Hawaii

Hawaii, also less known as the Sandwich Islands, consisted of a series of islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Hawaii in Southern Victory
Prior to the Great War, the Sandwich Islands was a British colony in the Pacific Ocean. Pearl Harbor was located in one of these islands and was a key naval base for any major power.

In August 1914, the Sandwich Islands were taken from the British Royal Navy by the American Pacific Fleet (minus the North Pacific Squadron in Seattle) along with a regiment of Marines and a US Army division. Following that, the Islands became a strategically important U.S. base well into the next war.

During the Pacific War (1932-34), the Empire of Japan launched attacks on the Sandwich Islands, but made no sizeable gains. However, the Japanese executed a successful air raid on the city of Los Angeles on the American west coast while President Hosea Blackford was visiting it on a campaign stop in late 1932. The war was ended early in 1934 by President Herbert Hoover.

In the ensuing Second Great War, Japan attempted to use Midway as a base to invade the Islands but was defeated by the United States and instead withdrew from the Entente and invaded the British colonies of Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and reportedly even India.

Hawaii in Days of Infamy
Following a successful attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941, the Empire of Japan took Hawaii from the United States of America, bringing the US into the Second World War. By 1942, the Japanese had subdued the remaining American resistance on the islands and also installed a puppet government under Stanley Owana Laanui (who had agreed to become the King of Hawaii).

The Japanese occupation of Hawaii was harsh particularly for American prisoners of war who were imprisoned at harsh internment camps. In 1943, the United States liberated Hawaii from the Japanese.