1. Pacific Theater

2. Philippines  Spring 1942  Japanese control Philippines in March when Douglas MacArthur ordered by FDR off island  Promised that “I shall return”  Significance  US stumble out of gates in Pacific  Many US soldiers and personnel left behind

3. Coral Sea  May 1942  Japanese and US clash in air between Asian and Australia  Significant because-one showed the different types of battle that we will see in Pacific (air and naval will rule). Two- it shows the world Japan can be stopped and Australia is no longer threatened.

4. Battle of Midway  Summer of 1942  Why fought?-Midway island (NW of Hawaii). US cracks code and is aware of attack  Scout planes find Japanese on June 3  Japanese will lose 4 aircraft carriers and over 250 planes in battle  Turning point of Pacific  “Avenged Pearl Harbor” as one Japanese pilot said

5. Iwo Jima  Most protected spot in Asia  Over 20,700 troops (all would die but roughly 200)  Marines lose 6,000-highest of pacific thus far  Fought as a stepping stone to Japan- only Okinawa left in island hopping campaign  Produced ‘the photo’

6. Battle of Okinawa  April 1945  US invasion-dealt with kamikaze attacks and unbelievable fighting style of never surrender  110,000 die for Japan while ‘only’ 7,000 for US  Scary preview at what fighting in Japan might be like-is there another way to end the war

7. Fighting style  Japanese fought w/ honor and a cultural belief in the military  Kamikaze attacks-purposely using planes strapped with bombs to hurl into ships, etc to cause maximum damage  Name comes from term “divine wind” after the story of a typhoon that saved Japan from a Mongol invasion in the 1200’s.

8. Atomic Bomb  Manhattan Project  Lead by Oppenheimer  First tested in July of 1945 in New Mexico  Flash was visible for 180 miles  Harry S Truman faces his first tough decision  Drop the bomb and end countless numbers of lives  OR don’t drop it and lose American lives  He would ask Japan to surrender at once, or else

9.  When they don’t surrender, the first Atom bomb is dropped on August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima, Japan  After hesitating to surrender, Nagasaki was hit w/ the second  Both areas were military areas and hence their selection for the drop  Hirohito was horrified by the damage and eventually calls for peace by surrendering to the US on Sept. 2