The War in the Pacific
Timeline – Naval Battles Use pages 785-787 to add the following events to your timeline The Battle of the Coral Sea The Battle of Midway
Naval warfare WWII, especially in the pacific, established the aircraft carrier as the new king of naval warfare Replaced the gun-firing battleships of WWI Many battles were fought with the ships of the opposing sides completely out of sight of each other In some battles, no ships actually fired a shot
Naval warfare WWII, especially in the pacific, established the aircraft carrier as the new king of naval warfare Battle of the Coral Sea (May, 1942) American and Australian forces defeated the Japanese First time a Japanese invasion was stopped
Naval warfare WWII, especially in the pacific, established the aircraft carrier as the new king of naval warfare Battle of the Coral Sea (May, 1942) Battle of Midway (June 3, 1942) The US navy stopped a Japanese fleet moving toward Midway, an island between Japan and Hawaii Considered the turning point of the war, from this point on the Japanese would be on the defensive
Timeline – Ground Fighting Use pages 787-789 to add the following events to your timeline The US attacks Guadalcanal The US takes the Philippines Allies capture Iwo Jima Allies capture Okinawa
Ground Fighting After stopping the Japanese advance at sea, the Allies began attacking the Japanese using a strategy called “Island Hopping” Allied troops took strategic island on which they could build air bases that would bring other Japanese- held territory into range of heavy bombers
Ground Fighting After stopping the Japanese advance at sea, the Allies began attacking the Japanese using a strategy called “Island Hopping” Guadalcanal (August, 1942) The first time the Japanese were defeated on land
Ground Fighting The US Takes the Philippines (October, 1944) After stopping the Japanese advance at sea, the Allies began attacking the Japanese using a strategy called “Island Hopping” Guadalcanal (August, 1942) The US Takes the Philippines (October, 1944) US troops, led by General Douglas MacArthur, took back what was once a US territory Ships approaching the Philippines were opposed by kamikaze pilots
Ground Fighting The Allies take Iwo Jima (March, 1945) After stopping the Japanese advance at sea, the Allies began attacking the Japanese using a strategy called “Island Hopping” Guadalcanal (August, 1942) The US Takes the Philippines (October, 1944) The Allies take Iwo Jima (March, 1945) More than 20,000 Japanese troops were heavily entrenched in the island More than 6,000 marines died taking it
Ground Fighting The Allies capture Okinawa (June, 1945) After stopping the Japanese advance at sea, the Allies began attacking the Japanese using a strategy called “Island Hopping” Guadalcanal (August, 1942) The US Takes the Philippines (October, 1944) The Allies take Iwo Jima (March, 1945) The Allies capture Okinawa (June, 1945) Okinawa put US heavy bombers in range of the Japanese home islands Cost 7,600 American lives and 110,000 Japanese
Strategic Bombing and the End of the War The US bombed Japanese cities and industrial centers Firebombing Tokyo killed between 80,000 and 130,000 people Nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed about 200,000 people Hiroshima: August 6, 1945 Nagasaki: August 9, 1945 Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945
Debating the Atomic Bomb Read “Point Counterpoint” on page 791 and fill in the chart below showing the reasons that people say the atomic bombs should or should not have been used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Why using the bomb was necessary Why using the bomb was not necessary
Debating the Atomic Bomb Guiding Question: Should the US have used the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Write a topic sentence as though you were writing an SCR to answer the guiding question