War in the Pacific
Japanese expansion until 1941
 1931
 1937
 1941
 1941
invasion of Manchuria with plans to
take southeast Asia
capture Nanking, embarking on deadly
rampage killing 200,000 Chinese
Japan intended to invade Dutch East
Indies for its resources to build military
Roosevelt announced a trade embargo
against Japan to stop its military build
up
Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
“a date that will live in infamy.”
 December 7, 1941, Sunday morning
 183 Japanese aircraft
 Sank or disabled 18 ships, including all
battleships
 Killed 2,400 Americans
 Wounded 1,000
USS Arizona and aerial photo taken by a
Japanese pilot
Declaration of War
 December 8, 1941 Congress declared
war on Japan
 December 11, 1941 Germany and Italy
declared war on the US in support of
Japan because of the pact of 1940
 “Tripartite Pact” a defensive alliance
1940
General Hideki Tojo
 Japanese general, a
militarist who seized
control of government
in October 1941. He has
been considered most
influential in attacking
Pearl Harbor.
Emperor Hirohito
 Royal Emperor of Japan
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
 Japan’s leading military
strategist who urged
quick action to take the
South Pacific before
America could act
Philippines
 If Japan captured the Philippines early in the war,
it would dominate the entire South Pacific,
expanding its goal of a Japan-controlled Asia.
 Japan assaulted the Philippines early in 1942.
 American commander General Douglas
MacArthur was forced to retreat to Australia.
 He left behind part of his army who, along with
Filipino soldiers, were captured
General Douglas MacArthur
The Bataan Death March
 Began on April 9, 1942 when 70,000
Filipino and American troops surrendered
to Japanese troops on the Bataan
Peninsula.
 General MacArthur left thousands of
troops behind.
 The 65-mile march to a concentration
camp cost an unknown number of lives.
 16,000 died in the camp
Bataan Death March
US strategy in the Pacific
1. Recapture Philippine Islands and help China
combat the Japanese
2. Island hopping, one by one to get close
enough to attack Japan itself
Islands
 Battle of Midway, June 1942
 Guadalcanal August 7, 1942 and February 9, 1943
 New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Gilbert and Marshall
Islands, Tarawa
 23 to 26 October 1944, Allies invaded Philippines,
three-day Battle of Leyte Gulf, generally
considered to be the largest naval battle of WWII,
and perhaps in history; objective of allies was to
deprive its Japan of vital oil supplies;
 Iwo Jima, February 19 – March 26, 1945;
 Okinawa; carried out organized kamikaze attacks;
Midway, June 3-6, 1942
 Reversed the balance of naval power in the Pacific,
and put Japanese at a disadvantage for the rest of
the war
 Japan lost four aircraft carriers, one cruiser, two
destroyers
 US lost one aircraft carrier and one destroyer
 This battle turned the tide of the war toward the
US
 Japan never recovered its Naval power
Battle of Midway
flight deck of the USS Yorktown
USS Enterprise
Guadalcanal
USS Wasp, hit by Japanese torpedo
From defense to offense
 Objective: deny the Japanese the use of
islands as bases because it threatened
supply routes between the U.S.,
Australia, and New Zealand;
 marked the transition by the Allies from
defensive operations to the strategic
offensive in that theater
Guadalcanal
US Marines
US marine, Saipan
Leyte Gulf
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Iwo Jima, 1945
 The photograph records
the second flag-raising
on the mountain, which
took place on the fifth
day of the 35-day battle.
The picture became the
iconic image of the battle
and has been heavily
reproduced.
Iwo Jima
Hiroshima, rare photo taken after the
atomic bomb had been dropped