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Chapter 17, Section 3
The War in
the Pacific
Quick Write (Review):
What was V-E Day?
• The day Germany surrendered
unconditionally to the Allies, ending
WWII in Europe
• May 8, 1945
Chapter 17, Section 3
• Even though the Allies decided to attack
Germany first and Japan second, the Allies
did not wait until V-E Day to make their
move on Japan
• By April 1941, Japan had a large empire in
the Pacific including:
Hong Kong, Indochina, Malaya, Burma,
Thailand, the Dutch East Indies, Guam,
Wake Island, Solomon Islands, and much of
China
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Chapter 17, Section 3
• Japan even took control of the U.S.
territory Philippine Islands after the attack
on Pear Harbor in 1941
• General MacArthur had been stationed in
the Philippines but was forced to evacuate,
promising the people, “I will return”
• Thousands of American and Filipino
soldiers were not able to escape and were
forced onto the Bataan Peninsula (the
Bataan Death March), where hundreds died
Chapter 17, Section 3
• In the Spring of 1942, the Allies began to
make some progress against Japan
• Lt. Col. James Dootlittle led a series of
bombing raids on Japan (Tokyo), known as
Doolittle’s Raid
• American and Australian forces prevented
Japan from taking Australia in the five-day
Battle of Coral Sea
Chapter 17, Section 3
• Japan wanted to capture the strategic
Island of Midway next
• Admiral Chester Nimitz was in charge of
the U.S. naval forces in the Pacific, and he
defended Midway
• By the end of the Battle of Midway, Japan
had lost 4 aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and
250 planes
• Midway was the turning point in the war in
the Pacific
Chapter 17, Section 3
• After Midway, the Allies began a strategy
called “island hopping”
• Island Hopping = the Allied strategy in the
Pacific of capturing some islands and
skipping others to gain a strategic
advantage and cut off Japanese-controlled
territories from supplies
• With each island, the Allies moved closer
to Japan
Chapter 17, Section 3
• The Allies won the Battle of Guadalcanal
in August 1942 (Japan’s first defeat on land)
• Japan began to fight harder, using
kamikaze (suicide) pilots who would crash
their planes into Allied ships
• Japan used kamikazes heavily in the
Philippines
• The Allies won the Battle of Leyte Gulf
(Philippines) in October 1944
Chapter 17, Section 3
• The Allies took the
island of Iwo Jima
from Japan in March
1945
• More than 6,000
U.S. Marines died
taking Iwo Jima, and
a famous photo (and
now statue)
symbolize this
important victory
Chapter 17, Section 3
• In April 1945, the Allies invaded Okinawa
• Okinawa was the last major island
remaining between the Allies and Japan
• Japan used more then 1,900 kamikaze
attacks on Okinawa
• 7,600 Americans died fighting on Okinawa
(land and sea)
• The Japanese lost 110,000 men defending
Okinawa
Chapter 17, Section 3
• The next step for the Allies was to invade
the Japanese mainland
• Churchill and Truman were afraid that
millions of Allied soldiers would be lost
fighting Japan
• The U.S. had developed an atomic bomb
by 1945
• On July 25, 1945, Truman gave the order
for the U.S. military to make plans to drop
the atomic bomb on Japan
Chapter 17, Section 3
• On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay
released an atomic bomb (Little Boy) on
Hiroshima
• On August 9, 1945, a second atomic bomb
(Fat Man) was dropped on Nagasaki
• By the end of 1945, 200,000 Japanese
citizens died from injuries and radiation
poisoning caused by the atomic blasts
• Emperor Hirohito was horrified by the
destruction caused by the atomic bombs
Chapter 17, Section 3
• Japan formally surrendered to the Allies on
September 2, 1945
• August 14, 1945 was known as V-J Day
(victory in Japan)
• WWII was over
• The U.S. now had to begin rebuilding wartorn nations after the war
• At the Yalta Conference in 1945, the Big
Three (U.S., Britain, Soviet Union), decided
how to deal with Germany after the war and
created the United Nations
Chapter 17, Section 3
• United Nations = an international
peacekeeping organization
• Germany would also be divided into 4
zones (controlled by U.S., Britain, France,
and the Soviet Union)
• At the Nuremberg Trials the Nazis were
put on trial for war crimes and “crimes
against humanity”
• Japan was occupied by Allied forces,
prohibited from having a military, and wrote
a new constitution