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The Pacific War

• Japan and WWII

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After Pearl Harbor

• Japan seized most of East Asia, from Burma in the
  west to Guam in the east
• U.S. raid on Tokyo enrages Japan they decide to
  attack Midway, west of Hawaii
• HUGE battle, mostly airplane to airplane, decided
  in a five minute span
• Turning point in the Pacific War

3
Guadalcanal and Island Hopping

• U.S. wins first major land victory by taking
  island of Guadalcanal
• Attack north, from Australia, and west, by ship
  Army in charge of former, Navy the latter
• Skip over key Japanese strong points
• Island-hopping strategy very effective

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Closing In

• U.S. seizes Iwo Jima and Okinawa in horribly
  bloody battles
• Fighting fiercer than anything U.S. faced in
  Europe
• Kamikazi attacks
• If only we might fall
• Like cherry blossoms in the spring
• So pure and radiant!
• -Haiku by a kamikaze pilot,
• died February 1945 at age 22
• Entire families throw themselves off of cliffs on
  Okinawa to avoid capture
• Convinces the U.S. that an invasion of Japan
  would be far, far bloodier than even D-Day

5
The Atomic Bomb

• The US brought a quick end to the war by dropping
  atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August,
  1945
• Several hundred thousand Japanese civilians would
  die

Nagasaki
Hiroshima
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