On February 15, 1942, the British colony of Singapore fell to the Japanese during World War II. The battle, which lasted for several days, resulted in the loss of the British fortress to Japanese forces in one of the most humiliating defeats in British military history. Over 80,000 British, Indian, and Australian soldiers were captured, and more than 1,000 civilians were killed in the subsequent violence. The fall of Singapore marked the beginning of a brutal Japanese occupation in Southeast Asia. The event drastically shifted the balance of power in the Pacific during the war.