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Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theater, was the theater of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies in East and Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the Pacific Ocean theater, the South West Pacific theater, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the brief Soviet–Japanese War, and included some of the largest naval battles in history. War between Japan and the Republic of China had begun in 1937, with hostilities dating back to Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931, but the Pacific War is more widely accepted to have begun in 1941, when the United States and United Kingdom were brought into the war, after being attacked by Japan.
Japan invaded French Indochina in 1940, and extended its control over the entire territory in July 1941. On 7–8 December 1941, Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii; the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island; and the British colonies of Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, followed by a Japanese declaration of war. The Japanese achieved great success over the next 6 months, allying with Thailand and capturing the listed territories (except for Hawaii) in addition to Borneo, New Britain, the Dutch East Indies, Burma, the Solomon and Gilbert Islands, and parts of New Guinea. In May 1942, Japanese and Allied aircraft carriers fought at the Battle of Coral Sea, resulting in the retreat of a Japanese invasion force headed for Port Moresby. In June, Japan invaded the Aleutian Islands, and in the central Pacific was defeated at the Battle of Midway, considered a key turning point in the war. After this point, the Japanese experienced great difficulty replacing their losses in ships and aircraft as the U.S. produced ever increasing numbers of both.
Major Allied offensives in the Pacific began in August 1942 with the Guadalcanal and New Guinea campaigns. These were followed by Operation Cartwheel from June 1943, which neutralized the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain by early 1944. Elsewhere, Allied forces recaptured the Aleutian Islands by August 1943, and initiated the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign in November 1943, which lasted until February 1944. In the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, the Japanese fleet took heavy damage; the Allied campaign to recapture the Philippines began in October and set off the Battle of Leyte Gulf, after which the Japanese were unable to fight further surface engagements and resorted to kamikaze attacks. The rest of the war was characterized by an Allied strategy of island hopping, with invasions of the Mariana and Palau Islands, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa between June 1944 and June 1945. This enabled a blockade of the Japanese home islands and the start of a strategic air raid campaign which caused widespread urban destruction.
In China, Japan made large gains in Operation Ichi-Go between April and December 1944, while in Burma, the Japanese launched an offensive into India which was reversed by July 1944 and led to its liberation by the Allies in May 1945. From the start of the war, the Allies had adopted a "Europe first" stance, giving priority to defeating Germany; after Germany's surrender in May 1945, Allied forces were shifted to the Pacific in anticipation for Operation Downfall, a planned invasion of Japan. This became unnecessary after the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945 and Soviet invasion of Manchuria on 9 August, after which Japan surrendered unconditionally on 15 August and signed a surrender document on 2 September, ending World War II. Japan lost its former possessions in Asia and the Pacific, and was occupied by the Allies until 1952.
In Allied countries during the war, the "Pacific War" was not usually distinguished from World War II, or was known simply as the War against Japan. In the United States, the term Pacific theater was widely used. The US Armed Forces considered the China Burma India theater to be distinct from the Asiatic-Pacific theater during the conflict.[citation needed]
Japan used the name Greater East Asia War (大東亜戦争, Dai Tō-A Sensō), as chosen by a cabinet decision on 10 December 1941, to refer to both the war with the Western Allies and the ongoing war in China. This name was released to the public on 12 December, with an explanation that it involved Asian nations achieving their independence from the Western powers through armed forces of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japanese officials integrated what they called the Japan–China Incident (日支事変, Nisshi Jihen) into the Greater East Asia War. During the Occupation of Japan (1945–1952), these terms were prohibited in official documents (although their informal usage continued). The war became officially known as the Pacific War (太平洋戦争, Taiheiyō Sensō). The Fifteen Years' War (十五年戦争, Jūgonen Sensō) is also used, referring to the period from the Mukden incident of 1931 through 1945.[citation needed]
The major Allied participants included China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. China had already been engaged in a war against Japan since 1937. The US and its territories, including the Philippine Commonwealth, entered the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, which was followed by declarations of war by Japan on Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, as well as the Dutch government-in-exile which retained control of the Dutch East Indies. All of these were members of the Pacific War Council. From 1944 the French commando group Corps Léger d'Intervention also took part in resistance operations in Indochina. Some active pro-allied guerrillas in Asia included the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army, the Korean Liberation Army, the Free Thai Movement, the Việt Minh, the Khmer Issarak, and the Hukbalahap.
The Soviet Union fought two short, undeclared border conflicts with Japan in 1938 and again in 1939, then remained neutral through the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact of April 1941, until August 1945 when it (and Mongolia) joined the rest of the Allies and invaded the territory of Manchukuo, China, Inner Mongolia, and the Japanese territories such as Korea and South Sakhalin (Karafuto).
