Dbq Pearl Harbor

On the morning of 17th December, 1941; the royal Japanese Navy carried out a surprise armed attack at the Pearl Harbor against the US naval base. The strike came as an extreme shock to the people of America and immediately led to the US entry into the Second World War in the Pacific theatre. In the year 1938, as shown by the statistics; the population of America was two times bigger in comparison to Japan. The average level of industrialization of US was approximately 3 times higher in contrast to Japan, not to indicate the GDP and the military power. Hence, it would be completely irrational for the Japanese to strike Pearl Harbor (Darman, 2012). Few critics maintain that such an unexplainable decision should also be an illogical one. This

In July, year 1939; after Japan seized the Southern Indo- China, congressional support was being found by President Roosevelt to revoke the treaty of navigation and commerce of 1911, hence releasing him to give rise to trade limitations. The government of Japan was astonished by this move. The soft liners like Kichisaburo Nomura the Foreign Affairs Minister; proposed to change preexisting strategy towards China. So it can be derived that at least America had partially attained its objective. Faced with the moderate attitude of the cabinet of Prince Konoe, the Washington hard liners; like special adviser Stanley Hornbeck, yet found Japan doubtful. He had an obsessive dislike towards Japan, and advised Roosevelt to give rise to an embargo. Hence, Japan, discerned that America will no longer be a stable oil origin, it strived to rely less on America. Also that was the occasion when Blitzkrieg of Germany had stroked a huge success. So in the month of September, year 1940; the Tripartite Pact was being signed by Japan with Italy and Germany, considered to be the insurance against the intervention of America in the European warfare, since this would prompt Japan’s announcing war on America, propelling the America into war on two battlefields. Japan also anticipated the Pact can avert US from encouraging China (Davenport,

By the end of the year 1040, a lot of US diplomats acknowledged that Japan was menacing the life of American citizens. By the year 1941, free trade was slipping, with Gallup Poll documenting a majoritarian dedication to combat Japan on Pacific Ocean. Secretary of War Henry Stimson, considered as a hard liner; prompted Roosevelt that merely with vigorous ‘deterrence effect’ will Japan pick responsible and logical strategies. As an outcome, on July; year 1940, the overseas assets of Japan were frozen. In the month of August, the restriction became absolute. Deterrence theory did perform for this time. Prince Konoe and Nomura believe an agreement is possible, so a meeting was proposed by Nomura between Roosevelt and Konoe in Honolulu but Roosevelt was being told by Stimson that this proposal is a “blind” to lull America away from alertness, so that meeting was being declined by