World War II: Pacific Theater
Mr. Langford’s Class
Overview
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Where the battle’s were fought
Who won those battle’s
Outcome of the battle
Did it affect the moral
Why was the battle fought
Japan’s Rise
• Began to become dominate in the early
1930’s
• Had fought with Russia
• Invaded China
• Took certain sectors of China
• Why?
Japan on the move
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Japan’s military is battle tested
Begins to take islands near Japan
Meetings with Axis powers
The empire feels dominate--takes more
islands throughout the Pacific
• Makes a critical decision about the United
States
ATTACK!!
• After repeated warnings by the United
States--Japan ignores
• Attacks the Philippines and Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
• Dec. 7 1941--Sunday morning
• Japanese mini sub found
• Japan attacks with waves of fighter bombers
and torpedo planes
• Kills over 2000 men, sinks the Arizona
where over 1000 die in a matter of seconds
• Why that date?
U.S.S. Shaw
U.S. Declares War
• Monday Dec. 8, 1941
• Roosevelt gives speech: “This day will live
in infamy”
• Who declares war?
• Thousands of men line up for recruitment
• America joins the fight in Europe and is
ready to fight Japan
The Philippines
• Dec. 8, 1941--Japan attacks British, Dutch
and American forces in the Pacific
• For over a month, Japanese troop push
American and Filipino troops back
• Take Manila in Jan. 1942
• MacArthur leader of troops leaves in Feb.
• Vows to return again
Battaan Death March
• Japanese take Bataan Peninsula
• Many American and Filipino forced to
march to camps
• Limited food and water
• Extremely long march
• Many died of weakness--if one fell out of
the row, more than likely shot dead
The March
MacArthur to Australia
• Feb. 1942 leaves the Philippines
• Ordered by Roosevelt to head the Pacific
theater
• Moves to Australia--considered a safe area
from the Japanese since they did not attack
during the rest of the invasions
Japanese-Americans Camp
• After the attack, sentiment against those of
Japanese decent grew
• Thousands of people were rounded up and
forced into an internment camp in Kansas
• No rights were given
• Many of the people were citizens for over
25 years or natural citizens
Internment Camp
Coral Sea
• First major Naval battle
• First time ever two powers fought without
seeing each other
• South Pacific--Northeast of Australia
• Battle was considered a draw but moral
victory for U.S.
• Stopped Japanese advancement
Midway
• Island in Pacific
• Turning point of the war--June 1942
• U.S. showed the Japanese a false move and
the Japanese wanted to capitalize
• Four carriers for Japan sank
• Turning point
Guadacanal
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Aug. 1942
South Pacific
Battle that the U.S.S. Yorktown sank*
Stopped the Japanese
Began island hopping campaign
Secures most of the far South Pacific
How close?
• Aleutian island campaign
• Japanese wanted to secure those island and
work there way down the coast
• Japanese had control of the most southern
island in the Aleutians
• Where are the Aleutian Islands and who
owns them
Island Hopping
• A term used to describe the fighting in the
Pacific
• U.S. and Japan would go from island to
island fighting for control
• Japan controlled most of the islands in the
Pacific
• U.S. picked strategic islands to fight for-Why?
Leyte Gulf
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The biggest and greatest naval battle ever
Philippines-- 1944
The Japanese sent nearly every ship to fight
U.S. fought a heavy battle
Japan takes the greatest casualties and
nearly loses every ship
• Kamikaze raids begin
Iwo Jima and Okinawa
• Islands in the Pacific--North Northwest of
Guam
• Feb. 1945 and April 1945
• What was the island like?
• The island took over two months to secure
• Heavy casualties for both sides
• Site of the famous Marines raising flag
Southeast Asia Campaign
• U.S. troops in Vietnam
• There to help locals fight the Japanese
• Also, ran bombing runs to bomb Japanese
positions in China
• Vietnamese helped U.S. to retrieve down
airmen
• Helped Ho Chi Minh gain notoriety in
region, remember this name!
Manhattan Project
• A completely secret plan to develop the
atom bomb
• The Vice-President did not even know of
the project
• Where did the research take place?
• Where was the testing place and other
important info taken to?
Hiroshima/Nagasaki
• Aug. 6, 1945 the first atomic weapon was
used
• 80,000 people died thousands more injured
• Used to force surrender--Japan refused
• Aug. 9, 1945 Nagasaki bombed
• Japan finally realizes they need to surrender
The End
• Aug. 15, Emperor Hirohito announces
Japan’s surrender, shocks whole country
• Official surrender Sept. 2, 1945
• In Tokyo Bay aboard the U.S.S. Missouri--a
battleship that was in Pearl Harbor