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Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theater, was the theater of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies in East and Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the Pacific Ocean theater, the South West Pacific theater, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the brief Soviet–Japanese War, and included some of the largest naval battles in history. War between Japan and the Republic of China had begun in 1937, with hostilities dating back to Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931, but the Pacific War is more widely accepted to have begun in 1941, when the United States and United Kingdom were brought into the war, after being attacked by Japan.
Japan invaded French Indochina in 1940, and extended its control over the entire territory in July 1941. On 7–8 December 1941, Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii; the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island; and the British colonies of Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, followed by a Japanese declaration of war. The Japanese achieved great success over the next 6 months, allying with Thailand and capturing the listed territories (except for Hawaii) in addition to Borneo, New Britain, the Dutch East Indies, Burma, the Solomon and Gilbert Islands, and parts of New Guinea. In May 1942, Japanese and Allied aircraft carriers fought at the Battle of Coral Sea, resulting in the retreat of a Japanese invasion force headed for Port Moresby. In June, Japan invaded the Aleutian Islands, and in the central Pacific was defeated at the Battle of Midway, considered a key turning point in the war. After this point, the Japanese experienced great difficulty replacing their losses in ships and aircraft as the U.S. produced ever increasing numbers of both.
Major Allied offensives in the Pacific began in August 1942 with the Guadalcanal and New Guinea campaigns. These were followed by Operation Cartwheel from June 1943, which neutralized the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain by early 1944. Elsewhere, Allied forces recaptured the Aleutian Islands by August 1943, and initiated the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign in November 1943, which lasted until February 1944. In the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, the Japanese fleet took heavy damage; the Allied campaign to recapture the Philippines began in October and set off the Battle of Leyte Gulf, after which the Japanese were unable to fight further surface engagements and resorted to kamikaze attacks. The rest of the war was characterized by an Allied strategy of island hopping, with invasions of the Mariana and Palau Islands, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa between June 1944 and June 1945. This enabled a blockade of the Japanese home islands and the start of a strategic air raid campaign which caused widespread urban destruction.
In China, Japan made large gains in Operation Ichi-Go between April and December 1944, while in Burma, the Japanese launched an offensive into India which was reversed by July 1944 and led to its liberation by the Allies in May 1945. From the start of the war, the Allies had adopted a "Europe first" stance, giving priority to defeating Germany; after Germany's surrender in May 1945, Allied forces were shifted to the Pacific in anticipation for Operation Downfall, a planned invasion of Japan. This became unnecessary after the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945 and Soviet invasion of Manchuria on 9 August, after which Japan surrendered unconditionally on 15 August and signed a surrender document on 2 September, ending World War II. Japan lost its former possessions in Asia and the Pacific, and was occupied by the Allies until 1952.
In Allied countries during the war, the "Pacific War" was not usually distinguished from World War II, or was known simply as the War against Japan. In the United States, the term Pacific theater was widely used. The US Armed Forces considered the China Burma India theater to be distinct from the Asiatic-Pacific theater during the conflict.[citation needed]
Japan used the name Greater East Asia War (大東亜戦争, Dai Tō-A Sensō), as chosen by a cabinet decision on 10 December 1941, to refer to both the war with the Western Allies and the ongoing war in China. This name was released to the public on 12 December, with an explanation that it involved Asian nations achieving their independence from the Western powers through armed forces of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japanese officials integrated what they called the Japan–China Incident (日支事変, Nisshi Jihen) into the Greater East Asia War. During the Occupation of Japan (1945–1952), these terms were prohibited in official documents (although their informal usage continued). The war became officially known as the Pacific War (太平洋戦争, Taiheiyō Sensō). The Fifteen Years' War (十五年戦争, Jūgonen Sensō) is also used, referring to the period from the Mukden incident of 1931 through 1945.[citation needed]
The major Allied participants included China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. China had already been engaged in a war against Japan since 1937. The US and its territories, including the Philippine Commonwealth, entered the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, which was followed by declarations of war by Japan on Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, as well as the Dutch government-in-exile which retained control of the Dutch East Indies. All of these were members of the Pacific War Council. From 1944 the French commando group Corps Léger d'Intervention also took part in resistance operations in Indochina. Some active pro-allied guerrillas in Asia included the Malayan Peoples' Anti-Japanese Army, the Korean Liberation Army, the Free Thai Movement, the Việt Minh, the Khmer Issarak, and the Hukbalahap.
The Soviet Union fought two short, undeclared border conflicts with Japan in 1938 and again in 1939, then remained neutral through the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact of April 1941, until August 1945 when it (and Mongolia) joined the rest of the Allies and invaded the territory of Manchukuo, China, Inner Mongolia, and the Japanese territories such as Korea and South Sakhalin (Karafuto).