War in the Pacific 1941-1945

One of the reasons for our battle with the Japanese is they attacked us, so that's what generally started it. They attacked our Naval base in Hawaii on December 7th 1941, the base was called Pearl Harbor.

The attack happened at 7:48 AM on Hawaii's time, they were attacked by multiple Japanese planes. They destroyed a few of our ships and damaged a lot of them as well. They were hoping that if they destroyed our Navy that we would've been defenseless. They were wrong... Most of our ships were in California for maintenance.

Reasons for attack

• They didn't like us
• They were part of the Axis
• We stopped trading oil with them
• The whole main reason they attacked us was mostly oil in the long run.
• They attacked Pearl Harbor because they wanted to cripple our naval power.
• If Pearl Harbor didn't exist they would've attacked some where else.

In the past before the Japanese attacked us, they were also fighting the Chinese as well. They took control and started killing many people in China. They tried to start a battle with Russia but they lost terribly. They were hoping to take some land up in the north but Russia was like "ay comrade, can't let you do that." Now they were also starting to attack British colonies as well.

In these wars Japan was very power hungry, they were the strongest country in Eastern and Southern Asia at the time and starting taking other countries in. And by that they just swallowed them. They attacked many countries and they invaded many of them. They also threatened to attack Australia. Australia couldn't defend themselves because they were to busy fighting Hitler up in Europe. Japan also attacked south east Asia and they just took all islands in the south. They pulled a Hitler and practically ruled all in their area. Well at least until they attacked us.

Leaders of Japan

• Hirohito- the Japanese Emperor
• Hideki Tojo - prime minister of Japan
• Plaek Phibunsongkhram - he was a Thailand leader but also one of the big players with Japan

Now because of all that was happening and when we actually started to attack them we used a different type of military strategy. We did what we now call island hopping, we hopped and took over every single small island the Japanese had.

To help with this we had Code talkers, they were the Navajo, they used their language to help make a code the Japanese couldn't understand. We bombed the islands they were on and because they liked to hide in holes we did this. We used napalm and burned them all out, we crisped every single little midget that went out and came in the holes.

Now we had many battles with them, we had lots of man power up in Europe but our naval power was practically in the Pacific. We did constant fights with their air power more than we did with their navy. Being that we absolutely destroyed their navy anyways.

Most of our ships were sunk by a special type of Japanese unit that they called the Kamikaze pilot. They were men who were trained like any other pilot BUT if they were about to die or they wanted to die they crashed into a ship.

They followed the warriors code with the art of Bushido, see the Japanese believed it was better to die in combat and not out of it. That's why they mainly killed our survivors in the war anyways. They did it to preserve their honor. And they did a dumb thing if they dishonored themselves or anyone else. They committed Seppuku, they gutted themselves. They did this to preserve the honor they once had.

Our battle with them somewhat started when they tried to take Australia. They attacked multiple islands and once they got to Australia we finally entered with them. We slowly started to push them out of the Solomon Islands and the Guineas islands as well.

In China the Japanese started to have issues. They started to push Japan back out, see with the Chinese trying to fight their way out and now Japan having to worry about us. So with all rebellions starting to happen and so many places to control, Japan started to falter a bit.

In the midst of the war we had multiple Marine casualties, but because of something we used, we always got more fresh new boots in the end.

We used something called propaganda, we used in WW1 and we used it now. We used ads and posters and many other things to get the message out and try to have people join in our fight against the fascist threat.

Submarine warfare also played a major part in this battle as well. These things created a whole new naval war. Ships that magically sink and what's that over there. A large metal pipe sticking out of the water. That would be a scope from a sub. The Japanese claimed that they sunk at least 468 submarines, but in reality they only sunk 42.

The Japanese launched a counteroffensive against the Chinese as well, since the Chinese were pushing the Japanese back, they were losing land and power. But because of the war with us they never really gained enough resource and units with us to have a total take over of China.

But in 1943 we had some set backs and that gave the Japanese some power and time to get their stuff together. And because of this they also attacked India in 1944. But because we found out that was happening and also because China was going to help we pushed them out of there.

We started to take them we started to find more and more resistance the closer we got to Japan. When we were fighting in Saipan we had quite the fight going up on that place as well.

