The War in the Pacific

 Japan was an Axis power, but not involved in the War in Europe.  By 1941, it was prepared to invade the US and European colonies in Southeast Asia which were rich in resources.  On December 7 th, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor (in Hawaii) to continue on a war conquest in the Pacific  Then they bombed the Philippines.  These bombings stunned the Americans, and the next day on Dec 8, 1941 the US government declared war on Japan.  Japan’s Allies, Germany and Italy, then declared War on the US.

 Militarism in Japan  In the 1920’s Japan was stuck between its traditional heritage and the desire to modernize  Radicals wanted a complete rejection of Western ways and wanted a militaristic government based on National Socialism (Nazis in Germany)  Japan’s military was very strong and had lots of advantages over the civilian government.  Example: military had the organization and weapons to impose its will

 Japanese Imperialist Expansion  As new leaders came to power in China in 1928, Japan felt that its imperialistic interests were threatened  Japan’s need to acquire new territories was strong  This was because the Depression,and a growing population, led to a greater need for raw materials  There were more and more clashes between the Japanese military and the civil government  This tension led to the Japanese army taking actions not authorized by the government

 Events leading up to Pearl Harbour  In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria without the consent of its own government  There was inner turmoil in Japan:  PM was assassinated, which was followed by lots of fighting within the Japanese army  After France fell in June 1940, the Japanese quickly occupied most of French Indo-China  American president Roosevelt responded by freezing Japanese assets in US banks  Roosevelt also refused to sell Japan any more oil or scrap metal (two products Japan needed to supply its war industry)  Cut off from major supplies, Japanese military thought war with the US was the only solution

 Pearl Harbour  December 7, 1941, Japanese launched their surprise attack on the American naval base in Pearl Harbour  The attack was intended to give the Japan navy control of the Pacific in preparation for future attacks  On December 8, President Roosevelt gave his famous “Day of Infamy” speech and the US and Britain declared war on Japan  As a result, Hitler declared war on the US to show support for the Japanese  Then the US declared war on Germany  The US joining the Allies side gave Britain a new ally that could help them defeat Fascism in Europe

 The Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbour were quickly followed by devastating attacks on many parts of the Far Eastern Pacific Canadians in Hong Kong  As a result of the American declaration of war on Japan, Canada declared war against Japan as well  Canadians were sent to fight the Japanese in the British colony of Hong Kong  This was the first time Canadians saw active action in WWII

 Canadians at Hong Kong  Canadians were forced to surrender after 17 days of fighting, when their supplies and ammunition ran out  Overall, 500 Canadian soldiers were wounded, and 290 soldiers were killed  Those soldiers that were captured were put into Japanese Prisoner of War (POW) camps and were threatened very harshly  In total 267 Canadian POW’s died in Japanese camps

The Turning Point

 After the US declared war on Japan, the Americans knew it would be a long war, so they prepared their economy and military forces  US could not fight back immediately with full force, so Japan went on a very vast war conquest  While Canadians and Allies did participate in the Pacific, the Americans were the main force  There were 4 main battles. 1.The Battle of Midway 2.Island Hopping 3.Battle of Leyte Gulf 4.Iwo Jima and Okinawa

 1. The Battle of Midway, June 1942  Midway island is northwest of Hawaii  This battle was the turning point in the Pacific  As the Japanese were planning on capturing these islands, the Americans intercepted the Japanese fleet and easily defeated them  This was a turning point because this ended the Japanese streak of victories  The Americans also sank the best Japanese aircraft carriers, allowing the Americans to take control of the waters in the Pacific  After Midway, the Japanese were on the defensive

 2. Island Hopping  Instead of attacking and re-capturing every island taken by the Japanese, the Americans selected important islands about 400miles apart  By taking several islands, the Americans were able to move their base of attack closer and closer to Japan  Americans ignored islands in between because they could easily cut off supply to these islands

 3. Battle of Leyte Gulf  Leyte Gulf is in the Philippines  In this battle the Americans took most of the Japanese fleet  Americans sank half of the Japanese ships (including 4 more aircraft carriers)  It was during this battle that the Japanese introduced kamikaze suicides  Kamikaze pilots would load their planes with explosives, and try to crash them into American ships

 4. Iwo Jima and Okinawa  By the spring of 1945, American forces had captured Iwo Jima and Okinawa (2 islands south of Japanese homeland)  It was here that the Americans were going to launch their final phase of war  However, other events intervened

 In March 1945, Americans began a regular bombing of Tokyo  It was believed that this would cause them to surrender  The bombing did cause a great loss of lives and huge property damage.  But Japan would not surrender

 The Manhattan Project  Since March of 1943, the US had funded a very secret, very expensive project to determine if it was possible to create an atomic bomb (nuclear weapon )  In 1945, US president Harry S. Truman learned that the atomic bomb test at Los Alamos, New Mexico had been successful  He now had another option for ending the war in the Pacific  This secret project cost two billion dollars and employed 120,000 people  After the test is Los Alamos, the Americans had only 2 bombs that were ready to use in the summer of 1945  A spherical plutonium bomb nicknamed “Fat Man”  A sausage shaped uranium bomb known as “Little Boy”

 Truman’s Decision  June 1, 1945, the US Secretary of War recommended that the bombs should be dropped without warning, and should be dropped on Japanese military targets in an urban setting  3 distinguished scientists disagreed  They wanted to give the Japanese a demonstration in an isolated area of what could happen  And to use the bomb only as a last resort  Truman rejected their views and decided to have a bomb dropped in a populated area  His thought was that this would shorten the war and save many American lives

 Hiroshima, August  American military planners told Truman that he could expect from 1 to 1.5 million more American casualties and another 12 – 18 months of fighting to take the islands of Japan using standard warfare  Because of this Truman decided to use the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima  “Little Boy” was dropped on the industrial city of 340,000 people  The explosion at Ground Zero created temperatures of 540,000 degrees Fahrenheit  Beyond this zone, a firestorm gutted the rest of the city, destroying 60,000 of 92,000 buildings

 Hiroshima, August  The death count was 78,000, but an additional 60,000 people died later of atomic bomb related injuries or diseases

 Nagasaki, August 9, 1945  Since Japan did not surrender immediately, Truman ordered the next atomic bomb be dropped on the city of Nagasaki  “Fat Man” was dropped on a city of 250,000 and the death toll was over 35,000 people  A total of approximately 170,000 people died as a result of the 2 atomic bombs

In March of 1945, Allied forces attacked Germany.  The Allies were attacking Germany from the West, and the Soviet Union was attacking Germany from the East.  Germany surrendered on May 7 th,  Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin.  As the Allies pressed closer to Germany, they began to discover the extent of the Holocaust.

 Peace, August 14, 1945 V-J Day (Victory in Japan)  On August 14, 1945, the Japanese government sued for peace and the Second World War was over

Read the counterpoints section on pages in your textbook. Answer questions 1-4: “Analyzing the issue”