From Pearl Harbor to the punishing jungles of Guadalcanal to the smoldering ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this curriculum guide and its accompanying multimedia assets will help you capture the unique challenges of the Pacific theater of World War II for your students. Great distances, terrifying new weapons, and the influence of race and ideology combined to make the Asia-Pacific conflict a distinct episode in the history of modern warfare, one that changed the world forever.
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Volume: 
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Resource Page Description: 
Essays, lesson plans, and multimedia resources exploring World War II in the vast reaches of the Pacific, ranging from Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal, to the China-Burma-India Theater and the Japanese home islands. Curriculum volume authored and prepared by Dr. Walter Stern.
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Race and War in the Pacific

The struggle between US and Japanese forces in the Pacific was characterized by racial stereotyping and demonization of the enemy on both sides.

American Indian Code Talkers

Hundreds of American Indians used their native languages to help the Allies communicate in secret during World War II.

Maps
Landing at Iwo Jima
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US Marines and Japanese forces clashed for five deadly weeks following the American invasion of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945.

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The Struggle for Okinawa
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On April 1, 1945, 60,000 soldiers and US Marines of the US Tenth Army stormed ashore at Okinawa.

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Death at Japan's Doorstep
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This map shows the Allied advance toward the Japanese home islands, with Iwo Jima and Okinawa as the major remaining obstacles.

Iwo Jima and Okinawa

These two battles in the central Pacific were some of the bloodiest of the war for both US and Japanese forces.

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Island Hopping in the Pacific
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This map illustrates the US military's two-pronged effort to roll back Japanese control of the central and southwest Pacific islands.

The Pacific Strategy, 1941-1944

Learn how the US military turned the vast expanses of the Pacific into a benefit instead of a hindrance during World War II.

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Guadalcanal
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US forces fought for six long months to hold Guadalcanal, a starting point for the effort to roll back Japanese control of the Pacific islands.

The Solomon Islands Campaign

In August 1942, the US mounted its first major amphibious landing of World War II at Guadalcanal. A fierce battle followed between Japanese and American forces on land, at sea, and in the air.