The Pacific War and Defeat

From 1941 to 1945, Japan entered an all-out war with the United States and Britain and ultimately suffered an unprecedented defeat. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki became a turning point in human history.

Basic Knowledge

December 8, 1941, the Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, while the Army landed on the Malay Peninsula, beginning the Pacific War (Greater East Asia War). Japan won a series of early victories and occupied Singapore, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies, but the tide turned after it lost four aircraft carriers in the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Japan continued retreating, withdrawing from Guadalcanal Island (1943) and losing Saipan Island (1944). From 1944, B-29 bombers began full-scale air raids on the Japanese mainland. In the Great Tokyo Air Raid on March 10, 1945, about 100,000 people were killed in one night. In April 1945, U.S. forces landed on Okinawa, and organized fighting ended in June (one-fourth of Okinawa's residents were victims of the Battle of Okinawa).

Further Study (Background and Effects)

On July 26, 1945, the Potsdam Declaration was issued in the name of the United States, Britain, and China. It demanded Japan's unconditional surrender, punishment of war criminals, and reduction of its territory, but Japan ignored it. At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, the U.S. military dropped the world's first atomic bomb, a uranium-type bomb called Little Boy, on Hiroshima; about 140,000 people died by the end of the year. On August 9, a plutonium-type bomb called Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki, killing about 70,000 people. On August 8, the Soviet Union renounced the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, declared war on Japan, and invaded Manchuria, southern Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. On August 14, Japan decided to accept the Potsdam Declaration, and at noon on August 15, the end of the war was announced in a radio broadcast by Emperor Showa (the Imperial broadcast). The total number of war dead reached about 3.1 million: approximately 2.3 million military personnel and 800,000 civilians.

Points to Note (Easily Confused)

① The attack on Pearl Harbor took place on December 8, 1941 Japan time, but on December 7 U.S. time. ② Distinguish the Yalta Conference (February 1945, United States, Britain, and Soviet Union), the Potsdam Conference (July 1945, United States, Britain, and Soviet Union), and the Cairo Conference (November 1943, United States, Britain, and China) by year and participating countries. ③ The atomic bombings occurred in the order Hiroshima (August 6) → Nagasaki (August 9), with Soviet entry into the war on August 8 between them. ④ The Imperial broadcast was at noon on August 15, 1945, while the surrender document was signed on September 2 aboard the battleship Missouri by Mamoru Shigemitsu.

Practice

1. Which battle became the turning point at which the Pacific War began to favor the United States over Japan?
2. Which cities were atomic bombs dropped on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively?
3. State the date on which Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration and the Imperial broadcast was made.