American History Checkpoint 1877-1945 Practice Test

The strategy employed by the United States for fighting Japan in the Pacific during World War II was known as island hopping. This approach involved capturing specific islands and using them as bases to launch further attacks, rather than attempting to capture every single island held by Japanese forces. The rationale behind island hopping was to seize strategically important locations and cut off Japanese supply lines while bypassing heavily fortified positions. This method enabled American forces to advance toward Japan while conserving resources and minimizing casualties. Key battles in this campaign included those at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, all of which exemplified the effectiveness of the island-hopping strategy in the overall effort to defeat Japan.