WWII Game Changers
Alejandro Garcia
The Atomic Bomb/The Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a government based research product which was made to produce the world's first ever atomic bomb. Many scientist, and many investors had become involved in creating the bomb, it costed 2 billions dollars and around 200,000 people were working on the project.
The decision came by Harry Truman to drop the first bomb on Hiroshima Japan. Hiroshima was the perfect target as it had a military base, it had not been bombed or hit, so it was the perfect opportunity to show how powerful and destructive this bomb is. On August 6, 1945, the bomb was dropped killing approximately 80,000 people. The second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki Japan. The decision came to drop another bomb on Nagasaki after Japan still refused to surrender, the second bomb killed approximately 40,000 thousand more. Dropping the bomb was good for the United States. If you wanted to know how hot the atomic bomb was, we could relate it to the sun. Everyone knows that the sun is extremely hot (5,778 K) the center of the bomb when it hit was three times hotter than the sun. The atomic bomb was deadly and one of the biggest game changers of WWII. One difference in this bomb used was that it was not like anything else ever used before, nothing has ever been created that caused this much destruction.
In the short term effect of the bomb, there would end up being less casualties for the US army, it would end with a surrender of Japan, and it gave the US a more superior and a more powerful look. Also the atomic bomb would end with killing thousands of innocent women and children, and that was something that many people did not agree with, and something that could not go without considering, “The use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul.”- Herbert Hoover
Penicillin
Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928. Fleming was observing the growth pattern of staphylococcus, he then noticed a genus of fungi, was grown in the appropriate substrate, which would produce penicillin. In 1942 scientists soon discovered that penicillin could help treat war wounds. During the war, production of penicillin spiked to over 650 billion units per month. Using penicillin in the war reduced the chances of a wound getting infected, increased the chance of survival during time of an emergency surgery, and ultimately changed helped the allies win the war, as they were able to save thousands of soldiers.
Because of the creating of penicillin, it did indeed save a numerous amount of lives. Penicillin was used greatly after D-day, to help all the wounded men. With the use of penicillin, the chance of a wound getting infected became less and less of a problem, and the chances of a soldier living became greater. Without the discovery of penicillin, the death toll of the war would have been drastically increased. “Prior to penicillin and medical research, death was an everyday occurrence. It was intimate.”- Katherine Dunn.
The Radar
The radar was first developed by Heinrich Hertz. It was used by many countries to detect ships and aircrafts. Battles were won from sides who did have the radar, as they were able to detect their enemy first and strike them without even realizing it. This technology gave the allies an edge, so that they were able to see at night, and even for hundreds of miles away. The radar worked by sending radio waves, and observing the reflected waves after his bounces off any object. The radar helped the allies in a tremendous way to win the war. Although it was a really great invention for the war, at the time these they were mostly handmade, and sometimes provide false information. One good thing is that the radar is still used today, and had advanced a whole lot more. “In 1886 Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be reflected by solid objects, setting in motion the technological advancements that would become Radar and even leading to microwave ovens. This work was to be heavily developed and improved upon during the war, particularly by the British who had need of the technology to detect incoming bombers during the Battle of Britain and scramble a fighter response.”
Pearl Harbor
On the morning of December 7, 1914, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the United States in Hawaii. The attack came as a complete and utter surprise. The attack came in two waves, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes and bomber planes attacked Pearl Harbor. The whole event was catastrophic. Eight battleships were damaged, and four were sunken. 188 US aircrafts were destroyed. Also 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 were wounded. While the Japanese only lost 64 men in this event. Japan was hoping that this attack would break America, but it did the complete opposite.