Key Themes

Japanese Imperial Expansion in S.E. Asia

Japan craves resources to fuel its military expansion

Japan has a militaristic culture founded on “Bushido Code”

Early Japanese successesEuropean powers lose their colonies to JapanEurope too preoccupied with fighting Nazis.

Japanese Expansion

Japanese Strategy

Japanese Navy

Technologically advanced Very Large Vital to secure trade routes and supply

lines Japanese Empire lives or dies by the

fate of its navy…

Japanese Navy

Yamato Largest Battleship ever built

Japanese Navy

CarriersNumerous carriers with expert crews

Akagi

Japanese were harsh masters…

These things were especially bad in China

Japanese commit horrid atrocities upon conquered populations:

Execution Rape Torture Slave labor

Mass executions were common

Beheadings were popular

Japanese Grand Strategy

Isoroku Yamamoto, CinC of Imperial Japanese Navy

Yamamoto knew that the only thing standing in the way of Japanese expansion was the U.S. navy.

He planned a sneak attack to cripple the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet .

The date set for the attack was Dec. 7th 1941.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Excellent natural harbor on Island of Oahu

Many ships crammed into small area

Easy targets for experienced Japanese bomber pilots

Japanese planes attack in three main waves

Japanese subs wait offshore

8 battleships and dozens of smaller vessels sunk, crippled, or damaged

Spectacular tactical success

Aftermath of Pear Harbor Attack Disaster for U.S. Navy

and a national humiliation

2700 servicemen and women die

U.S. now at war with Japan

But… by a quirk of fate, the Carriers of the U.S. Fleet were at sea at the time of the attack and survived.

Japan would deeply regret this…

U.S. Aircraft Carriers

U.S.S Hornet

Adm. Chester Nimitz named CinC of Pacific Fleet, ordered to defeat Japanese navy.

Carriers would form the nucleus of the U.S. counter attack

Battle of the Coral Sea

Battle of the Coral Sea May 8 1942

U.S.S. Yorktown under fire

Battle of the Coral Sea

Showdown At Midway Japanese plan to lure

U.S. Carriers into a trap at Midway Islands.

Japan sends invasion fleet (largest ever at the time) to attack Midway and flush out U.S. Carriers.

But U.S. has broken Japanese code, and plans its own ambush for the Japanese Carriers

Showdown At Midway June 4th 1942

U.S. dive bombers and torpedo planes

Japanese dive bombers and torpedo planes

Ships are over 100 miles from each other for the duration of the battle

U.S.S Yorktown sinking after two Japanese attacks

Three Japanese carriers destroyed in one attack.

Aftermath Japanese Navy

permanently weakened and never fully recovers

Japanese pushed back Island by Island

U.S. economy geared for war production

U.S. Navy eventually dwarfs the Japanese navy and overwhelms it