World War 2 Timeline: Pacific Theater

By lauren.nellis

  • Japan invades Manchuria

    when the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria immediately following the Mukden Incident.

  • Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact

    signed by Adolf Hitler, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburō Kurusu. It was a defensive military alliance.

  • Japan bombs Pearl Harbor

    hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours.

  • United States troops halt the Japanese island - hopping advance at Guadalcanal in the Soloman Islands

    After the Battle of Midway, the United States launched a counter-offensive strike known as "island-hopping," establishing a line of overlapping island bases, as well as air control.

  • MacArthur ordered out of the Philippines

    Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines, as the American defense of the islands collapses.

  • The United States declares war on Japan, ending World War 2

    On this day, as America’s Pacific fleet lay in ruins at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt requests, and receives, a declaration of war against Japan.

  • Manhattan Project launches

    the U.S. Army Intelligence office denied Einstein the security clearance needed to work on the Manhattan Project.

  • British and U.S. navies halt the Japanese naval advance in the central Pacific at Midway

    At the height of its power, the Imperial Japanese Navy was poised to land a crushing blow to the U.S. Pacific Fleet. But at the Battle of Midway, the U.S. Navy turned the tables on its powerful enemy, sinking four aircraft carriers and changing the momentum of the war in the Pacific.

  • Firebombing raids of Tokyo and other Japanese cities begin

    extensive destruction to the country's cities and killing between 241,000 and 900,000 people.

  • Allied troops conquer Okinawa, the last island stop before the Japanese islands

    After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of the Japanese mainland.

  • USS Indianapolis sunk

    Torpedoed and sunk on 30 July 1945 by Japanese submarine I-58.

  • Trinity test - Atomic bomb

    The test was conducted in the Jornada del Muerto desert about 35 miles (56 km) southeast of Socorro, New Mexico on what was then the USAAF Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range.

  • Japan invades China, initiating World War 2 in the Pacific

    Japan invaded Thailand and attacked the British possessions of Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong as well as the United States military bases in Hawaii, Wake Island, Guam and the Philippines.

  • The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima

    President Harry S. Truman, warned by some of his advisers that any attempt to invade Japan would result in horrific American casualties, ordered that the new weapon be used to bring the war to a speedy end.

  • The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and invades Manchuria

    the Soviet Union officially declares war on Japan, pouring more than 1 million Soviet soldiers into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, northeastern China, to take on the 700,000-strong Japanese army.

  • The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki

    The New York Times article reported that the dropping of the bomb occurred at noon, Japanese time.

  • Japan formally surrenders ending World War 2

    The Allied naval blockade of Japan and intensive bombing of Japanese cities had left the country and its economy devastated.