Firing the First Shot “We must somehow maneuver them into firing the first shot.” President Roosevelt declared prior to the outbreak of World War II. The “them” he referred to—none other than a vital part of the Axis seeking control of the Pacific –The Japanese. In 1937 China was invaded by the Japanese. In 1939 …
Having fought gallantly for four months, weak, starving, sick, exposed to the burning heat of the Philippines, roughly 60,000 Filipino troops and 11,000 – 15,000 men from the United States surrendered to the Japanese on April 9, 1942 on the peninsula of Bataan. A fate that would claim 5,000-10,000 Filipino soldiers and about 650 American …
The Ni’ihau Incident – A Small Battle with a Big Impact that Continued in Hawaii for 7 days after Pearl Harbor While America pushed for isolationism after WWI, Japan pushed for their imperial expansionism under their goal of creating a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. These ideals would collide when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor …