Course of the War

Pacific/AsianTheater

Japan’s Military Might

• JAP leaders were encouraged by GER’s rapid victories in the 1940s.

• JAP received permission from GER to occupy French Indochina.

• Pres. Roosevelt froze all JAP assets in U.S. & stopped shipping oil to them.

• U.S. demanded JAP withdraw from China and Indochina.

• While negotiating with U.S. the JAP planned a surprise attack on U.S. naval base: Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941• Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor

– Americans in Hawaii are unprepared for attack.– Japanese invasion seems inevitable.

• The Battle of Wake Island began simultaneously w/ the attack on Pearl Harbor

• JAP also hit Philippines & pushed toward Malaya (BR colony)

• Soon invaded Dutch Indies• Spring 1942 – almost all SE Asia & much of W Pacific in

Japanese control• JAP leaders - hoped lightening strike at American bases

would destroy US Pacific fleet

• U.S. enters the war – joined European nations & nationalist China to defeat Japan

• Historic sites of Pearl Harbor– http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2256300/7106820

• Hitler - declared war on U.S., thought U.S. couldn’t fight in Pacific & Europe

• The battles of Bataan & Corregidor fought in the Philippines were 2 of America’s greatest losses to Japan at beginning of WWII.

• Battle of Bataan – American/Filipino losses: 10,000 men, 20,000

wounded, 75,000 prisoners – Bataan Death March

Battle of Coral Sea

• May 7 & 8, 1942 – Battle of Coral Sea– US navy stopped Japanese advance & saved

Australia from invasion• JAP losses: Approximately 3500 men, 2 aircraft

carriers, 2 destroyers, numerous other vessels, about 100 planes

• U.S. losses: 540 personnel, the aircraft carrier Lexington, 65 planes, the destroyer Sims, and the aircraft carrier Yorktown was damaged

Battle of Midway Island

• June 4 – Battle of Midway Island– Turning Point in the Pacific

• Showing that the Japanese had greatly underestimated the U.S. Navy

– U.S. planes destroyed 4 Japanese aircraft carriers• U.S. losses: 307 personnel, 1 carrier, 1 destroyer,

98 planes• JAP losses: 3,057 men, 4 carriers, 1 cruiser,

248 planes• Losses permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy

– U.S. established naval superiority in Pacific

• Fall 1942 – Allied forces gathering for 2 operations– 1. MacArthur – to Philippines through New

Guinea & South Pacific– 2. Move across Pacific w/ U.S. Army,

Marines & Navy attacks on Japanese held-island.

• (d) island hopping – tactic of capturing some and bypassing other Japanese held- islands

• 1943 – U.S. forces on offensive, advancing across Pacific

Gen. Douglas MacArthur

• US commander in Pacific– “old soldiers never die; they just fade away.”

The Battle of Iwo Jima

• Feb. – March 1945

• One of the bloodiest engagements of the entire war. – JAP losses: 21,000– U.S. losses: 6,821

The least you need to know:• Dec 7, 1941 – A day that will live in infamy

– Pearl Harbor not the only place attacked– Kamakazi

• Battle of Coral Sea – Saved Australia

• Midway Island– Turning point in the Pacific

• Gen. Douglas MacArthur– US Commander in Pacific

• Harry Truman- Us Pres. After FDR’s death

Harry Truman• Harry Truman – U.S. Pres after FDR dies

– Has to decide if U.S. should use atomic bomb

Atomic Bomb

• Use of Atomic Bomb– Allow U.S. to avoid invasion of Japan

• Estimated 90% casualty rate to invade JAP – Aug 6 – 1st bomb dropped on Hiroshima– Aug 9 – 2nd bomb dropped on Nagasaki

• Both cities leveled• Hiroshima: 71,379 instantly killed, 70,000 die

later from radiation poisoning.• Nagasaki: 25,000 instantly killed, 45,000 die

by end of year from radiation poisoning

Atomic Bomb cont.

• Almost everything within a one-mile radius of the explosion’s center spontaneously combusted.

• Granite stone melted

• People vaporized left ghostly images imprinted on stone walls & sidewalks.

*Information from Everything World War II

End of the War

• Aug 14 – Emperor Hirohito surrendered– 17 million dead in battle– 20 million dead civilians– Some estimate total dead 50 million

– Immediately after the war, Russia and the U.S. went their separate ways

– This rivalry between east & west was known as the Cold War