World War II
World War IIbroke into active combat with Germany's attack on Poland (Sept. 1939). During 1939–41 the U.S. was split by views ranging from intervention to isolationism. Meanwhile Japan, seeking expansion in a so-called Greater East Asia co-prosperity sphere, pursued undeclared war in China and seized the opportunity of French defeat to establish troops in southeast Asia and enter the Rome-Berlin “axis.” On December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft bombed Pearl Harbor, crippling the U.S. Pacific fleet, after which Germany and Italy followed Japan in declaring war on the U.S. After great losses in the Orient and the Pacific, including the Philippines, the U.S. and Allied forces began an offensive over island “stepping stones” to the Philippines (Oct. 1944) and to Iwo Jima and Okinawa, within bombing distance of the enemy's home islands. During this time the Russians had turned back besieging Germans at Stalingrad (Nov. 1942) and the U.S. air forces had...
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