The War in the Pacific

Militarism in JapanIn the 1920’s Japan was caught between the need to modernize and the cultural need to retain it’s traditional heritage.

Radicals called for a compete rejection of Western ways

They wanted a militaristic government based on National Socialism – something similar to the NAZI movement that has happening in Germany.

Japanese Imperial Expansion

• The political climate in China in 1928 dictated a change in leadership– This was a threat to Japanese imperialism • They had claimed territory on mainland China and were

possibly not able to defend this territory against new, stronger leadership

• Japan needed to acquire new territories– They are a small island and are not able to acquire

adequate resources to modernize without new territory

Japanese Imperial Expansion

• There were a lack of trading partners in the 1930’s due to global depression

• They needed raw materials to keep up with their growing population

• The military and the civilian government were not cooperating, and the army eventually started taking actions not sanctioned by the government

Events Leading up to Pearl Harbour

• In 1931 the Japanese Army invaded Manchuria

• The military was trying to terrorize their civilian government – They wanted to force

martial law• The civilian Prime

Minister was assassinated– This caused infighting

between different factions of the army

Events Leading up to Pearl Harbour

• After France fell in 1940 Japan started taking over French Imperial territory – French Indo-China

• The American response was to freeze Japanese political assets in American Banks

• Refused to sell them oil or metals• Cut off from major supplies, Japanese military

commanders insisted that war with the United States was the only solution

Pearl Harbour

December 7, 1941Japan launched a surprise attack on the naval base in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. The intent was to give Japan Navy control in preparation for future attacks.

Pearl Harbour

• Instead the American declared war on Japan– President Roosevelt gave his “Day of Infamy

speech”• As a result Hitler declared war on the USA– In support of Japan

• The United States declared war back

Pearl Harbour

After Pearl Harbour

After Pearl Harbour there were several Japanese attacks on many islands in the Far Eastern Pacific

Canadians at Hong Kong

• In support of the United States declaring war on Japan, Canada declared war on them too

• Canadians were sent to fight the Japanese in the British colony of Hong Kong – This was not a part of China at this time– This was the first time Canadians saw active battle

in WW II– It did not go well

Canadians at Hong Kong

• With little training the Canadians were forced to surrender after 17 days– They ran out of supplies and ammunition

• 500 soldiers were wounded• 290 soldiers were killed• The rest were taken P.O.W.• In all 267 Canadians died in Japanese P.O.W.

camps

Battles in the Pacific

• The main force in the Pacific Theater was the Americans

• There are 4 main battles that we will take a closer look at

Midway, June 1942

• This is the major turning point • The Midway islands lay northwest of Hawaii• The Japanese wanted them because they were

strategically close to Hawaii• This was the first major victory for the

Americans• The best unit of Japanese aircraft carriers was

destroyed– This gave Americans decisive control of the Pacific

Island Hopping

• Instead of attacking every little island the Japanese had control of, the Americans chose strategic islands to take over

• They would take key islands about 400 miles apart– They would cut off supplies to the islands in

between• They moved progressively closer to Japan– This could become a massive launching pad for

attack on Japan proper

Battle of Leyte Gulf

• This battle to place in the Philippines

• They took on the whole Japanese fleet here

• They sank over half of the Japanese fleet here– Including 4 more carriers

• It was here that the Japanese introduced KAMIKAZE suicide technique

KAMIKAZE

Iwo Jima & Okinawa

• Spring 1945 these two islands were captured• These are just south of Japan proper• From here they launched attacks on Tokyo– There were huge firestorms and huge property

loss too– The loss of life was astronomical

The Manhattan Project

• Since March of 1943 the Americans had secretly been funding a very expensive bomb building project

• Spring 1945 President Truman (Roosevelt had died earlier) heard that the first test in Los Alamos New Mexico was successful

• There were only 2 bombs that were ready for use in the summer of 1945– Nicknamed them Fat Man & Little Boy

Truman’s Decision

• The military recommended that they drop the bombs without warning on Japanese land

• Scientists urged that the destruction would be too great and they should give a warning with the smaller bomb, then reserve the larger for an attack should Japan refuse to surrender

• Truman rejected this as impractical and had no problem making the decision to drop the bomb in populated areas

Hiroshima• The bomb “Little Boy” – a

uranium atom bomb was dropped

• August 6, 1945• Was a city of 340,000

people• Ground Zero temps were

540,000 degrees F• Caused a huge firestorm

that destroyed 60,000 of the cities 92,000 buildings

Nagasaki• The bomb “Fat Man” was

dropped on August 9, 1945

• This is because Japan did not surrender immediately

• The death toll in Nagasaki was over 35,000

• A total of 170,000 died due to both atomic bombs

Peace

• On August 14, 1945 the Japanese government called for peace

• This day became known as V-J Day (Victory in Japan) The victory in Europe became known as V-E Day (Victory in Europe)

• This was the official end of fighting for World War II