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Pearl Harbor
Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; also attack the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghai and Midway. -
Declaring War
U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan. -
China
China declares war on Japan. -
Hong Kong
British surrender at Hong Kong -
Manila
Japanese bomb Manila -
Manila Captured
Manila and U.S. Naval base at Cavite captured by the Japanese -
Nuclear Chain Reaction
Enrico Fermi conducts the world's first nuclear chain reaction test at the University of Chicago -
Guadalcanal
Emperor Hirohito of Japan gives permission to his troops to withdraw from Guadalcanal after five months of bloody fighting -
Bismarck Sea
U.S. victory over Japanese in the Battle of Bismarck Sea.
March 2-4 -
Sub Warfare
U.S. began submarine warfare against Japanese shipping -
Last Offensive in China
Japanese begin their last offensive in China, attacking U.S. air bases in eastern China -
Bomb Prep
The U.S. Army Air Force begins preparations for dropping the Atomic Bomb -
Tokyo Flames
15sq miles of Tokyo erupts in flames after it is fire bombed by 279 B-29s -
President Roosevelt
President Roosevelt dies, succeeded by Harry S. Truman. -
Bomber Raids
1,000 bomber raids against Japan begin. -
Japanese Home Islands
The first U.S. Naval bombardment of Japanese home islands. -
Bomb Testing
First Atomic Bomb is successfully tested in the U.S. -
First Atomic Bomb
First Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima from a B-29 -
Second Bomb
Second Atomic Bomb is dropped on Nagasaki.
Hirohito and Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki then decide to seek peace with the the U.S and Britain. -
VJ Day
Formal Japanese surrender ceremony on board the MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay as 1,000 carrier-based planes fly overhead; President Truman declares VJ Day -
United Nations
The United Nations is born
