Key Dates and Events
September 1931 Manchurian Incident
1932 More Assassinations; PM Inukai, last party PM assassinated
1933 Japan withdraws from the League of Nations
1934 Washington Naval Treaty System of 1922 declared unacceptable
Feb. 26, 1936 2-26 Incident, a nearly successful military coup d'etat by Young Officers
Nov. 25, 1936 Japan and Germany sign Anti-Comintern Pact to oppose USSR
July 7, 1937 "Marco Polo Bridge Incident" and beginning of the "China Incident," an undeclared war between Japan and China
July 31st Peking Falls
August 1937 Expansion of China War to Shanghai
Dec. 12, 1937 Japanese troops perpetrate the infamous "Rape of Nanking"
Jan. 16, 1938 "Aite ni sezu" Declaration by Konoe Cabinet--no longer recognizes Nationalist Govt of Jiang Kaishek
Nov. 1938 "New Order in East Asia" Proclaimed
May 1938 onwards indiscriminate bombing of Chinese capitol at Chungking
Late 1938 - early1939 "3 Alls" policy in N. China: burn all, kill all, steal all
Sept. 27, 1940: Conclusion of Tripartite Treaty with Germany and Italy
April 13, 1941: Signing of Japanese-Soviet Neutrality Treaty
April 16 Hull announces his "Four Principles"
July 28, 1941: Japan Advances into southern French Indochina
August 1941 Konoe meets Emperor who agrees to summit with FDR; US rejects
September 6, 1941 Imperial Conference sanctions decision to go to war with US and GB if diplomacy fails
Oct. 18, 1941: Establishment of cabinet of Hideki Tojo after Konoe resigns
Tojo , Army's strongest advocate for war, felt Konoe lacked "firm beliefs and courage."
Nov. 8, 1941 Hirohito briefed on Pearl Harbor plans; Nov. 15, shown full war plans
Nov. 27 Task Force w/ 6 carries leaves Japan for Hawaii
Dec. 1, 1941: Formal decision to wage war against United States, Britain and Netherlands made at Imperial Council meeting
Dec. 8, 1941: Attack on Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7 U.S. time)
In a matter of days, Japanese land in Thailand, Maylaya
British warships Prince of Wales and Repulse Sunk
Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, Singapore all fall to Japanese in rapid succession
Japan invades British Boreno, Burma, then Dutch Borneo, bombs Darwin Australia and Bali
The History of the War in the Pacific falls neatly into three periods.1. The first six months of the war, from December 1941 to May 1942, were a time of unbroken Japanese military victory.2. At the-height of Japanese expansion in mid-1942, the tide turned. The period from mid-1942 to mid-1943 saw Japanese strategic thrusts into the south and central Pacific blunted by the carrier battles of the Coral Sea (May 1942) and Midway (June 1942). Limited U.S. offensives in the Solomons and in the Papuan area of eastern New Guinea were launched in the last months of 1942. Both offensives were begun on a shoestring, and both came close to failure. Yet they represented the end of defeat in the Pacific and the first tentative steps toward victory.3. Those steps became great leaps in 1944 and 1945. Two amphibious offensives developed, as MacArthur advanced across the northern coast of New Guinea into the Philippines and Nimitz island-hopped 2,000 miles across the central Pacific from the Gilbert Islands to Okinawa.
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Feb. 27-March 1, Japan defeats US Navy in Battle of Java Sea
June 7, 1942: US Navy Defeats Japan at Battle of Midway--Japan loses 4 carriers: the Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu =Key Turning Point |
July 7, 1944: Fall of Saipan, Mass suicides; US can bomb home islands now from Saipan
July 18, 1944: Resignation en masse of Tojo Cabinet
March 10, 1945: Major Tokyo air raids
April 1, 1945: U.S. forces land on Okinawa
May 7, 1945: Germany unconditionally surrenders
July 27, 1945: Allied Powers issue Potsdam Declaration
Aug. 6, 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
Aug. 8, 1945: Soviet Union declares war against Japan
Aug. 9, 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
Aug. 14, 1945: Imperial Council accepts Potsdam Declaration
Aug. 15, 1945: Emperor's surrender rescript broadcast