World War 2 Essay

World War II was a major event in history, and as a result of this catastrophic war, there were many deaths. The war consisted of two major parties, the Axis and the Allied powers. The Axis powers included the countries of Germany, Italy, and Japan, along with other nearby countries. The Allied forces started with Great Britain and the Soviet Union as allies, but after two years, the United States joined the Allied forces. Before the U.S. joined the war, the nation aided the Allied powers by trading weapons and supplies with them in a neutral way. The United States didn’t want to join the war because they believed it should stay in Europe. The U.S. had reason to join the war after Germany attacked American ships with submarines, but they

Japan's goal was to take over the Pacific Ocean so they could have more natural resources for the war, but their only problem with taking over the Pacific was the fact that American forces had control over the ocean. The only way Japan could take more territory in the Pacific was by weakening the power America had in the region. One of America's military bases in the Pacific was Pearl Harbor, and Japan thought of a plan of attack to weaken American forces in the Pacific to allow them to obtain natural resources for the war. The Japanese could damage and destroy many ships like destroyers or cruisers, and one of the many ships that were destroyed is known as the USS Arizona. After the attack, the government turned the USS Arizona into a memorial for everyone who died during the attack. The Japanese killed over 2,000 American soldiers during the attack, and another 1,500 were wounded. This caused the U.S. to lose control over the Pacific and allowed the Japanese to take territory in the region. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was successful because it allowed them to continue their way into the war; however, most people believe that Pearl Harbor was a failure because they missed opportunities to destroy valuable items that America had at the military base. If Japan sent one more wave of bombers to destroy the oil and ammo reserves, it would have stopped the U.S. from joining the war

The Japanese seized their chance against the weakened American forces and started taking territory. On December 8th, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor, Japan bombed two airfields north of Manila, the Philippines' capital. Japan caught the Pacific Air Force on land and destroyed more than half of the bombers and planes. Because Commander Thomas C. Hart sent most of his force to the south, the remaining vessels in the Philippines were in danger of attack. The movement of the troops left the Philippines defenseless against a Japanese attack. " On December 31, 1941, meanwhile, Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, conferring in Washington, decided to establish a unified command in Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific. Named ABDACOM after its American, British, Dutch, and Australian components, it was commanded by General Sir Archibald P. Wavell, whose mission was to hold Malaya, Sumatra, Java, and the approaches to Australia. ABDACOM began operations on January 15, 1942, but the Japanese had already started moving toward the oil-rich Indies. They had occupied Sarawak on December 17, Brunei on January 6, and Tarakan, Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu), and points on Celebes (Sulawesi) on January 11. They seized the ports of Balikpapan and Kendari on January 24. Amboina (now Ambon) fell to them on February 4, after a heroic four-day