on december 7, 1941, japan attacked pearl harbor, a u.s.naval base in hawaii. the u.s. was no longer neutral, and it declared war on the axis powers (germany, japan, italy). the u.s. entering world war ii ended the great depression because the war created many jobs. while some of the battles the u.s. fought in were air and naval battles with japan, the u.s. mainly fought in europe and africa. the u.s. opened up several fronts, including in north africa and italy. the u.s. also bombed germany from airplanes, blowing up german cities and factories. on june 6, 1944 (d-day), american and british forces invaded normandy. a year later, the allies had freed france and taken berlin. in 1945, roosevelt died, and harry truman became president. the u.s. decided to drop two atomic bombs on japan. japan gave up soon afterwards, and the war ended.