The Attack On Pearl Harbor

“The Japanese plan was simple: Destroy the Pacific Fleet. That way, the Americans would not be able to fight back as Japan’s armed forces spread across the South Pacific. On December 7, after months of planning and practice, the Japanese launched their attack. In all, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor crippled or destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes. Dry docks and airfields were likewise destroyed. Most important, almost 2,500 men were killed and another 1,000 were wounded. On December 8, Congress approved Roosevelt’s declaration of war. Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy declared war against the United States. For the second time, Congress reciprocated. More than two years after the start of the conflict, the United States had entered World War II” (History.com).

What happened during this battle? The Japanese really practiced and prepared carefully for their attack on Pearl Harbor.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was the product of Japanese anger at the United States and President Roosevelt should have taken immediate action to prevent it.

Pearl Harbor is the name given to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, by the Japanese against the Americans on December 7th, 1941. Although there was growing tension between the United States and Japan dew to sanctions and frozen assets put on Japan, the attack was still a surprise for the world. 2400 Americans were killed in the attack, along with many ships and nearly two-hundred airplanes.1 The attack united the American people and under Franklin Roosevelt 's leadership, America declared war on Japan, with a unanimous vote in the senate and 388 to 1 vote in the house, with the lone dissenter being an avid pacifist. Soon after, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States and the United States declared war on the Axis powers in turn. America had finally joined the Second World War. When Roosevelt gave his speech that war was being declared, most of the country was behind him. There were fears that

Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor seems unwise, ill-judged, and senseless. The attack was meant to keep the U.S. out of the war, but had the opposite effect and instead made them want to fight and join it. Japan, at this time, was not a major power and having them attack one of the biggest major powers by bombing the U.S. naval base in Hawaii didn’t appear like an appropriate idea for them. Then why did they do it? Japan’s reasons for attacking Pearl Harbor was their plan for a ‘new’ world order, the U.S. oil embargo, and the relocation and expansion of the U.S. naval fleet.

There were many events that led up to Japan making the decision to bomb Pearl Harbor. It all started with Japan wanting to expand their power. Japan was an island nation, it was

After invading Pearl Harbor and killing thousands of Americans, Japan thought they were on the path to winning the war. Little did they know that a couple months later, America was going to get them back for what they did. Japan was frustrated that America was in their way of becoming powerful so they tried to weaken America by attacking Pearl Harbor. This did not weaken America but made America even more powerful by America dropping atomic bombs on two cities in Japan.

First, Pearl Harbor caught the U.S. off guard. This left us unprepared and now considerably weakened. According to the Pearl Harbor’s Visiting Bureau the “sneak attack” led by Japan killed “2,335 Military personnel, including 2,008 navy personnel, 109 marines, and 218 army. Added to this were 68 civilians, making the total 2403 people dead.” (visitpearlharbor.org) Many U.S. citizens didn’t want to be caught up in another world, but because of that we were not ready. This teaches us to stand tall and not to be a bystander in the game we know as life.

It wasn’t a sudden decision of the Japanese army to bomb Pearl Harbor, it was a long series of events which led to Pearl Harbor bombing. In fact, in the years antecedent to 1941 there was a lot of tension between the two countries. There were several events which scattered the attack on Pearl Harbor which was then used by the American government as an alibi to declare war to Japan. Over the course of the 1930s, Japan's increasingly expansionist policies brought it into renewed conflict with its neighbors, Russia and China (1).

The pure idea of the attack came from an admiral by the name of Yamamoto, he’d been planning the attack for months. When the action finally got approved at an Imperial Council on July 2, 1941 he began to overview his plan to make changes and improve upon it. In the process of this he got the help of Commanders Mitsuo Fuchida and Minoru Genda that offered many useful changes in the aerial part of the plan and just overall finalization. Their mission was "the destruction of American aircraft carriers known to frequent area, and the sinking of as many other capital ships as possible, especially battleships" (Burbeck, 2008). The Japanese also needed to prepare their troops and ships now that they had their mission, this involved modifying torpedoes to fire in shallow water, modifying warheads and gathering ships and

That way, the Americans would not be able to fight back as Japan’s armed forces spread across the South Pacific. On December 7, after months of planning and practice, the Japanese launched their The Japanese left home soil on the 26th of November and their attack force was led by Vice Admiral Nagumo

Pearl Harbor was one of the greatest tragedies the U.S.A. had to face due to its unexpected attack on the Hawaii base by the Japanese kamikaze. As a result of this, the president at the time, Roosevelt, took action by ordering the bombings of Japan in 1942 which would lead to the introduction of World War II. This was an effort to make Japan understand we would not back down. Further into the war, the new president, Truman, gave the order to drop the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki which ended in the Japanese surrendering to the United States in defeat. Therefore, the act or initiation of war can have effects on the countries fighting in good and bad ways. In this case, the U.S. suffered lose but ended in victory. Japan pulled the pin in the grenade but never had the chance to throw it. We have succeeded in our own

George Morgenstern, a revisionist historian argued in his book Pearl Harbor: The Story of the Secret War; the attack or Pearl Harbor was not unexpected, it was triggered by the administration and Roosevelt to save his presidency as a “Backdoor to the War”. The attack of Pearl Harbor gave Roosevelt a reason to enter the war and save the economy from dying. The attack solved Roosevelt big problem by achieving support from the opposition American public for involvement in the War.

First I would like to look at some of the facts that led up to the pivotal verdict which caused so much destruction to Japan and its people. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States would engage in World War II against Japan. I truly don’t believe anyone believed that the war would last as long as it did; nevertheless, after 44 months of fighting, the American people were growing weary of the war and wanted their troops to come home. Many

The most problematic concern with the choice to bomb Pearl Harbor, and thereby directly provoking the United States into war, is that it