1. World War II
War in the Pacific

2. Allied Strategy
Island Hopping Campaign – seizing islands closer and closer to Japan and using them as bases for air attacks on Japan and cutting off Japanese supplies through submarine warfare against Japanese shipping

3. Axis Strategy
Following Pearl Harbor, Japan invaded the Philippines and Indonesia and planned to invade both Hawaii and Australia
Japanese leaders hoped America would accept Japanese predominance in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, rather than conduct a bloody and costly war to reverse Japanese gains

4. May and June 1942
American warships and airplanes damaged 2 Japanese fleets during the battles of Coral Sea and Midway  weakened Japanese naval power and stopped the Japanese advance toward Hawaii

5. War in the Pacific

6. Summer 1942 – Island Hopping Campaign
American strategy to win World War II in the Pacific
Capture a few strategic Japanese-held islands and isolating the rest
Began with Guadalcanal

7. Island Hopping Campaign

8. October 1944
MacArthur began to retake the Philippines

9. February 1945 – Battle of Iwo Jima
Part of the Island Hopping Campaign
Americans suffered heavy casualties (6,800 Americans died)

10. April 1945 – Battle of Okinawa
"Bloodiest island fight in the Pacific War"
12,000 Americans died
By capturing Okinawa, Americans gained more airbases for raids against Japan (began bombing Tokyo, Yokohama, and Osaka)

11. Battle of Okinawa

12. July 1945 – Manhattan Project
New Mexico  U.S. successfully tested the first atomic bomb (Manhattan Project  plans to build the first atomic bomb)

13. August 1945
Atomic Bomb dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima

14. September 1945 – V-J Day
Japan surrendered  V-J Day (Victory in Japan Day)