The War in the Pacific began long before the US entered into the war.  The Japanese, who, partnered with the Germans and the Italians formed the Axis powers.  They believed the world would be divided between great superpowers, and they wanted to be one.
	The Japanese, with their eyes on domination, quickly conquered the Chinese.  They then took over many other countries in Asia and the Philippines.  These actions, of course, aroused concern and anger around the world.
All of these emotion finally exploded (or at least for the US)  at Pearl Harbor.  It was a vicious, relentless, and deliberate attack on US soil.  Using wave after wave of dive bombers on a lazy Sunday morning, the Japanese were completely unexpected.  The very next day, the US declared war.
	Because the United States had lost a huge chunk of its fleet, the US had to resort to secret and daring raids that boosted American morale, but didn't really do much in terms of recovering islands that had been captured.
One of the first major conflicts of the Pacific Campaign after Pearl harbor was the battle of Midway.  Midway was an American port even farther out to sea than Hawaii.  The Japanese mustered an enormous navy in the hopes of taking the island and destroying the rest of the US fleet.
	The attack was a disaster.  US intelligence picked up and decoded messages about the attack and set up an ambush and crushed the Japanese fleet, which put them on the defensive for the rest of the war.
With even more victories at Guadalcanal and Saipan, the US fleet was on a roll, but the Japanese were fighting harder and harder as the Americans came closer to their homeland.  Using a leapfrogging technique, the US didn't have to take every little island the Japanese conquered.  (See Weapons and Strategies)
	The most famous battle in all of World War Two, even through the years of bloody warfare, is probably the invasion of Iwo Jima.  The Americans who stormed that island faced something more vicious than D-Day, more brutal than Pearl Harbor, and more unforgiving than anything ever seen in Europe.
Eventually, the Americans pulled off a victory at the cost of many thousands of lives.  Today there is a monument of the Marines raising the American Flag on the Island in Washington D.C.  (The big picture on the home page is one of the most famous pictures in history, and that monument was modeled from the picture.)
	Two more Epic scale battles took place on the Pacific front before the end of the War.  These battles were located at Leyte Gulf and at Okinawa.  In both cases, many Americans lost their lives to protect the freedom of others.
US forces were now right next to Japan.  An invasion of their homeland, however would be difficult.  The casualties were estimated in the millions.  So, the US came up with another plan. On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb in the history of the world was dropped on Hiroshima, destroying it.
	A second bomb was dropped when Japan did not immediately surrender.  Three days later, Nagasaki was obliterated.  On August 15th, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies.  World War 2 was finally over.
With World War Two over, the world went back to normal.  Countries had to be rebuilt, nations were deep in poverty, and 57 million people had died.  But the world was able to recover.