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Pacific Theater Essay

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World War II consisted of many different battlegrounds with the Pacific Theatre being one of them . This theater specifically was fought on the Pacific ocean as well as in the air and on the ground. These wars were fought with air-craft carriers and airplanes. The Pacific Theatre consisted of many different battles that were primarily fought between the United States and the Japanese (Gorman,Pacific Theatre). The two battles that stand out the most and that will be discussed in this essay are the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Okinawa. Both of these wars resulted in many casualties as well as weakened and created a lot of destruction. Nonetheless, the United States won practically every battle against Japan. The Japanese however refused …show more content…

Not only was it the largest battle but it was the final battle between Japan and the United States. Japan was already very weak and all that was left was their naval force because of all the battles they have endured with the U.S. but yet they refused to surrender. The Japanese became desperate to defeat the United States, so they planned to resort to the kamikaze emissions. This is where some pilots would purposely crash into an American ship to create as much damage as possible. In the end, Japan had once again lost another battle against the U.S. but they did leave severe damage (Gorman, Pacific …show more content…

The Japanese saw their emperor as a god and continued to fight in the war to protect him (Wiesner-Hanks 815). Harry Truman was left in charge of deciding what to do with Japan because the only option available to end this war was to invade Japan and that's not what he wanted to do. Truman then finds out about the Manhattan Project, which were the atomic bombs and decides to give Japan one more chance to surrender or he will drop an atomic bomb. On August 6, 1945 an atomic bomb, also known as “little boy”, was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. The bomb was dropped over the main hospital and in an instant 70k people died and those who were not close to the bomb were still affected by the radiation leaving them to become very ill and even die. Still Japan refuses to surrender despite the great amount of destruction and casualties that came out of the bombing in Hiroshima so the United States dropped their last atomic bomb in the city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945). They sent out warnings the day before to let people know that they should evacuate, in the end it resulted with less casualties but it was still a lot of collateral damage and destruction (Gorman, Pacific Theatre). Finally, Japan surrendered and the Second World War came to an end on August

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There wasn 't much of a battle considering the fact that it was very unexpected and Franklin D. Roosevelt had just spoke to the Japanese and they seemed to be on good terms. The event only lasted around two hours and in that short amount of time 20 American naval vessels were destroyed, 8 battleships, and 200 airplanes. There were around 2,000 American casualties while 1,000 others were only wounded. The day after this attack the president of the United States declared war on

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An American bomber dropped the world’s first nuclear bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bombing wiped out almost 90 percent of the city and killed more than 80,000 people and leaving 10,000 more in severe injuries from radiation exposure. Three days later, a second bomb dropped on Nagasaki, killing an over 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito had nothing else to defeat united states so than he announced to Japan to surrender

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This gave a huge advantage to the allies because they were able to attack Japan, which would eventually lead to the end of the war. Shrinking the Japanese empire and regaining territory is how the United States won the war, and this would have not happened if the United States were still on the defensive side protecting themselves from the growing Japanese Empire. The Battle of Midway was the biggest turning point because it displayed the importance of air superiority in the rest of the war. The casualties that the Japanese faced during the Battle of Midway would change the course of the war. Losing four aircraft carriers and hundreds of trained aircrew was a severe setback for the Japanese Navy and affected naval operations, “In addition, Midway [...] demonstrated the newly dominant role of aircraft carriers and aviation in naval combat—they were the first major naval battles in history fought entirely by aircraft”(Eysturlid).

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In the Pacific and European theaters, we have discovered many ways that the two were alike and other ways that the two theaters were distinctly different during the time of World War II. One of the big differences between the two theaters, is the style of warfare. A article that was written on Enotes says, “One major difference was the sort of weapons that could be brought to bear. The European theater was influenced strongly by tank warfare on the plains of Europe. By contrast, the Pacific theater offered very little in the way of open

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In late July of 1945 at the Potsdam Conference, the Allied leaders gave the Japanese a chance to surrender, and they totally rejected it (Doc. 1). After the American invasion of Iwo Jima, the Japanese defenders felt discouraged and defeated, as well as desperate to do whatever it took to win (Doc. D). So, by dropping the bomb and ending the war quickly, the opportunity for the Japanese to brutally attack the U.S in a desperate scramble to win was eliminated. Although Japan would need to use money to rebuild the destroyed areas, ending the war saved both sides from spending even more trying to clutch the victory, as the United States alone spent over 4 trillion dollars on the war (Harrington, John and Suneson, Grant.). In all, both sides were relieved by dropping the atomic bomb and ending the war more

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On August 6, 1945, the U.S. used their second atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Then on the morning of August 9, 1945, they dropped the last atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, Japan. The damage was devastating. More than 200,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki died immediately.

