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Japan's annexation of Manchuria
The Manchurian Crisis 1931-1933:After US government introduced “tariffs” to protect her industry from Japanese competitors. The tariff had a huge impact on Japanese industry and it eventually led to high unemployment. Japanese leaders voiced their opinion to solve their declining economy and to show their strong power by expanding their country. Japanese chose Manchuria as the place to invade, because Manchuria possessed raw materials. Japanese responded to Mukden incident to invade Manchuria. -
7 Dec 1941, Pearl Harbor
The Japanese army attacked US Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The Japanese army launched an attack on Pearl Harbor when US suddenly stopped oil and raw material trades. US stopped trading with Japan empire when Japan was gaining too much power in Asia. Most of the US Navy’s battleships and cruisers were sunk. There is famous quote from President Roosevelt, “a date which will live in infamy”. This event was huge turning point, because this event encouraged U.S. to declare war on Japan. -
8 Dec 1941, US declares war on Japan
After unjustified attack from Japan, United States declared war on Japan. At 9:30 a.m. on December 8, 1941,U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on a national radio broadcast nationally noticed people about the attack from Japan and declared war on Japan. The Senate voted(82 for and 0 against) to declare war and U.S.House of Representative voted(388 for and 1 against) to declare war. This was big turning point, because U.S. finally got involved into the war and led allies to victory. -
4 Jun 1942 Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was fought near the Central Pacific island of Midway. Before the battle of midway, Japanese were on the offensive, invading and conquering throughout the Asia and Pacific. However, after huge defeat, brought down Japan from offensive to defensive. After the battle, Americans and Allies took the offensive in the Pacific. -
7 Aug 1942, Battle of Guadalcanal
Japanes troops arrived in Guadalcanal on June 8, 1942 to construct an air base. However, U.S. arrived in Guadalcanal two months later to take the isalnd from Japanese army. Possesion of Guadalcanal air base was very important for U.S., because U.S. would have control to communicate to Austrailia. By end of the battle, Japanese had lost two thrids of the 31,400 troops can U.S. army had lost less than 2,000 soldiers. Japanese army was defeated and US took over Guadalcanal air base. -
23 Oct 1944, Battle of Leyte Gulf
The battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle in history. The battle involved over 250 warships and almost 2000 aircraft. To fight off fastly advencing allies, Japanese soldiers so desparate to stop the allies, organiz kamikaze attacks. After the brutal battle, Japanese lost 4 aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, 8 cruisers, they lost the battle to allies and etc. The Allied victory opened up the door for liberation of Philippines and redueced Japanese resources and supplies flow. -
6 Aug 1945, First atomic bomb on Hiroshima
An American B-29 bomber world’s first atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The Hiroshima bomb, “Little Boy”, the explosion wiped out ninety percent of the city and killed about 80,000 people immediately and killed additional ten thousand people from a radiation exposure. From this devastating bombing, Japanese empire and army started to decline extremely. -
9 Aug, 1945 Second atomic bomb on Nagasaki
An American B-29 dropped second atomic bomb, a “Fat Man” on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The Fat Man, weighted about 10,000 lbs and had capacity of about 20,000 tons of high explosive immediately killed about 40,000 people, and killed additional several thousands people from a radiation exposure. The second atomic bomb was very devastating news for Japan. This second atomic bomb led Japan to surrender, which it was very huge turning point. -
2 Sep 1945, End of World War II
On September 2, 1945, Japanese surrendered. After fall of Germany, Japan empire was only standing country that was against allies. However, after two devastating bombing from United States sliced Japanese army and government into half. The Japanese emperor Hirohito made a broadcast to the Japanese people on 15 August 1945, simply remarked that the war did not turn in Japan’s favor. The day is called V-J day, meaning Victory over Japan.
