U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment of the Fifth Division raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on February 23, 1945. The Battle of Iwo Jima was the costliest in Marine Corps history, with almost 7,000 Americans killed in 36 days of fighting.
Japanese expansion in East Asia began in 1931 with invasion of Manchuria and continued in 1937, with a brutal attack on China. On September 27, 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy thus entering the military alliance known as the " Axis". Seeking to curb Japanese forces from Manchuria and China, the U.S.
A Japanese torpedo bomber goes down in flames after a direct hit by 5-inch shells from the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, on October 25, 1944.
imposed economic sanctions on Japan. Forced with severe shortage of oil and other natural resources and driven by the ambition to displace the U.S. as the dominant Pacific power, Japan decided to attack the U.S, and British forces in Asia and seize the resources of Southeast Asia. Early on the morning of December 8, 1941, the second World War in the Pacific was begun with an amphibious attack by imperial Japanese Army troops on the northeast coast of British Malaya, within hours they pushed their way inland despite heavy transport losses at the hands of the hands of the few British aircraft that were in the area. Other attacks by Japanese forces across the Pacific followed in rapid succession the largest of them aimed at the giant American naval base at Pearl Habor, Hawaii where it was still December 7. The Japanese government believed that once these regions were firmly under their control, the Allics - ans especially the U.S. - would sue for peace rather than fight a bloody war in distant lands. The Japanese however did not anticipate the angry backlash which came as a result of their use of force Pearl Harbor.
Landing barges loaded with U.S. troops bound for the beaches of Leyte island, in October 1944, as American and Japanese fighter planes duel to the death overhead. The men aboard the crafts watch the dramatic battle in the sky as they approach the shore.
A negotiated settlement of the type envisioned by Japanese high command became impossible. In the end, a grimly determined Allied coalition fought it way back across the Pacific, island by island, until the twin spectres of nuclear bombardment and war with the Soviet Union forced Imperial intervention and the end of war. The Japanese offensives at 1941 were composed of several bold moves across the western Pacific basin, something never before attempted on such a large scale. This military solution called for the complete occupation of southeast Asia and the Dutch East Indies in order to secure much needed raw resources. On August 6, 1945, the United States Air Force dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Tens of thousands of people died in the initial explosion, and many more died later from radiation exposure. Three days later, the United States dropped a bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Approximately 120,000 civilians died as a result of the two blasts. On August 8, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Japanese-occupied Manchuria. After Japan agreed to surrender on August 14, 1945, American forces began to occupy Japan. Japan formally surrendered to the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union on September 2, 1945. The agenda of the entire country was dramatically changed on the morning of August 6, when a lightly escorted American B-29 bomber flew over the industrial city of Hiroshima and dropped a powerful new weapon called an atomic bomb. The resulting shock, heat wave and radiation killed tens of thousands of people who were in the downtown area at the time. Although the casualties caused by the bombing were less than those suffered during the Tokyo firebombings shortly before, the knowledge that it was caused by a single bomb was sobering even to the most ardent conservative. The density of casualties caused by the bomb was four times that of firebombing and could be unleashed by a single aircraft.
Keenly aware that American aircraft could fly where they wished over all of Japan, the country attempted to assess
These Japanese prisoners were among those captured by U.S. forces on Guadalcanal Island in the Solomon Islands, shown November 5, 1942.
what had occurred over Hiroshima. Three days later another atomic bomb was detonated over the city of Nagasaki. Again, tens of thousands were killed, confirming the ability of the United States to successfully build and deliver these powerful new weapons at-will. That same day the Soviet Union opened a massive offensive against Japanese forces in Manchuria where the Soviets used their better armored formations to devastating effect, overrunning the frontline in advances that were difficult for imperial high command to believe. Japanese forces opposing the Red Army began to lose men by the hundreds of thousands with not nearly enough damage inflicted in return to make up for their loss. Japan was losing control of the mainland.The entry of Russia into the war and the twin bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki spelled doom for Japan's trump card of national mobilization. Now the United States could pummel Japanese civilization into extinction without even setting foot on the home islands, and imperial army troops in China could do nothing to stop it. Indeed the later seemed bound for extinction. All of this undeniably bad news allowed those in favor of peace –
Troops of the 165th infantry, New York's former "Fighting 69th" advance on Butaritari Beach, Makin Atoll, which already was blazing from naval bombardment which preceded on November 20, 1943. The American forces seized the Gilbert Island Atoll from the Japanese.
including Japanese Emperor Hirohito – to have their way and on August 15, 1945, the Emperor announced to his nation that it would surrender "in order to save mankind" from nuclear oblivion. So powerful was the Japanese military and so deep was their conviction of ultimate victory or stalemate, even at this point the Emperor barely convinced many officers to stand down and accept surrender. More than a few committed suicide rather than accept the disgrace and others took days to convince of the finality of the Imperial decision. In some areas there was armed mutiny. The final surrender was signed on board the American battleship Missouri in Tokyo Harbor, ushering in a long period of recovery for all of the nations involved.
World War II in the Pacific
Works Cited Beck, Roger. Modern World History. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2003. 447-450. Print.
Ramirez, Susan. Human Legacy. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2008. 443-444. Print.
THE PACIFIC WAR
Japanese expansion in East Asia began in 1931 with invasion of Manchuria and continued in 1937, with a brutal attack on China. On September 27, 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy thus entering the military alliance known as the " Axis". Seeking to curb Japanese forces from Manchuria and China, the U.S.
Keenly aware that American aircraft could fly where they wished over all of Japan, the country attempted to assess
Works Cited
Beck, Roger. Modern World History. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2003. 447-450. Print.
Ramirez, Susan. Human Legacy. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2008. 443-444. Print.
"World War ll In The Pacific." Holocaust Encyclopedia. © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 10 Jun 2013. Web. 17 Nov 2013. <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005155>.
"The Pacific War." The War Times Journal. © 1999-2013 by The War Times Journal at www.wtj.com.. Web. 17 Nov 2013. <http://www.wtj.com/articles/pacific_summary/index_03.htm>.