Leyte Gulf, this is the largest naval battle we had with Japan, it was set in 4 distinct engagements. Now this battle practically just decided our battle with Japan and assured our victory with them. I say that because they practically lost their whole naval military. And now we need the navy to defend things as well.

Our main force aside form sailors, we used Marine raiders to fight against the Japanese, they were effective and they really solved a lot of things during the war.

The Philippine war was also one of our last battles going on with Japan as well. But it was also one of the last major battles as well. But the bloodiest battle of them all was the battle of Iwo Jima

The battle of Iwo Jima, a major battle that was one of the last island hops we did. That whole area practically became a crater. Mainly because we constantly landed arty fire and aerial bombing on it as well.

We started to liberate some places and China finally pushed Japan out of their country as well. But now the bloodiest and largest battle happened at Okinawa. This battle involved a lot of bombers as well.

This is where the kamikaze pilots really got to crash, nearly 5k sailors died in this battle. We lost 38 ships and 368 of them were damaged as well. 96% percent of all Japanese forces in this area died. and we lost over 75 thousand men.

Now the very first nuclear attack happened on August 6th 1945, we tried to warn the Japanese, we gave them multiple chances to surrender, and they never did. And because of their stubbornness they got another bomb dropped on them. Now rumor was that we would've bombed Tokyo but they actually surrendered with the second one.

Bomb names

• Fat man
• Little man
• and something to do with women

After the surrender of Japan they tried to start a coup de tat, a bunch of officers were going to try and over throw the government but one Japanese military leader convinced them to go home. And the one who formed the plan later killed himself days later.

Bataan death march, it happened in the Philippines during 1942 April 9th. Around 21,600 American Soldiers died during this whole ordeal.

During the march the men were beaten and starved. They were forced to walk hundreds of miles on foot. And they died of exposure and any other diseases they caught. Such as malaria and yellow fever.

So many of the men died on the trip it was hard to tell who was who and who actually died.

Affects of radiation from bomb

• People died
• They lost hair
• Their shadows were burnt into the ground.
• They burned horribly
• Birth defects

The Japanese suffered these horrible effects. It is one of the worst afflictions that could have ever happened to these people or anybody. The way it burned your skin and what it did was amazing (and horrifying).

Buildings were just leveled and they were just completely trashed. Everything that was in the path and vicinity of the bomb was flattened.

Radiation is deadly as they come, it doesn't kill you on the spot... well I mean sometimes it can. But the fact is when your exposed to a lot of radiation you are going to live a miserable life. It depends on the person , but it can take many affects on you.

Lots of POWs were released from Japan as well. Japan was somewhat left in shambles after that. The government wasn't exactly good at the time. And a lot of military leaders kind of croaked. And because the military decided to assassinate a lot of political candidates, they weren't doing so hot.

The aftermath of this for America was fine actually. Well aside from losing great pilots and sailors and boots. Everything generally went back to normal for like a few days.

Our economy boomed from the war. We had lots of money and lots of production after that. Also when the men got back an era of children would be born in the 50s.

The Cold War was the real after affect of all these wars. Russia and America head to head in one of the longest battles. But not one bullet was shot at each other. Instead we fought Communism in another form.

Now why I think this was important in history, well Europe wouldn't have been able to handle Japan. They just got done with their own fight.

Russia may have had a shot, but let's face it; if it had come down to naval battles, they all would have been destroyed.

If we let Japan run rampant like they were, they actually would've gotten somewhere. They were just attacking everyone in their vicinity. If we didn't fight them, the world would have had an issue. They would have gathered more resources and they would have gotten a lot more troops and tanks.

It's real importance

• It was one of the largest battles ever fought
• Many people died
• Major leaps in technology came about
• Great economic boosts came for some
• The world took care of some loose ends
• The world changed after World War 2, nothing was the same and would ever be the same again.
• It was the bloodiest war ever fought.
• It changed the world.

Now why I think it's significant, well we won, we aren't Japan or Germany. We have all this great size technology, I'm alive and I'm also not being burned out of a hole. But the main reason I really think it's significant, is what we learned in that war. We learned that war isn't fair and that we can't just sit across from each other and fire. We learned that we can't just be nice and we learned that nothing can just be solved by politics. We learned that inhumane things happened. And we learned that even if we oppress one country for their actions, they will rise again. We learned that it doesn't matter who you are, if you want world conquest that bad, you might be able to achieve it.