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Pearl Harbor
On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese had a suprise air attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After just two hours of bombing, more than 2,400 Americans were dead, 21 ships had been sunken or damaged, and more than were 188 U.S. aircraft destroyed. -
President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Infamy Speech
At 12:30 pm, the day following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States intered World War II. On this day President Roosevelt gave a speeh.The qoute which named the speech is when President Franklin said, "a day which will live in infamy." The address is regarded as one of the most famous American political speeches of the 20th century. -
Relocation Centers
in February 1942 shortly after the outbreak of World War II, President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order, authorizing Japanese-American citizens to be picked up and placed in one of 10 “relocation centers” located in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas. This affected approximately 120,000 Japanese, of which approximately 80,000 were US Citizens. -
the Enterprise and the Hornet
Americans who forced the hand of the Japanese. On April 18th, 1942, America had launched bombers from two American aircraft carriers (the ‘Enterprise’ and the ‘Hornet’) that had bombed Tokyo. This strengthened Yamamoto’s case against the Americans aircraft carriers and on May 5th, Imperial General Headquarters Navy Order 18 was issued which ordered Yamamoto to carry out an attack on Midway Island and other key points in the Western Aleutians. The operation was to take place in early June 1942. -
The Battle of the Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought in the waters southwest of the Solomon Islands and eastward from New Guinea, was the first of the Pacific War's six fights between opposing aircraft carrier forces. Though the Japanese could rightly claim a tactical victory on "points", it was an operational and strategic defeat for them, the first major check on the great offensive they had begun five months earlier at Pearl Harbor. -
The Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway, fought in June 1942, must be considered one of the most decisive battles of World War II. The Battle of Midway effectively destroyed Japan’s naval strength when the Americans destroyed four of its aircraft carriers. Japan’s navy never recovered from its mauling at Midway and it was on the defensive after this battle. -
Massacre on Wake Island
Japenese brutally killed almost 100 Americans POWs on Wake Island. Garrison commander Shigematsu Sakaibara ordered this execution, because he heard of a bombardment coming. These were not soldiers, but just civilian constructors. Not until September 1945, that Admiral Shigimatsu Sakaibara and 15 other Japanese officers and men who had acted under his orders were arrested for war crimes. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
It was fought in waters near the Philippine islands of Leyte and Samar from 23 through 26 October 1944, between combined US and Australian forces and the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Battle of Leyte Gulf is really made of four smaller battles; Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, Battle of Surigao Strait, Battle of Cape Engano, and Battle off Samar. It was the first battle in which Japanese aircraft carried out organized kamikaze attacks. -
US Bombards Japan
Over 1000 US naval aircraft raid Hokkaido and the port of Kamaishi. The American battleships South Dakota, Indiana and Massachusetts, bombard the Kamaishi steel works in the first naval gunfire directed against the Japanese home islands. The first naval bombardment of Japanese home islands. -
Little Boy Hits Hiroshima
The American airmen dropped a nuclear bomb named Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima. Most of the dead were civilians. -
Fat Man Falls on Nagasaki
Hiroshima was bombed three days before Nagasaki. This bomb also came from Americans. 60,000–80,000 was killed in Nagasaki from the bomb. The bomb was named Fat Man. From all the death and sickness on August 15, 1945, Japanese surrended to the Allied Forces.
