World War 2 pacific war between US and Japan. History Term Paper

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World War II Pacific War between US and Japan
Introduction
The Pacific War, widely known as the Asia-Pacific War, was the playhouse of World War II in Asia and the Pacific's. The war took place over an extended area, including the Pacific islands and Ocean, the South West Pacific, and parts of South Asia, and China. While there were many ongoing conflicts at the time, it is widely accepted that the Pacific War between the US and Japan truly began on December 7, 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service pulled a surprise military strike against US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Spector). The attack, widely called the Battle of Pearl Harbor triggered the entry of the US into World War II ("The United States declares war"). The war saw the allied armies pitted against the Japanese who were later supported by Thailand and to a lesser extent the Axis. Additionally, on 9 August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria, which caused Japan to announce the intention to surrender on 15 August 1945. Japan surrendered in a formal ceremony aboard the USS Missouri along Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945 (Gruhl). This paper traces the United States' participation in the Pacific War from the battle of Pearl Harbor to America’s victory in Midway.
Diplomatic Background of the Pacific War
The war between Japan and the US had remained a possibility that both countries had been aware of and prepared for since the 1920s. Their relations were, however, cordial, and they remained trade partners (Renzi et al.). Tensions started growing in 1931 when Japan invaded Manchuria. In the following years, Japan expanded its territory into China causing the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937. Japan made significant efforts to ensure China remained isolated and strived to obtain sufficient independent resources to achieve victory in mainland China (Spector).
From December 1937, Japanese military actions such as the USS Panay attack, the Allison incident, and the Nanking Massacre triggered public opinion in the West. To curtail Japanese expansion, the US, the UK, and France aided China with its loans for war supply contracts. In 1940, in an attempt to halt the flow of supplies to China, Japan attacked French Indochina (Spector). The US also stopped shipments of aircraft, parts, machinated tools, and jet fuel heading to Japan, an act that was perceived unfriendly in Japan. The US, however, refrained from halting oil exports, partly because of the prevailing sentiment in Washington given Japanese dependence on American oil; such action was likely to be considered an extreme provocation (Renzi et al.).
During the middle parts of 1940, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the Pacific Fleet to move from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. To further discourage Japan's aggression in the Far East, Roosevelt also ordered a military buildup in the Philippines. At the time, the Japanese high command was almost sure that any invasion on the UK’s Southeast Asian colonies would trigger the US’s entry into the war and therefore, according to Japan, the best preventive measure against American naval interference was a devastating a...