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| 1941, June 23 |
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| The Japanese, who had demanded the concession, obtained the consent of the French government at Vichy for Japanese military control over French Indochina. Here, as elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Japan used the anticolonialist slogan “Asia for the Asians” to try to turn the local populace against the West and toward the Japanese. They were in fact exchanging one master for another, Japanese colonialism being often even more brutal than what had preceded it. | 1 |
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| Oct. 17 |
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The Konoe cabinet was forced to resign, and Gen. T J HIDEKI (1884–1948), who was more pro-Axis in his views, became both prime minister and minister of war. | 2 |
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| Nov. 29 |
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Prime Minister T j declared that the influence of Great Britain and the U.S. must be eliminated from East Asia. | 3 |
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| Dec. 7 |
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| JAPAN COMMENCED HOSTILITIES WITH THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN BY SURPRISE ATTACKS ON PEARL HARBOR (HAWAII), THE PHILIPPINES, GUAM, MIDWAY ISLAND, HONG KONG, AND MALAYA (See 1941, Dec. 7). | 4 |
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| Dec. 8 |
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| The U.S. declared war on Japan. | 5 |
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| Dec. 11 |
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| Germany and Italy, in accord with the pact of Sept. 27, 1940, supported Japan by declaring war on the United States. | 6 |
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| Dec. 21 |
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| Japan concluded a ten-year treaty of alliance with Thailand. Thailand declared war on the U.S. and Great Britain a month later (Jan. 25, 1942). | 7 |
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