cold war

• The Yalta Conference 1945


  The Allies decided to divide Germany in 4 zones
• The Potsdam Conference July 1945


  1. Participants: Soviet Union, Britain and the United States

  2. Gathered to decide how to punish Germany
• The tension between the Allies became clear at the Potsdam Conference


  • Reasons: The Soviet Union occupying Central and Eastern Europe
  • Britain had a new Prime Minister
  • America had a new president
  • The US had tested an atomic bomb
  • Stalin knew about the bomb
• Communism


  • The government should focus on the interests of all, not only the rich
  • Wealth should be shared equally between people
  • Economic equality
  • No private ownership
  • State owns all large industries
• Capitalism


  • Nothing wrong with some people being richer than others
  • Possibility of making a profit makes people work harder
  • Private ownership
  • Government does not control the economy
  • The rights of individuals who own huge industries and make money are protected while others remain poor
• The Manhattan Project


  • Einstein's theories were used to develop the first nuclear bomb
  • He left Germany when Hitler came to power (he was Jewish) and encouraged the American government to invent an atomic bomb to stop the Nazis
  • The atomic bombs were used on Japan instead
  • A top secret research project to produce an atomic bomb
  • The bomb was called 'The Gadget'
• 'The Gadget' was set off in a desert in New Mexico
• Robert Oppenheimer


  The leader of the Manhattan Project, relieved that the bomb was a success but also realised its deadly destructive power
• The end of WWII and the beginning of the nuclear age

  1. 6 August 1945 - The city of Hiroshima was bombed

  2. 9 August 1945 - The city of Nagasaki was bombed

  3. These cities were targeted because they produced weapons of war for Japan

  4. 60- 90 000 people were killed

  5. 14 August - Japan admitted to defeat

  6. WWII ended
• Since America dropped the bombs

  We have been living in an age referred to as the Nuclear Age or Atomic Age
• The threat of terrifying and devastating nuclear weapons


  Changed the nature of the war forever
• Reasons why the USA dropped the bombs

  • To avoid further casualties
  • To keep Stalin out of Japan and to frighten the USSR
  • To make the Japanese surrender
• Avoid further casualties


  • Massive casualties on both sides would've occurred in the invasion of Japan
  • It was argued that if the war continued, 250 000 people would've died per month
• Keep Stalin out and frighten the USSR

  • American government saw the bombs as a way to keep Stalin in check
  • The bombings were to intimidate the Soviet Union
  • They did not have atomic weapons yet
  • The USA wanted to show that they were militarily superior
  • Also wanted to stop the USSR from invading Japan to they wouldn't have to share victory
• Frighten the Japanese into surrendering

  • Destruction caused by the bombs would instil fear of further destruction and force the Japanese to surrender
  • The atomic bomb was referred to as a psychological weapon as well as destruction
  • The Japanese code of war was never to be captured, never break down, and never surrender
• People were burned by the radiation of the atomic bomb
• Cities were destroyed
• A third of Hiroshima's population was killed within a week of the bombing
• People were still dying from burns weeks later
• Years later people were dying from radiation sickness and cancer caused by the bombs
• Thousands of children were orphaned
• Dropping the bombs ended the war and saved lives