Americans often refer to World War II as "the good war." Americans call World War II "the Good War" because they believe that the United States entered the war with the noble purpose of defending its identity and freedom. Americans also call World War II "the Good War" because it was a war that required Americans to work together so the country could defeat the Axis powers. Because the United States entered the war with a noble purpose and because Americans around the world helped the country win the war, "the Good War" is an appropriate term to describe World War II. Under Benito Mussolini, Italy had conquered the country of Ethiopia (Foner 800). Under Adolf Hitler, Germany had taken control of most of Europe (Foner 802). While Italy had taken over Ethiopia and Germany had taken over most of Europe, Japan had taken over Burma, Siam, the Dutch East Indies, Guam , the Philippines and other Pacific Islands (Foner 804). In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, a Chinese province (Foner 799). As Japanese troops moved deeper into China, they invaded the Chinese city of Nanjing and killed approximately 300,000 prisoners of war and civilians (Foner 799). On December 7, 1941, Japan launched an attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor; this surprise attack was responsible for the deaths of 2,000 American soldiers (Foner n°804). Towards the end of the war, Hitler embarked on the "Final Solution", which was the mass extermination of Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals and six million Jews, which would be known as the Holocaust (Foner 807). Because the Axis powers conquered so much territory and killed so many people, America fighting the Axis powers was seen by Americans as a war fought between the middle of paper..... . is an appropriate name for war. During the war, America imprisoned Japanese Americans and denied them their rights as American citizens. During the war, America bombed the cities of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki; these bombings were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Although I believe that America was fighting enemies who had committed worse acts than the Allies, the United States had no right to deny American citizens their rights to judicial hearings, due process, and writs of habeas corpus. America also had no right to bomb cities with the aim of killing civilians and demoralizing its enemies. Certainly the Allies were better than the Axis powers, but America's war crimes cannot be ignored, and because those crimes were committed, World War II cannot be called "good." war ».”.