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The Battle of Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest battles of World War Two. Iwo Jima had air stips that both the United States and the Japanese wanted to help them during World War Two. This battle did not end up going exactly as planned for either country. Both countries had their own strategy but neither succeeded. The Battle of Iwo Jima is an important battle to know about when discussing World War Two.

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One of the warnings that was made was that the U.S. was going to use leaflets that they dropped over the cities. Because of Japans stubbornness they chose the hard way out & ended with a tragedy. Truman gave them plenty of chances to back off and he didn't want to have to resort to the bombs but that was the only option that seemed to really look in their

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On August sixth, 1945 president Truman made the critical decision to drop an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, and three days later would also decide to drop a nuke on Hiroshima effectively forcing japan to surrender. Truman's decision was justified at the time because, it was seen as the best option at the time, the Japanese were extremely against surrendering, and it in turn prevented the death of millions. The decision to drop the nuclear bomb was the best option at the time because it would force Japan to surrender the quickest and with the least casualties. On April first, 1945 the U.S. launched the attack on Okinawa, which is an island off of Japan, the main goal was to capture the airbase on the island because of its proximity to Japan.

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If the United States never dropped the atomic bomb then soldiers would have had to invade Japan which would result in a large number of casualties. “I have been convinced that we saved more lives than we took. It would have been morally wrong if we’d have had that weapon and not used it and let a million more people die”(Source 8). Due to the Japanese bushido mentality, they were never going to surrender, and they would fight until the last man was standing. “The Japanese had demonstrated near-fanatical resistance, fighting to almost the last man on Pacific islands, committing mass suicide on Saipan, and unleashing kamikaze attacks at Okinawa”(Source 11).

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They feared unconditional defeat because in Japanese society it was a disgrace to surrender. Hearing this, the U.S. responded with dropping a second bomb on Nagasaki, killing even more people. Emperor Hirohito made the decision to surrender ultimately saving his country

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Japan had to accept unconditional surrender; if they disagreed with that request, America would drop the bomb. What made the Japanese surrender was the retention of their emperor; anything else couldn’t have forced a Japanese surrender, including the attack of the atomic bomb. As Japan's Prime Minister Suzuki spelled out on June 9, 1945. “Should the Emperor system be abolished, they [the Japanese people] would lose all reason for existence…. [and have] no choice but to go on fighting to the last man” (Butow).

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“From December of 1941 to the spring of 1942, Japanese forces advanced virtually unimpeded throughout the Pacific and southeastern Asia while handing the Allies a string of humiliating defeats, first at Pearl Harbor, then at Guam, Wake Island, Singapore, and in the Philippines. By the spring of 1942, the outcome of the war was very much in doubt as Americans began to think that the Japanese military was invincible. "The Pacific situation is now very grave," cabled President Roosevelt to Winston Churchill in March of 1942, after the Japanese conquest of Java.”

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After the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, demolishment and death struck. Japan should’ve resigned a long time ago, and avoided even more misfortune to their country, for, as stated by ABC Clio, "It was running desperately short of vital supplies and faced the prospect of starvation. " Even through these terrible conditions, Japan's stubborn government still refused to surrender, leading the US no choice whether to drop another nuclear weapon. The second atomic bomb, dropped on Nagasaki, made Japan resign, ending World War 11 once and for all.

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The potential threat of the Nazi nuclear weapons no longer existed. But the War in the Pacific was still raging with fire, the President of the United States, Harry S. Truman decided to use the atomic bomb in order to force the Japanese leadership to surrender as quickly as possible. August 6, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima instantly killing 70,000 people, with another 70,000 deaths registered by the end of 1945, the bomb had an explosive force of 12.5 kilotons of TNT... August 9, a second bomb was dropped on Nagaski. This explosion produced a higher yield of 22 kilotons of TNT but caused fewer instant deaths, however many of the survivors suffered from heavy burns, radiation sickness, etc..., and the deaths continued to rise.

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