War in the Pacific
Objectives
Explain why Japan began a war with
the U.S.
 List the reasons why the U.S. won the
war

List 3 facts about America’s
war with Japan.
Japan pre-1941
Militarism
 Imperialism
 Invasion of China
 Invasion of Korea
 Brink of war with USSR

Problems with America
In response to Japanese aggression
in Asia, the U.S. froze Japanese asset
and embargoed these products from
going to Japan:
Scrap iron
 Oil

Negotiations went nowhere
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
U.S. Pacific Fleet
based at Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii
 Surprise
attack…7:55
a.m., Sunday,
Dec. 7, 1941

Pearl Harbor
Japanese bombed Pacific Fleet and
military airfields
 U.S. casualties: 2,350 servicemen
and civilians died; 1,178 wounded; 21
ships and 323 aircraft destroyed or
damaged



USS Arizona sunk, killing 1,177
Japanese casualties: less than 100
men, 29 planes, 5 midget submarines
Pearl Harbor: U.S. reaction
U.S. declared war on Japan
on Dec. 8, 1941
 U.S. mobilizes for total war

Pearl Harbor: U.S. reaction

Executive Order
9066: Japanese
living on the West
Coast of the U.S.
forced to move to
internment camps
If you were FDR in 1942,
what would you have done
about the Japanese living in
the U.S.? Why?
Share your answers with a
partner.
Pearl Harbor: World reaction
Great Britain declared
war on Japan on Dec.
8, 1941
 Germany and Italy
declared war on the
U.S. on Dec. 11,
1941

Battles/Engagements
Through 1942, the Japanese
expanded their empire in Asia and
in the Pacific, but after that:
Doolittle raid – April 1942
 Battle of Coral Sea – May 1942
 Midway – June 1942
 Guadalcanal – Nov. 1942

Battles/Engagements
Solomon Islands – Nov. 1943
 Kwajalein – Feb. 1944
 Leyte Gulf – Oct. 1944
 Iwo Jima – Feb. 1945
 Firebombing Tokyo – March 1945

Note-check
Take a few minutes to compare notes
with a partner. Clarify any info you
don’t fully understand.
Japanese atrocities
Rape of Nanking
Bataan Death March
Kamikaze pilots

An honor to die for the emperor
Atomic bomb





Decision by Truman
His justification: would save
American lives
Dropped on Hiroshima on
Aug. 6, 1945; no Japanese
surrender
Dropped on Nagasaki on
Aug. 9, 1945; Japanese
surrender
Death toll from bombs:
approx. 214,000
End of the Pacific War
USSR declared war
on Japan on Aug. 8,
1945
 Japan surrendered
Aug. 14, 1945
 Deaths: U.S. approx.
500,000; Japan
approx. 2 million

Summary/Discussion
Why did Japan start the war with the
U.S.?
 Why did the U.S. win the war?

Stump your partner
Take a minute to come up with 1
question. Then see if you can stump
your partner.
 We’ll then answer harder questions as
a class.
