World War II in Asia (also called Pacific War, (and) Pacific War) was fought in East Asia and the Pacific Ocean between the Japanese Empire and a coalition of Allies, the most important of which were the United States, China, and (from August 1945) the Soviet Union.

The first steps were taken in the 19th century when the Japanese army occupied the islands south of the mainland, including Okinawa. In the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), Formosa (Taiwan) and Korea were taken from China and annexed to Japan, and in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), the Russians lost their naval base at Port Arthur to the Japanese, who thus effectively gained control of the Yellow Sea. In World War I, the Japanese captured much of the German colonial empire in Asia, including the Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, and the Gilberts Islands. At the Treaty of Versailles, Japan got all the conquered islands north of the equator.

In the period after the First World War, the US, the Netherlands, France, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand jointly tried to counter Japan's growing influence and expansion. Japan, which in the 1930s came under the growing influence of ultra-nationalist, expansionist militaries, increasingly aligned itself with the Axis powers.

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