CS1 - Pearl Harbour, 7 December 1941, and the annihilation of Japan How did the USA react to the Pearl Harbour attack?

1. Entering WWII
• The shock of Pearl Harbour:
On 7 December 1941, surprise attack by Japanese naval & air force on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, a US military base in the Pacific.
=> 8 December 1941: US declaration of war on Japan.
• The US at war:
War between states - the US allied with Britain (the Allies) vs Japan, Germany & Italy the Axis powers) - with similar tactics (air, sea and land battles) but until 1942, the turning point in the war, the Axis powers had more power and resources than the Allies.
• A total war:
- On the home front: women producing war material and government financing the war
- On the frontline: men soldiers in the armed forces (air force, navy & army) worldwide

2. Victory at all cost
• An all-out war:
- Targeting the military: US forces eliminated Japanese forces on Iwo Jima (19 February - 26 March 1945) in a bloody air, sea and land battle.
- Targeting civilians: On 6 and 9 August 1945, the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were totally destroyed by 2 atomic bombs (WMDs) which changed the fight into dissymmetric warfare
• A total war:
- On the home front: government financing scientific research and women producing the atomic bomb
- On the frontline: victorious soldiers in the armed forces (air force, navy & army) worldwide
=> End of WWII:
Japanese surrender announced on 15 August and signed on 2 September 1945, a few months after Allied (the USA + the USSR + the UK) victory in Europe (8 May 1945).