Japan attacks Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941, bringing the United States into World War II. Japan had developed a plan to attack European colonies and U.S. bases in the Pacific. In late 1941, Japan launched surprise attacks at Pearl Harbor and other locations like the Philippines. The U.S. suffered major losses but began to turn the tide with victories at the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway in 1942. The grueling Battle of Guadalcanal ended in an Allied victory, though fighting in the Pacific Campaign continued for several more years.

1. Japan’s Pacific Campaign
Chapter 32, Section 2
vs.

2. Introduction
 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor in Hawaii
and brings the United States into
World War II

3. Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor

4. Japan and the United States
 Japan develops a plan
for attacks on
European colonies and
U.S. bases
 In 1941 President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
cuts off oil shipments
to Japan.
 Admiral Isoroku
Yamamoto plans
attack on U.S. fleet in
Hawaii

5. Route of Japanese Fleet Attacking
Pearl Harbor

6. Waves of the Attack
 First wave,
182 planes
 Second
wave, 171
planes

7. World History
Television

8. USS Arizona Memorial

9. Day of Infamy
 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor—U.S.
Naval base in Hawaii—on December
7, 1941
 U.S. declares war on Japan December
8, 1941.
 Japan also attacks Hong Kong,
Thailand, and other islands

10. Japanese Victories
 Guam and Wake Island
 The Philippines
 Japanese attack Philippine Islands
defended by U.S., Filipino troops.
 Philippine islands fall to Japanese in
1942.

11. Bataan Death March
 The forcible transfer of
75,000 American and Filipino
prisoners of war in the
Philippines from the Bataan
peninsula to prison camps
 Beheadings, cut throats and
casual shootings were the
more common and merciful
actions — compared to
bayonet stabbings, rapes,
disembowelments, numerous
rifle butt beatings and a
deliberate refusal to allow the
prisoners food or water while
keeping them continually
marching for nearly a week in
tropical heat.

12. Pictures of the Bataan Death March

13. World History
Television
Henry Grady Stanley, 89, recalls his time as a Prisoner of
War during World War II.

14. Propaganda Poster in the U.S. after
the Bataan Death March

15. Bataan Death March Memorial
“The Battling Bastards of Bataan”

16. Gains in Many Places
 Japan captures British holdings,
including Hong Kong and Singapore.
 Japan conquers the Dutch East Indies
which is rich in minerals
 Japan captures Burma. This threatens
India, Britain’s main possession in
Asia.
 Japanese forces treat conquered
peoples and prisoners of war brutally

17. Doolittle Raid
 U.S. bombers attack
Tokyo and other
Japanese cities in April
1942.
 (Here Lt. Col. James H.
Doolittle wires a
Japanese medal to a
bomb, for "return" to its
originators in the first
U.S. air raid on the
Japanese Home
Islands.)
 Raid does little damage,
but shows that Japan is
vulnerable.

18. World History
Television
The Doolittle Raid

19. Allies Turn the Tide
 Battle of the Coral Sea—Americans
stop Japanese advance, May 1942.
 New kind of naval warfare—ships
launch planes to fight each other (see
next slide).

20. Bombers do not engage each other, but pass each
other on the way to the enemy aircraft carrier.

21. The Allies Strike Back
 The Battle of Midway
 Japanese send powerful fleet to capture
Midway Island.
 Battle of Midway—U.S. destroy half of
Japan’s aircraft carriers causing Japan to
retreat.

22. World History
Television
The Battle of Midway by John Ford

23. An Allied Offensive
 MacArthur’s Plan
 Douglas
MacArthur—
American army
commander in the
Pacific.
 He plans to “island-
hop” past
strongholds in
order to attack
weaker Japanese
bases.

24. Guadalcanal
Battle of Guadalcanal—hellish battle that
ends in Allied victory.

25. Guadalcanal Diary (book and film)
 Hollywood cooperated
with the war effort by
producing films to build
the morale of the
American people.
 Released in 1943.
 The film recounts the fight
of the United States
Marines in the Battle of
Guadalcanal, which
occurred only a year
before the movie's
release. While the film has
notable battle scenes, its
primary focus is on the
characters and back
stories of the Marines.

26. World History
Television
Trailer for Guadalcanal Diary (1943)