Pacific War

The Pacific War was a conflict between the Empire of Japan and its client states against the United States of America, Dutch East Indies, Free France, Republic of China, French State and People's Republic of China, which encompassed the Pacific Ocean, East Asia, South-East Asia and parts of Oceania.
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 as far as 19 September 1931 with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. However, it is more widely accepted that the Pacific War itself began on 7 December (8 December Japanese time) 1941, when the Japanese simultaneously attacked the United States military bases in Hawaii, Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines and invaded Thailand.
The Pacific War saw the Pacific Defense Front pitted against Japan, the latter aided by Thailand. Fighting consisted of some of the largest naval battles in history, and incredibly fierce battles and war crimes across Asia and the Pacific Islands, resulting in immense loss of human life. The war culminated in the invasion of the Japanese Home Island Kyushu, alongside massive American air raids over Japan, with Emperor Hirohito forced out in a coup by his Prime Minister, Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni, who placed the young Akihito on the Imperial throne.
The formal surrender of Japan ceremony took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay in 1947. After the war, Japan was occupied by the United States, lost its former possessions in Asia and the Pacific to the US, China, and nationalist movements, and had its sovereignty limited to the four main home islands and other minor islands as determined by the Americans. Japan's Shinto Emperor relinquished much of his authority and his divine status through the Shinto Directive in order to pave the way for extensive cultural and political reforms.
== Japanese offensives, 1941–42 ==
=== Attack on Pearl Harbour, 1941 ===
=== Philippines, 1941 ===
=== Dutch East Indies, 1942 ===
=== Doolittle Raid, 1942 ===
=== Midway, 1942 ===
== Beginning of the end ==
=== Marianas and Palaus, 1944 ===
=== Philippine Sea, 1944 ===
=== Leyte Gulf, 1944 ===
=== Visayas, 1944 ===
=== Formosa and Amoy, 1945 ===
== Final stages ==
=== China, 1945 ===
Category:Wars
Category:Conflicts
Category:Conflicts involving the United States of America
Category:Conflicts involving the Philippines
Category:Conflicts involving the DEI
Category:Conflicts involving Free France
Category:Conflicts involving the ROC
Category:Conflicts involving France
Category:Conflicts involving the PRC
Category:Conflicts involving Japan
Category:Conflicts involving Thailand