Attack on Pearl Harbor
On Sunday December 7, 1941, Japanese air and naval forces launched an attack on the U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The main intentions of the Japanese included destroying the Pacific Fleet. Eighteen U.S. warships were damaged or sunk during this attack, and 2,403 U.S. military personnel and civilians were killed while 1,178 were injured. In months leading up to the assault, U.S. and Japanese relations deteriorated at a fast rate. Many members of the United States government and military believed that war was inevitable. Although war was expected, the attack on Pearl Harbor was completely unexpected. Around 7 a.m. a radar operator picked up an enormous amount of planes flying toward Oahu, however a lieutenant told monitoring staff not to worry because it was most likely American bombers coming from the mainland. Despite this, the planes were actually almost 200 Japanese bombers and fighters planning to attack Pearl Harbor. At around 7:55 A.M. bombs were dropped and torpedoes launched. This attack continued for two more hours. The Japanese decimated the American Pacific fleet. Just after the attack the message was passed on to Washington D.C. and then to the rest of America. The following day war was declared on Japan in a vote by congress.
Atomic Bomb
The atomic bomb set a precedent for the arms race that followed its creation. It is a weapon that causes mass destruction by means of nuclear fission. The U.S. secretly organized a group of top scientists who constructed an atomic bomb that took a few years to complete. After the bomb was tested and the destruction it caused was noted, President Harry Truman decided to issue an ultimatum to Japan telling them to surrender or experience the consequences. Japan didn't surrender and on August 6, 1945, a U.S. bomber dropped an atomic bomb over Hiroshima. Three days later another bomb was exploded over Nagasaki. These cities were decimated and about 110,000 people were killed while thousands more were injured. In only a number of days, the Japanese government surrendered and the war came to an end.
End of WWII - August 14, 1945 (V-J Day)/ End Results
On August 14, 1945, President Truman announced the surrender of Japan which informally ended the war. The victory over Japan was known as V-J Day, this was celebrated August 14 and 15. Despite this the official end to the war was observed September 2, when the surrender documents were signed. Germany additionally surrendered from the war. The surrendering of these two countries marked the rapid demobilization of the armed forces. From June 1945 to June of 1947, the number of U.S. military personnel dropped from 12 million to 1.5 million.