Chapter+28+-+The+Pacific+Theater

One of the main reasons for the US involvement in the Second World War was the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii by the Japanese. Franklin D. Roosevelt was afraid of breaking neutrality agreements and initiating in the war so the nation remained on the sidelines. Even with pressure from Germany in the east, the US was starting to lean to the sides of the Allies (Great Britain and France). On Sunday December 7, 1941, Japanese aircrafts bombed the shipyard at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The following day FDR gave the nation a speech quoting that Pearl Harbor was a “day of infamy”. On December 11th less then a week after America declared war. The original intent for the Japanese bombings was to bomb the aircraft carriers. Aircraft carriers are able to launch jets and planes to fly and attack islands and then land again while all out to see. Conveniently the aircraft carriers were all out to sea during the bombing, however this does not mean the bombings did little harm. Actually the effects of the Pearl Harbor attack were so catastrophic that over 3,500 American soldiers passed away, 350 aircrafts destroyed, and all 8 battleships of the US fleet were sunk due to only 2 hours of bombing. For the first half of the war most of America’s efforts were put into the war in Europe. During this time, Japan started to widen its control and would claim islands. Buy conquering islands the Japanese would be able to establish bases of military operation to prepare for progressing forward closer to their target: the US fleet. In a brief span of only 2 years the Japanese nation had control of land from the Philippines to the Mariana Islands. It wasn’t until the battle of Midway, in the summer of 1942, that the US started to gain some ground in the fight against the Japanese. Over hundreds of battles took place in the ever-important quest to gain naval bases in the game of island hopping. Jumping from one island to the next to move closer and closer to where they need to be to launch a full on attack. The US fleet needed to have a naval base close enough to fly non-stop to the main islands of Japan and back in order to drop a bomb or do an inland invasion. When the Americans had won battles at Okinawa and Iwa Jima in 1945 the US finally had obtained the naval position close enough to bomb the Japanese. With the Manhattan Project finally completed the two atomic bombs were ready to be dropped on Japan. The Manhattan Project was initiated by a group of scientists that mentioned how the Nazi empire was trying to create a bomb with purified uranium-235. Testing and producing the atomic bombs was a secretive matter. When finally created the two bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the US had witnessed the awful power they had unleashed, they were horrified with the destruction now possible by humans. Finally on August 15th 1945 Emperor Hirohoti announced Japan’s surrender and the Second World War was officially over.  Online Sources http://www.worldwar2history.info/Pacific/ http://www.pearlharbor.org/ http://www.worldwariihistory.info/WWII/Pacific.html http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/pacificwar/timeline.htm http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/a/atomic_bomb.htm
 * The Pacific Theater**