Pacific War

The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War,[44] was the theater of World War II that was fought in eastern Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast Pacific Ocean theater, the South West Pacific theater, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Soviet–Japanese War.

Quick facts: Pacific War, Date, Location, Result, Territor... ▼

Pacific War
Part of World War II
Clockwise from top left: US Marines raise the flag over Iwo Jima Japanese naval aircraft prepare for takeoff to attack Pearl Harbor USS Bunker Hill after being struck by Kamikazes Indian soldiers during the Burma campaign Japanese soldiers in China during Operation Ichi-Go Mushroom cloud over Nagasaki
Date 7 December 1941 – 2 September 1945 (3 years, 8 months, 3 weeks and 5 days)[lower-alpha 1][2] Location East Asia South Asia Southeast Asia Oceania Pacific Ocean Indian Ocean Result Allied victory End of World War II Fall of the Empire of Japan Continuation of the Chinese Civil War Substantial weakening of European colonial powers and the gradual decolonization of Asia First Indochina War Indonesian National Revolution Korean War 1951 Treaty of San Francisco 1956 Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration Territorial changes Allied occupation of Japan Removal of Japanese troops occupying parts of China and the retrocession of Taiwan to China Liberation of Korea and Manchuria from Japanese rule, followed by the division of Korea Cession of Japanese-held islands in the Central Pacific Ocean to the United Nations Seizure and annexation of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands by the Soviet Union The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands is created by the United Nations and placed under the authority of the United States. The UN Security Council ended the vast trusteeship in stages, from 1986 to 1994, with the US gaining the territory of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Belligerents
Main Allies:  China[lower-alpha 2]  United States  United Kingdom See section Participants for further details.	Main Axis:  Japan See section Participants for further details.
Commanders and leaders
Main Allied leaders Chiang Kai-shek Franklin D. Roosevelt[lower-alpha 3] Winston Churchill[lower-alpha 4]	Main Axis leaders Hirohito Hideki Tojo
Strength
14,000,000[3] 3,621,383+ (1945)[nb 1] 400,000[8] 2,000,000[8] 140,000[9][nb 2] 1,747,465 (1945)[10]	7,800,000–7,900,000 (1945)[11][12][13] 126,500[14] , , and other puppets: c. 1,000,000+ (1945)[15]
Casualties and losses
Military 12 aircraft carriers 4 battleships 25 cruisers 84 destroyers and destroyer escorts 63 submarines[16] 21,555[17]–27,000+ aircraft[18] 4,000,000+ dead (1937–1945)[nb 3] Civilian deaths 26,000,000+ (1937–1945)[nb 4]	Military 25 aircraft carriers 11 battleships 39 cruisers 135 destroyers 131 submarines[34] 43,125[35]-50,000+ aircraft[36] 2,500,000+ dead (1937–1945)[nb 5] Civilian deaths 1,000,000+[nb 6]

The Second Sino-Japanese War between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China had been in progress since 7 July 1937, with hostilities dating back to 1931 with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.[45] However, it is more widely accepted[lower-alpha 5][2] that the Pacific War itself began on 7 December (8 December Japanese time) 1941, when the Japanese simultaneously attacked American military bases in Hawaii, Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines and invaded Thailand and the British colonies of Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.[46][47][48]

The Pacific War saw the Allies pitted against Japan, the latter aided by Thailand and to a lesser extent by the Axis powers, Germany and Italy. The Japanese achieved great success in the initial phase of the campaign, but were gradually driven back using an island hopping strategy. The Allies adopted a Europe first stance, giving first priority to defeating Nazi Germany, but still managed to bring to bear the vast industrial might of the United States. The Japanese had great difficulty replacing their losses in ships and aircraft, while American factories and shipyards produced ever increasing numbers of both. Fighting included some of the largest naval battles in history and massive Allied air raids over Japan, as well as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Japan surrendered unconditionally on 15 August 1945 and was occupied by the Allies. Japan lost its former possessions in Asia and the Pacific and had its sovereignty limited to the four main home islands and other minor islands as determined by the Allies.[49]