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The Bombing Of Pearl Harbor

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The Second World War was one of the bloodiest, most widespread wars in all of history. It included every major power and involved millions of people from over 30 countries. Though the war was bloody and brutal for everyone involved, the upper hand belonged to the Axis powers throughout the majority of the war. Three of the most pivotal times in World War II were the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Normandy. All three of these points in the war either brought something new into the war or changed the pecking order between rivaling countries. The first major turning point in World War II was the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. On the morning of December 7th, 1941, the Japanese naval and air forces released bombs and open fire onto Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 2,403 people were killed, with 1,178 wounded. Every battleship in the harbor, of which there were nine, was destroyed, not counting ten other ships and countless planes. The next morning, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on the Japanese Empire. Congress agreed with only one person, pacifistic Jeannette Rankin of Montana, who had also voted against the United States entering World War I, voting against the declaration of war. This was what brought the United States into the war. Though the attack itself was a shock, the rivalry between the U.S. and Japan wasn’t unknown. When the Japanese invaded China in 1937 in an attempt to expand their territory, America cut

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