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Pearl Harbor
The Japanese launched a surprise attack Pearl Harbor at 7:30 A.M. The Japanese goal was to eradicate the United States' main pacific base. 2500 people were killed, 8 battleships severely damaged, 3 destroyers unusable, 160 aircraft destroyed, 128 more were damaged. -
Germany and Italy declare war on the United States
On December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy officially declared war on the United States. They did this in response to the United States declaring war on the Empire of Japan. -
American forces surrender in the Philipines
May 6, 1942. U.S. Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright surrenders all troops at Bataan. 800 men died and 11,500 of the remaining Allied forces were taken as POWs. Lietenant General Wainwright was a POW until 1945. He was abroad the USS Missouri to watch the Japanese surrender ceremony. -
Manhattan Project
President FDR signed an order to secretly create a nuclear weapon. The US Government started this research because Albert Einstein and Enrico Ferri told the President that the Nazis figured out how to split a uranium atom. The US needed to keep up with Germany's gaining power. -
Battle of Midway
Due to major advances in code-breaking, the U.S. found out about an ambush of its left over carriers. Japan wanted to destroy the rest of the pacific fleet. Admiral Isoko of the Japanese empire planned an attack outside Pearl Harbor to draw out the rest of the destroyers. Thanks to code-breaking, Admiral Nimitz placed all available to surprise Japan. The United States attack whenever they were refueling. The Americans destroyed all 4 main carriers, Akagi,Kaga,Soryu, and Hiryu. U.S. Win. -
Battle of Guadalcanal
U.S. Marines launch a surprise attack on a Japanese air base in Guadalcanal that was midway through construction in the Soloman Islands. The battle ended in February 9, 1943. The Japanese lost two-thirds of its 31,400 troops deployed. The U.S. Army and U.S. Marines only lost about 2,000 of 60,000. Both sides lost a significant amount of ships. Japan's elite group of naval aviators were destroyed. Another U.S. Victory. -
Battle of Tarawa
The United States started its Central Pacific campaign against Japan by deploying 18,000 Marines to stop Japan's aggressive Pacific expansion. Low tides prevented U.S. boats from clearing coral reefs and got stuck up in the reefs. Tarawa was the most fortified base the Americans have encountered yet. Both sides suffered heavy losses. The United States won that battle. -
Hiroshima atomic bomb
The United States dropped an atomic bomb to make Japan stopped fighting. After time and time again to have peace talks, Japan kept refusing. The atom bomb was to make a statement to the Japanese people. We dropped it on August 6, 1945. -
Nagasaki
The Japanese didn't surrender after the first atomic bomb. Three days later, the US wanted to make sure that they would stop. Another atom bomb was dropped in the town of Nagasaki. The Japanese surrendered on August 15, 1945 since the damage was to extensive.
