Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor Dbq Essay

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.

The Japanese' motive for the bombing Pearl Harbor was to destroy the United States Pacific fleet so that the Japanese could have complete naval control of the Pacific Ocean as well as to go through with the Japanese Pan Asian program with-out the United

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

Hideki Tojo, the Prime Minister and War Minister of Japan, didn’t like the U.S. expansion at all. He said, “When I think about the strengthening of American defenses in the Southwest Pacific, the expansion of the American fleet, . . . I see no end to difficulties. . .” (Doc E). Tojo was frightened of what the United States might have planned since they had expanded their naval fleet. He feared Japan “. . . would become a third-class nation after two or three years. . .” (Doc E). He feared those things would become true if they just sat tight and didn’t take any action against the United States. Japan had already taken many acquisitions throughout Asia, so they wished to continue to expand their territory. Japan feared the continuation of the status quo, so they wanted a major change. That is also a part of why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

This scared Japan because they did not want the United States to be strong so they tried to take out the fleet by bombing Pearl Harbor. Another document that supports the reason of Japan being concerned with the size of America’s fleet is document E. Hideki Tojo was talking to his fellow military leaders and said, “...the expansion of the American fleet,... I see no end to difficulties…. I fear that we would become a third-class nation after two or three years if we just sat tight,”Document E). Hideki Tojo was the Prime Minister and the War Minister of japan.

America and Japan had many disagreements between each other over the years. America never joined the League of Nations after World War I to avoid any future problems between countries. The League of Nations is an international organization created to solve tension between countries before it started a war. But when America didn't join, it caused Japan to get suspicious of them. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because they had different rules then America, America stopped all imports to Japan and America was making too many demands on Japan.

During this time, Japan believed that they were superior to all other races, and that this allowed them to extend their rule over all other countries (Doc A). This lead them to occupy other neighboring regions, like Manchuria and French Indochina (Doc B). America did not agree with Japan's imperialist behavior, so they began to put embargos in place and froze Japanese assets. Japan was angered by this, as the Americans were willing to do what needed to be done to keep the Japan from becoming an imperialist empire. The Japanese were determined to spread their power throughout the world, so they viewed the bombing of Pearl Harbor as a way to keep the Americans from being able to stop

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.

Along with oil, the United States stopped importing steel and scrap iron. According to (Document D), America initially supplied Japan with about 70 percent of their total oil. Several years later the U.S supply of oil to Japan dropped to about 40 percent. America was a economic powerhouse, due to industrialization, and Japan needed their resources as they were a distinct country. These supplies were essential for Japanese motives to rule the world. This contributed to Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor because it showed their struggle, and along with struggle comes

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

Oil is needed greatly in war also to fuel machines and since the population was growing rapidly, the need was even more great. Eventually, America starts to slowly reduce the amount of oil the was shipped to them and thus imposing embargo on oil shipments to Japan. On August of 1941, America began to stop sending goods to Japan and also moves to Pearl Harbor to get in the way of the Japanese (Doc C). This included petroleum, steel, and scrap iron. These materials were vital to Japan since it is an island and as a country, they lacked these goods. They did not have their own, therefore America was their largest trading nation. This shortly changed, causing Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor. More than 80% of oil Japan received was from the United States. This gradually changes to less than 40% (Doc D). The graph shows about 341 tons of oil dropped after America, throughout time, stopped trading with Japan. This only added made Japan more angry than ever which is another reason for the

Pearl Harbor is a naval base on the island Oahu, Hawaii, it is also a major site of the U.S navy. A surprise attack happened by a fleet of around 1200 Japanese borne fighter planes on a Sunday morning on December 7, 1941, it imposed heavy damage to the harbor and that brought the U.S into World War II. The reason the attack on Pearl Harbor started was because the U.S put sanctions on Japan and that cut off the majority of their oil supply because Japan was a part of the axis forces; Germany Italy. Before the Pearl Harbor attack the United States was against getting into the war it had a policy called isolationism. One has to remember that just 20 years prior the United States was involved in World War I with many of the citizens not wanting

In addition, Japan were keen on expanding their empire and had to make a decision between surrendering or going to war with the United States. Lastly, United States had not yet entered the Second World War, because they were still reeling from depression due to the First World War. United States did, however, still possess the strongest naval fleets. In that perspective, the Japanese were almost as strong as the American navy. As time passed, America favored more and more towards joining the war. The Japanese anticipated a full-blown naval war with America and therefore, decided to act first by bombing Pearl Harbor which was a key terrain feature in the Pacific due to it’s massive and deep harbor for naval ships.