1. The War in the Pacific
Chapter 17, Section 3

2. Stemming the Japanese Tide
During and after the Pearl Harbor attacks Japan took many lands around the Pacific
It was larger then Hitler’s gains in Europe
80,000 US troops are stationed in the Philippines when it was attacked by the Japanese
Douglas MacArthur

3. Stemming the Japanese Tide
Large expansion leads to slow contraction
Doolittle Raid – spring 1942 the US launches a surprise attack on Tokyo, did little physical damage but messed with them mentally
Battle of the Coral Sea – USA and Australia Vs. Japan
Was fought by aircraft Vs. ships, no ship fired at each other
Stopped the Japanese advance (no one won the battle)

4. Stemming the Japanese Tide
Battle of Midway
This is an important one, first US victory (large scale)
Chester Nimitz lead the US battle group
The USA is out numbered (ships and planes)
But they intercepted the Japanese code and knew they were coming
America routs the Japanese

5. Allies on the Offensive
Guadalcanal was Japan’s first defeat on land
Japan was beat back, and back, and back
America used the island hopping campaign
Leave the heavily defended islands alone, go for the weaker ones, as long as you moved closer to Japan
Leyte Gulf - Japan throws their entire navy at the US, they lose and lose the rest of their navy

6. Allies on the Offensive
With the lose of their navy Japan resorts to desperate measures… the kamikaze
Kamikaze means divine wind in Japanese
They did damage but overall they are unsuccessful, biggest impact: messed with the US sailors’ heads

7. Allies on the Offensive
Iwo Jima – Important because it was within bomber range of Japan
Heavily defended, 20,000 Japanese soldiers entrenched in caves and bunkers (high ground)
6,000 marines died taking the island and only 200 Japanese soldiers survived
Okinawa – Allowed the Americans to send fighters with the bombers into Japanese airspace
Fighting was worse than Iwo 7,600 died in land battle additional 5,000 at sea
Japan lost 11,000 two officers took their lives via ritual

8. Atomic Bomb Ends All The Manhattan Project: To drop the bomb or not
Lead developer was J Robert Oppenheimer
At the peak of production 600,000 Americans worked on it
First test happened July 16, 1945 it worked
To drop the bomb or not
It was a terrible weapon and would cost many civilian lives
To land and take Japan would cost ½ million US lives, the landing alone would be D-Day times 10

9. Atomic Bomb Ends All Hiroshima – bombed August 6, 1945
Nagasaki – bombed August 9, 1945
Total death toll estimated from both bombs 200,000
Hirohito was horrified and called an end to the war
September 2, 1945 WWII ends with the signing of papers to end the war aboard the USS Missouri

10. Time to Rebuild
Yalta Conference – Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet on the Black Sea Feb 1945
They discuss what to do after the war
Stalin wanted Germany to be divided, Churchill did not, Roosevelt mediated
Compromise were made, Germany was divided for a time and Stalin would let eastern Europe have free elections (Poland)

11. Time to Rebuild
Nuremberg Trials – placed 24 Nazi leaders in front of a court to face war crimes
Many nationalities made up the court
12 of the 24 defendants were sentenced to death
The rest went to jail
Overall 200 Nazis would be convicted of war crimes, many more were found not guilty

12. Time to Rebuild Occupation of Japan The US took control of Japan
1,100 Japanese from the Prime Minister Tojo to lowly prisoners are put on trial
7 (including Tojo) are put to death
America will control Japan for seven years
They made Japan follow free-market economy and change to a democracy will a constitution that was written by the Americans