and Arms Works, in the south, and the
  Mitsubishi-Urakami Ordnance Works (Torpedo
  Works), in the north, the two principal targets
  of the city.

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The Yalta Conference

• Held from February 4 to 11, 1945, the Yalta
  Conference was a meeting between the heads of
  government of the United States, the United
  Kingdom and the Soviet Union.
• The British wanted to maintain their empire
• The Soviets wished to obtain more land and to
  strengthen conquests
  
• Th Americans wanted to ensure the Soviets' entry
  into the Pacific war and discuss postwar
  settlement.
  
• Among the agreements were the postwar division of
  Germany into zones of occupation, the boundaries
  of Poland, German reparations and the entry of
  the USSR into the war against Japan.

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Potsdam Conference

• The Potsdam Conference was held in Potsdam,
  Germany from July 17 to August 2, 1945. between
  the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the
  United States.
• The three heads of state gathered to decide how
  to administer the defeated Nazi Germany, which
  had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks
  earlier.
• The goals of the conference also included the
  establishment of post-war order, peace treaties
  issues, and countering the effects of war.
  
• Towards the end of the conference, Japan was
  given an ultimatum and hastily after Japan had
  rejected it, atomic bombs were dropped on
  Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9
  respectively.
• Truman made the decision to use atomic weapons to
  end the war while at the conference.

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Dumbarton Oaks Conference

• The Dumbarton Oaks Conference, held in a
  Washington, DC mansion, finalized the post-war
  successor to the League of Nation, the future
  United Nations.
• The composition of the UN and which states would
  be included as members were negotiated.
  Representatives of the United States, the Soviet
  Union, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of
  China attended the conference and discussions
  included the formation of the Security Council
  and the right of veto that would be given to its
  permanent members.

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Bretton Woods

• Inspired by the lessons of the Great Depression,
  the Bretton Woods System, the first example of a
  fully-negotiated monetary order intended to
  govern fiscal relations among several states, was
  based on the twin pillars of the World Bank and
  the International Monetary Fund.
• The victorious allies believed that a sound
  international economic system could prevent the
  circumstances that led to militarism, fascism and
  war during the 1930s.

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UN San Francisco Conference

• On April 25, 1945, the UN Conference on
  International Organizations began in San
  Francisco.
  
• In addition to the Governments, a number of
  non-governmental organizations, including Lions
  Clubs International, were invited to assist in
  drafting the charter.
• The 50 nations represented at the conference
  signed the Charter of the United Nations two
  months later on June 26.
  
• The UN came into existence on October 24, 1945,
  after the Charter had been ratified by the five
  permanent members of the Security Council
  Republic of China, France, the Soviet Union,
  United Kingdom, and the United States and by a
  majority of the other 46 signatories.

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The Nuremberg Trial

• In an unprecedented step, the Allies, as early as
  1942, agreed to try top Nazi leaders for war
  crimes and for crimes against humanity.
  
• Conducted by a joint U.S.-British-Soviet military
  tribunal, the trial began on November 20, 1945 by
  indicting twenty-four leading Nazis.
  
• The first of the Nuremberg Trials held from 20
  November 1945 through 1 October 1946, the Trial
  of Major War Criminals prosecuted the most
  prominent members of Nazi German leadership.
• Trials for lesser crimes were conducted through
  1949.

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• Multimedia Citations
• Slide 2 http//www.einstein-weiterdenken.de/bilde
  r/einsteinsw.jpg
  
• Slide 3 http//www.phy.bg.ac.yu/web_projects/gian
  ts/oppenheimer.jpg
  
• Slide 4 http//www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/shiva/deto
  n1.jpg
  
• Slide 6 http//www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,460399,0
  0.jpg
  
• Slide 7 http//www.archives.gov/publications/prol
  ogue/2004/winter/images/atomic-bomb.jpg
  
• Slide 8 http//history.acusd.edu/cdr2/WW2Pics/124
  70.jpg
  
• Slide 9 http//www.history.navy.mil/photos/images
  /ac00001/ac01860.jpg
  
• Slide 10 http//www.un.org/UN50/Photos/un50-015.g
  if
  
• Side 11 http//www.bwbs.de/UserFiles/Image/1946-1
  950/bretton_woods.jpg
  
• Slide 12 http//www.unausa.org/atf/cf/7B49C555AC
  -20C8-4B43-8483-A2D4C1808E4E7D/UN_Signing-SF.jpg
  
• Slide 13 http//cghs.dade.k12.fl.us/holocaust/nur
  emburg.jpg