On December 7th 1941, Japanese planes bombed the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor. There are many reasons as to why they did this, but I believe that the reason that Japan ordered the attack is because of the U.S. embargo, oil embargo, and Immigration quota. All hindered Japan’s influence and ego, so they definitely wanted to attack. Japan ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor, because of the embargo that the United States ordered. The embargo would ban commercial activity between the United States and Japan, stopping trade of petroleum, steel, scrap iron, and much more. According to the “US Economic Sanctions Against Japan and Its Aid to China during the Sino-Japanese War,” the United States alone supplied Japan with about 79% of their petroleum, 41% of their steel, and 74% of their scrap iron, in 1937. When the ban happened, they were missing out of around 65% of their resources, which used to be coming from the U.S. Japanese companies and officials were aggravated and irritated when the main source of oil, steel, and iron banned trade with them.
Japan ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor, because of oil. They needed to fuel all their vehicles with oil, but a problem occurred with America, their main supplier. According to “US Economic Sanctions Against Japan and Its Aid to China during the Sino-Japanese War” and “Pearl
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They believed that it was justified because Japan didn’t enjoy the extreme exclusion created by America and Japan felt it as a personal insult to their country. Japan wanted to prove to America that it was a bad choice to ban oil shipments, since Japan didn’t have many places to mine oil and America was their main supplier. Japanese also thought that it would be a good idea since their companies and officials were aggravated and irritated when their main source of oil, steel, and iron banned trade with
Japan first took over Manchuria in 1932 (document 1). This was the first of many German- Influenced attacks prior to the bombing of pearl harbor. In the year 1939, two years preceding to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States stopped all trade of aircraft and aircraft parts against Japan and two years later additionally froze all japanese assets and bank accounts, and imposed oil embargo against Japan. (document 1) From the year 1937 to 1941, the U.S exports of Petroleum to Japan in total decreased by 2,920,000 tons, the exports of steel to Japan decreased 403,000 tons, and the exports of scrap iron decreased by 167,000 tons. (document 5) From this data, it is hard to say that we remained neutral prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The U.S. supported its allies with this embargo, but didn’t fully commence in the war until after the bombing of Pearl
The second and one of the more underrated reasons Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was because of America putting an embargo on their oil. In August of 1941, America stopped shipping goods to Japan. The many goods America shipped to Japan were vital because it was more of an underdeveloped country and couldn't get the good themselves. As provided in Document D, more than 70% of Japan's oil came from the United States. When that drastically changed it provided a valuable explanation to why Japan declared war.
In 1939 the U.S. began an embargo of aircraft and aircraft part against Japan (document c). In July 1941 the United States freezes all Japan assets and bank accounts (document c). Then came August 1941 when U.S imposed an embargo on oil shipment to Japan (document c). The United States had stopped all its trading with the necessities Japan needed. Japan had developed anger with each embargo U.S. had made which lead them to attack Pearl Harbor. In 1937 more than 70% if the oil Japan received was from U.S. (document d). In 1941 oil Japan had received from U.S. by degrees decreased to less than 40% (document d). 341 tons of oil dropped after America throughout time stopped trade with Japan (document d). This shows that the U.S. was trying to weaken Japan economy, so Japan responded by attacking Pearl
Japan felt humiliated when the U.S. cut-off all of its resources in the states. The U.S. was one of Japan’s biggest providers of oil. Almost 80% of their oil came from the U.S.(Doc D) Due to the Japanese advances in China and the U.S.’s want to stay out of the war, the United States thought it would be best to do an embargo of Japan.(Doc C). Japan does not produce
Japan and the United States had different kinds of relations that could have lead Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor.The United States military and Japan’s relationship seemed to get worse after Japan sank the USS Panay even though Japan apologized for sinking the ship. Japan became aware in the 19th and 20th century that there was threats from different nations influence became very loyal. During 1939 - 1945 the United States, for the second time, applied domestic penalties to Japan and sends to Europe military supplies because Germany, Italy, and Japan made the Anti Comintern Pact. Japan wanted to take control over some land in northeastern China, this lead to domestic penalties that were charged against Japan from the United States and Europe. Even though the United States saw Japan as a minor threat because Japan had a little military compared to the United States navy. Japan decided
Japan and the United States had different kinds of relations that could have lead Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor.The United States military and Japan’s relationship seemed to get worse after Japan sank the USS Panay even though Japan apologized for sinking the ship. Japan became aware of the 19th and 20th century that there was threats from the different nations influence became very loyal. During 1939 - 1945 the United States, for the second time, applied domestic penalties to Japan and sends to Europe military supplies because Germany, Italy, and Japan made the Anti Comintern Pact. Japan wanted to take control over some land in northeastern China, this lead to domestic penalties that were charged against Japan from the United States and Europe. Even though the United States saw Japan as a minor threat because Japan had a few military compared to the United States navy. Japan decided to
