![]() ![]() The Japanese fleet sustained heavy losses and was turned back. The turning point in the Pacific war came with the American naval victory in the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Only in mid-1942 were Australian and New Zealander forces in New Guinea and British forces in India able to halt the Japanese advance. Japanese troops also invaded neutral Thailand and pressured its leaders to declare war on the United States and Great Britain. ![]() In December 1941, Guam, Wake Island, and Hong Kong fell to the Japanese, followed in the first half of 1942 by the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), Malaya, Singapore, and Burma. The United States Declares WarĪfter the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan achieved a long series of military successes. Following Germany's declaration of war on the United States, the United States also declared war on Germany. In response, the United States declared war on Japan. ![]() The attack severely damaged the American fleet and prevented, at least for the short term, serious American interference with Japanese military operations. Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Faced with severe shortages of oil and other natural resources and driven by the ambition to displace the United States as the dominant Pacific power, Japan decided to attack the United States and British forces in Asia and seize the resources of Southeast Asia. ![]() On September 27, 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, thus entering the military alliance known as the " Axis." Seeking to curb Japanese aggression and force a withdrawal of Japanese forces from Manchuria and China, the United States imposed economic sanctions on Japan. Japanese expansion in East Asia began in 1931 with the invasion of Manchuria and continued in 1937 with a brutal attack on China. ![]()
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