History Assessment Final

HISTORY ASSESSMENT – By Isabella Pickup

QUESTION 2: Discuss the major turning points and the final defeat of Japan in the war in the Pacific (this could include pearl Harbour, the fall of Singapore, battle of the coral sea, battle of midway, battle of kokoda, Guadalcanal and island hopping)

DEFINTION: A point of which a decisive change takes place; critical point, an event/ or events that changed the course of the wars progress.

Pearl Harbour

Pearl Harbour was one of the most famous events in history that occurred on the 7th of December. The Japanese launched a surprise attack on the United States Navel Base of Pearl Harbour. The United States declared was against japan on December the 8Th the next day. The attack on Pearl Harbour led to the United States entering world war ll.

The first wave of the attack consisted of 183 planes. Radar did detect the incoming planes, but the officers in charge of the naval base were not told how many planes were coming. Many men awoke that day to the sound of bombs exploding.

The second wave consisted of 171 planes that were split into three groups. The different groups arrived at the same time from different directions. Ninety minutes after the attack began, it ended.

2386 Americans were killed, and 1139 were wounded. 18 ships were destroyed or run aground, five of which were battleships. The day after the attack, the president gave his speech, calling for a formal declaration of war. Less than an hour later war was announced.

The Battle of midway

The Battle of Midway was a crucial and decisive naval battle in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. As it was between June 4th till June 7th 1942

Months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States defeated Japan in one of the most final naval battles of World War II.

Fought just a month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, Midway was the turning point of the Pacific Campaign. Skill, daring, and luck all played a part. The attack on the island of Midway, which also included a feint to Alaska by a smaller fleet, was a ploy by the Japanese to draw the American carrier fleet into a trap. With the remaining American ships destroyed, the Japanese hoped to avenge the bombing of the Japanese home islands two months earlier during the Tokyo Air Raid, plug the hole in their Eastern defensive perimeter formed by U.S. control of Midway, finish off the US Pacific Fleet, and perhaps even invade and take Hawaii.

The Battle of Midway brought the Pacific naval forces of Japan and the United States to approximate parity and marked a turning point of the military struggle between the two countries.

The fall of Singapore

The Battle of Singapore known as the “ Fall of Singapore”, was fought in the South-East Asian theatre of the Second World War when the Empire of Japan invaded the Allied stronghold of Singapore. Singapore was the major British military base in South-East Asia and nicknamed the "Gibraltar of the East". The fighting in Singapore started on the 8th till 15th of February 1942.