This stated in document D and when it says that 80% of Japan's oil came from America. This is important to notice because Japan is especially in need of oil since they are in a middle of a war and they need fuel for all their ships and aircraft. Also, including in the embargo, Japan didn't have any steel or scrap iron coming from America. This created even more tension between the two countries. America didn't like Japan's side during World War II because they supported Hitler, so they stopped all exports. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because America was interfering with their fighting in the
Before the United States got involved in the war, it took action against countries, like Japan, who acted in ways that they did not agree with. America's first embargo came after Japan decided to start expanding their power to neighboring countries (Doc C). Later on, the United States put another embargo in place after Japan took French Indochina (Doc D). The United States did not agree with Japan's actions, but did not want to get involved in the war directly. This led them to put the embargos in place. This angered the Japanese, as they relied on America to supply them with certain resources, like steel and petroleum. This diminished their available amount of supplies that they could put towards the war
To begin with, one reason why Japan dropped bombs on Pearl Harbor was because the US froze all Japanese bank accounts and assets as stated in Document C. This happened in July 1941. When the US does this it means that Japan cannot withdrawal or deposit their money. This also keeps them from making transactions. Japan can no longer buy war supplies, oil, or other things that they need. This would obviously make Japan angry as it limits them as a country if they can't buy things or actually use their money.
As seen in Document D, 80% of all Japan’s oil was imported from the U.S. However, when Japan started to fight against China and occupied Manchuria, the U.S. began to decrease how much they would export to Japan. Because they were getting less and less oil from the U.S., they needed another way to get it. They began to expand down to the Dutch East Indies, which had plenty of oil, which created more conflict with the U.S. since she occupied the Philippines and the Philippines were in between Japan and the Indies as seen in Document B. In Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War it reveals that it wasn’t until August of 1941 that the U.S. puts an embargo on oil for Japan. An embargo is when you stop trade. It wasn’t until 4 months later that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. With limited supplies, they had to find a way to keep their military
The U.S committed multiple felonies against Japan. However, it wasn’t the only reason Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. For example, in the 1930s, most of Japan’s oil came from the U.S., which put an embargo on their oil. This lead to Japan invading Manchuria for both resources and imperialistic interests. Additionally, there was also the tension created from other U.S. acts such as the U.S. Immigration Act of 1924 which limited the amount of Asian immigrants and the Treaty of Versailles which didn’t allow Japan to have certain islands. Now, how would all of this connect to Pearl Harbor? Better yet, why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because of imperialistic interests, limited resources, and national tensions caused by U.S. acts.
On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. After Japan had attacked the US took matters in there own hands . However, Japan and the United States were not at war. Soon after, the United states declared war on Japan. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor for three main reasons: a plan for a new world order, the U.S. oil embargo against them, and the U.S. expansion of its naval fleet. The day after japan had attacked pearl harbor was named a day that will live in infamy .
Japan had many reasons for doing so; The US trade embargo, Fear of the US Navy expansion, and their implementation of the New World Order. The US trade embargo severely crippled Japan, as they imported 80% of their oil from America. (Doc D) Hideki Tojo claimed that Japan only had a two year supply of petroleum left after the embargo and then they would run dry. (Doc E) In this time, a country can not be a major power, can not be any power at all, without a steady supply of oil.
What did all of this have to do with the U.S.? Well, because the U.S. had ties with East Asia, politically and economically, the decisions Japan were making were also affecting the U.S. So, America took it upon itself to increase military and financial aid to China. The reason this decision was made was to cut off oil shipments and raw materials to Japan. This is what really angered the Japanese.
One contributing factor towards the bombing of Pearl Harbor was Japan’s desire to be recognized as a world power. This is explicitly expressed in Document A, which states, “The ideals of Japan… are represented by the principle that the benevolent rule of the Emperor may be extended so as to embrace the whole world. The way of the [world] is to be loyal to the Emperor in disregard of self… ” This idea was not a mere suggestion, but rather it was a plan. Proven by Documents B and C, Japan managed to occupy nearly all of East Asia’s coast and “declare its policy to establish a new order” in the span of approximately five years.