The Pacific War began with Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The Allies, including the US, Great Britain, Russia, and France, fought against Japanese forces in the Pacific. After initial Japanese success, the tide turned in favor of the Allies, with key victories at Midway and Guadalcanal. The war ended when atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japan’s surrender.
The Pacific War is a general term referring to the portions of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean and islands in that region. The Pacific War began on December 7, 1941, when Japan mounted an attack on the Hawaiian naval base at Pearl Harbor. After years of hard fighting, the Pacific War ended when President Harry S. Truman ordered atomic bombs to be dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
There are those who believe that the Pacific conflict can be traced back to July 7, 1937, with the Japanese attack on China, or perhaps even further, to September 19, 1931, when the Japanese invaded Manchuria. In any case, after the Japanese moved to attack American soil, a war in the Pacific was guaranteed. With the United States, Great Britain, Russia, and France serving as the major Allied Powers, attacks were made against Japanese forces in the Pacific Ocean.
Japan was successful at the start of the Pacific War. Wake Island and Guam fell to the Japanese in December 1941. Within the next six months, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaya and Burma were claimed by the Japanese. The tide then began to turn for the Allied forces in mid-1942, when forces from Australia and New Zealand were able to halt the Japanese advance into New Guinea. British forces were able to do the same in India, and around the same time, US forces won the Battle of Midway.
At the time, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s primary concern was to eliminate the remaining US carrier forces. The Japanese, strengthened by their first successes, were confident in their enterprise. However, US forces surprised them and the Japanese were forced out of the battle.
Months later, US forces attacked Japanese strongholds in the Solomon Islands, forcing the Japanese to withdraw from Guadalcanal. Island after island, battle after battle, the Allied forces began to gain military supremacy in the Pacific. The methodical approach of the Allied forces seemed to work.
In 1944, American forces launched air strikes on Japan and liberated the Philippines from Japanese control. Despite huge losses suffered by Allied troops and Japanese suicide kamikaze attacks, US troops were able to capture Okinawa in June 1945. After the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, Japan surrendered.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
