Solomon Islands

(proper noun)

A sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly 1,000 islands. Some of the most intense fighting of World War II occurred there, particularly the most significant of the Allied Forces' operations against the Japanese Imperial Forces, which were launched on August 7, 1942, with simultaneous naval bombardments and amphibious landings on the Florida Islands at Tulagi and Red Beach on Guadalcanal.

Related Terms

Examples of Solomon Islands in the following topics:

  • The Guadalcanal Campaign

    • To further those goals, Japanese forces captured the Philippines, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, Wake Island, Gilbert Islands, New Britain and Guam.
    • The Allies chose the Solomon Islands (a protectorate of the United Kingdom), specifically the southern Solomon Islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Florida Island, as the first target.
    • On August 7, 1942, Allied forces, predominantly American, landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands, with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten the supply and communication routes between the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand.
    • Army's XIV Corps, conceding the island to the Allies.
    • The Japanese had reached the high-water mark of their conquests in the Pacific, and Guadalcanal marked the transition by the Allies from defensive operations to the strategic offensive in that theater and the beginning of offensive operations, including the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Central Pacific campaigns, that resulted in Japan's eventual surrender and the end of World War II.

  • Coral Sea and Midway

    • In an attempt to defend their empire in the South Pacific, Imperial Japanese forces decided to invade and occupy Port Moresby in New Guinea and Tulagi in the southeastern Solomon Islands.
    • After Midway, and the exhausting attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign, Japan's shipbuilding and pilot training programs were unable to keep pace in replacing their losses while the U.S. steadily increased its output in both areas.
    • Although the Japanese continued to try to secure more territory, and the U.S. did not move from a state of naval parity to one of supremacy until after several more months of hard combat, Midway allowed the Allies to switch to the strategic initiative, paving the way for the landings on Guadalcanal and the prolonged attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign.
    • Examine the importance of the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway Island as turning points for the Allies.

  • MacArthur's Leapfrogging

    • Nimitz—advanced through the Solomon Islands toward Bougainville.
    • Joint Chiefs of Staff but which was ultimately implemented, called for the capture of Tulagi (later Guadalcanal) and the Santa Cruz Islands (Operation Watchtower), the capture of the northeast coast of New Guinea and the central Solomons; and the reduction of Rabaul and related bases.
    • (then in command of the South Pacific Area) against the central Solomons.
    • Three months later, airmen reported no signs of enemy activity in the Admiralty Islands and MacArthur ordered an amphibious landing there, commencing the Admiralty Islands campaign.
    • It took six weeks of fierce fighting before the 1st Cavalry Division captured the islands.

  • Nimitz in the Central Pacific

    • As rapidly as ships, men, and material became available, Nimitz shifted to the offensive and defeated the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4-8, 1942), the pivotal Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942), and in the Solomon Islands Campaign.
    • Nimitz calculated that the aircraft on his three carriers, plus those on Midway Island, gave the U.S. rough parity with Yamamoto's four carriers, mainly because American carrier air groups were larger than Japanese ones.
    • In the final phases in the war in the Pacific, Nimitz attacked the Mariana Islands, inflicting a decisive defeat on the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944; a decisive naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions), and capturing Saipan, Guam, and Tinian.
    • His fleet forces isolated enemy-held bastions of the Central and Eastern Caroline Islands and secured, in quick succession Peleliu, Angaur, and Ulithi.

  • Leapfrogging to Tokyo

    • Island hopping entailed taking over an island and establishing a military base there.
    • The base was in turn used as a launching point for the attack and takeover of another island.
    • The result of island hopping was a chain of established bases while the result of leapfrogging was subduing certain strategically important islands while destroying military bases on other islands and thus isolating them in the process.
    • Forces led by Admiral Chester Nimitz, with a smaller land force and larger fleet, would advance north towards the island and capture the Gilbert and Marshall Islands and the Marianas, going generally in the direction of the Bonin Islands.
    • The southern prong, led by General MacArthur and with larger land forces, would take the Solomons, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, advancing toward the Philippines.

  • Rhode Island

    • Rhode Island was formed as an English colony by Roger Williams and others fleeing prosecution from Puritans.
    • Williams named the other islands in the Narragansett Bay after virtues: Patience Island, Prudence Island, and Hope Island.
    • In 1637, Hutchinson also purchased land on Aquidneck Island from the American Indians, settling in Pocasset, now known as Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
    • During King Philip's War (1675–1676), both sides regularly violated Rhode Island's neutrality.
    • Discuss the founding of the Rhode Island Colony and Providence Plantations

  • Ellis Island

    • America's first federal immigration station was established in 1890 on Ellis Island.
    • Generally, immigrants who were approved spent from two to five hours at Ellis Island.
    • Ellis Island was sometimes known as "The Island of Tears" or "Heartbreak Island" because of the 2% who were not admitted after the long transatlantic voyage.
    • The first Ellis Island Immigration Station opened in 1892.
    • Nearly 12 million immigrants arrived in the United States through Ellis Island.

  • The Great Awakening

    • The First Great Awakening began in the 1730s and lasted to about 1743, though pockets of revivalism had occurred in years prior especially amongst the ministry of Solomon Stoddard, Jonathan Edwards's grandfather.

  • The Dorr Rebellion

    • The Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island was an uprising of men who wanted to see greater, faster expansion of white male suffrage.
    • Under Rhode Island's charter, only white male landowners could vote.
    • By 1841, Rhode Island was one of the few states without universal suffrage for white men.
    • A polemic from Rhode Island (1844) in support of the Dorrite cause.
    • Describe the circumstances surrounding the Dorr Rebellion and its effect on the Rhode Island constitution

  • The Exploration of Christopher Columbus

    • While securing provisions from the island of La Gomera, Columbus received word that three Portuguese caravels had been seen hovering near the island of El Hierro, with the supposed intention of capturing him.
    • No one knows which modern day island in the Bahamas or Turks and Caicos this name corresponds to, but the prime candidates are Samana Cay, Plana Cays, Grand Turk, or San Salvador Island.
    • He then sailed to the island of Madeira and spent time with the Portuguese captain, João Gonçalves da Câmara, before sailing to the Canary Islands and Cape Verde.
    • Columbus landed on the south coast of the island of Trinidad on July 31, 1498.
    • On June 15, they landed at Carbet, on the island of Martinique (Martinica).