Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; also attack the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghai and Midway.
U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan. Japanese land near Singapore and enter Thailand.
China declares war on Japan.
Japanese invade the Philippines and also seize Guam.
Japanese invade Burma.
First Japanese merchant ship sunk by a U.S. submarine.
Japanese invade British Borneo.
Japanese invade Hong Kong.
Japanese invade Luzon in the Philippines.
General Douglas MacArthur begins a withdrawal from Manila to Bataan; Japanese take Wake Island.
British surrender at Hong Kong.
Manila declared an open city.
Japanese bomb Manila.
President Roosevelt announces the Japanese have executed several airmen from the Doolittle Raid.
U.S. begins submarine warfare against Japanese shipping.
The U.S. Army Air Force begins preparations for dropping the Atomic Bomb by establishing the 509th Composite Group to operate the B-29s that will deliver the bomb.
First Atomic Bomb is successfully tested in the U.S.
Components of the Atomic Bomb "Little Boy" are unloaded at Tinian Island in the South Pacific.
First Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima from a B-29 flown by Col. Paul Tibbets.
Second Atomic Bomb is dropped on Nagasaki from a B-29 flown by Maj. Charles Sweeney -- Emperor Hirohito and Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki then decide to seek an immediate peace with the Allies.
Japanese accept unconditional surrender; Gen. MacArthur is appointed to head the occupation forces in Japan.
