The First Atomic Bombs

On August 6th, 1945, and August 9th, 1945, two atomic bombs were dropped on two Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first bomb did not achieve the goal of dropping it, which is causing the Japanese to surrender. 3 days after that bomb, the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. This finally caused the Japanese to surrender.
The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was nicknamed "Little Boy", while the bomb dropped on Nagasaki was nicknamed "Fat Man".
Harry S. Truman, the president during the event, debated on whether or not to use the bomb in the first place. Many Americans were against it and believed it was cruel and unnecessary. Winston Churchill of Britain was for the bomb as well, and Joseph  Stalin of Russia was not notified, although he knew about the bombs before Truman did through the use of spies. Once Truman decided, he lost a lot of  his supporters in the US.

"Little Boy" (Left) used on Hiroshima and "Fat Man" (Right) used on Nagasaki.

The Potsdam Conference was a peace conference between the US, Britain, and the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Harry Truman all gathered in occupied Germany to discuss Japan and the Nazi's  punishment after being defeated. They agreed to unconditional surrender, meaning they had no say in the punishment.

Battle of Midway

In May 1942, the Japanese army tried to overwhelm the US fleet, which was now deep in the Pacific, with a huge invasion of some islands. Midway Island, an island near Hawaii, was going to be seized by the Japanese first. As a result of its location, the Japanese could use the island as a base to attack Hawaii. When the Japanese were planning the attack, their radio signal was intercepted which gave the US a warning. On June 4th, 1942, aircraft coming from the USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and USS Yorktown attacked and sank 4 Japanese carrier ships, which led to the withdrawal of the rest of the Imperial fleet. After the battle, some action still occurred, such as a US submarine sinking the Mikuma, and the Imperial Navy sinking the then disabled Yorktown. This battle was a turning point because it showed that even though the Japanese had a larger navy, the decoded messages saved the US Navy from collapsing.

Geography & Island Hopping

On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy attacked Pearl Harbor Navy Base in Hawaii and other key military bases in the Pacific. There are very long distances between the continental US and  Japan, so the US used a strategy called Island Hopping. This used the many small islands in the Pacific as Naval bases when they were under US control. When a ship or plane needed to reach the enemy's homeland, they would have to refuel and land on these islands as they gradually made their way across. This got the military as far as the Phillipines without risk. Below is a map of this strategy used by America.

Guadalcanal was a Samoan Island America new was key to them winning the war because of its location. from August 1942 to February 1943 the two armies fought, until the Americans eventually overcame the Japanese. With this new key island, the US proceeded its advance through island hopping and started approaching islands very close to Japan. When they captured Guam and other nearby islands, they fired two atomic bombs towards Hiroshima and Nagasaki.