1. Chapter 17 Section 3 The War in the Pacific

2. Waging 2 wars at once… While defeating the Nazis was priority 1 for the Allies, they did not wait until V-E day to move against Japan. Pearl Harbor did not eliminate the submarines or aircraft carriers of our Pacific Fleet. Under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur the Allies would slowly battle back against Japan even though their empire was much larger than what the Nazis had built.

3. April 1942, Bataan Leader: Douglas MacArthur What Happened? Allies held out for 4 months against invading Japanese forces Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to leave and he pledged to those in the Pacific Islands… “I shall return”

4. June 1942, Midway Leader: Chester Nimitz What Happened? Americans turned back a Japanese invasion force and then headed to Hawaii

5. August 1942, Guadalcanal Leader: MacArthur What Happened? Americans dealt Japan its 1 st defeat on land

6. October 1944, Leyte Gulf Leader: MacArthur What Happened? Americans retook the Philippines and dealt a blow to the Japanese

7. March 1945, Iwo Jima Leader: MacArthur What Happened? Allies took the Island from Japan –served as an important base to load Allied aircraft from.

8. June 1945, Okinawa Leader: MacArthur What Happened? Allies took the Island from Japan but 8,000 U.S. soldiers died. Japan unleashed more than 1900 kamikaze attacks! Japanese losses were over 100000 & 2 key Generals committed suicide rather than surrender.

9. Significance of Iwo Jima & Okinawa These battles were an ominous forewarning of the kind of fierce fighting & tremendous death toll fighting on Japanese soil would bring & would later influence Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb. Taking these islands opened the way for an invasion of Japan where a HUGE army would defend the homeland to its death. Truman saw only one way to avoid such an invasion of Japan…

10. July 1945, Los Alamos Leader: Scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer What Happened? 1 st Atomic Bomb was successfully tested completing the secret “Manhattan Project” – his excitement quickly faded as he said “I am become Death, the shatterer of worlds.”

11. August 1945, Hiroshima, Nagasaki Leader: Truman Survivors recallSurvivors recall What Happened ? 1 st Atomic Bomb (“Little Boy”) dropped on Hiroshima (8-6-45); the city was destroyed but Japan refused to surrender… so 3 days later a second bomb (“Fat Man”) was dropped on Nagasaki. Half the city was leveled; close to ¼ million people died in the blasts so finally…

12. September 1945 Emperor Hirohito issues Japan’s unconditional surrender and the second World War had ended. It should be noted that the atomic blasts were not the worst blows the Japanese took! Allied firebombing of Tokyo destroyed most of that city & killed and injured many while also leaving over a million homeless.

13. February 1945, Yalta Leaders: Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill (Yalta Conference) What Happened? Allied leaders made important decisions about the postwar world – there was disagreement over how to handle Germany; the US would occupy Japan for years to come.

14. April 1945, San Francisco Leader: The United Nations What Happened? United Nations was established

15. 1945-1949, Nuremberg Leader: Supreme Court Justice Jackson What Happeneds? Nuremberg Trials, Nazi leaders were tried for wartime crimes Nuremburg trials