Out of nowhere, planes soared through the sky, descending, dropping bombs on battleships. There were explosions, gunfire, and screams everywhere. It was “a date which will live in infamy.” On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked O’ahu, Hawaii, commonly referred to as the Pearl Harbor attack. There is no debate that this attack was one of the most pivotal events in the 20th century. The motivations and reasons behind this attack are still debated to this day by many historians. Why would Japan attack a global superpower like the United States? No one expected an attack. This paper explores the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, in particular, how prior events in Japan's history spiraled into diplomatic tensions with the United States. It also …show more content…
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 was driven by Japan’s long-term ambitions of global supremacy and national pride, resulting in economic pressures, growing tensions with the United States, and overall strategic miscalculations. In Japan, during the 1930s and 1940s, political instability, frequent changes of leadership, and social unrest were abundant throughout society. In the Meiji period, around the late 1800s, the power dynamic shifted from many different factions within the government to a centralized power under one emperor. The strength of Japan’s economic challenge to the other powers in China caused problems and even certain attempts to restrain Japan’s ambition. After the Washington Conference, there was a shift in the direction of Japanese policy. For example, Foreign Minister Shidehara Kijuro wanted to exploit economic opportunities in China. During the 1930s, many leaders used speeches and writing to publicize ideologies and ideas. The central theme throughout these writings was militarism and civilians. For the past years, big businesses like the zaibatsu and party politicians have been corrupting …show more content…
The United States assumed they did not need anti-torpedo nets for Pearl Harbor due to their report, which contained false information. This caused them to believe torpedo attacks must be in around 90 feet of water. This miscalculation on the United States’ side could have prevented some of the damage done to Pearl Harbor. This correct assumption and calculation by the Japanese side allowed them to pursue their plan because at one point they were considering an air attack. On the Japanese side the overconfidence and underestimation of American capabilities created an unrealistic expectation of winning the war, which was fueled by nationalism. Emperor Hirohito’s inability to navigate confliciting opinions from the military, ultranationalists, and big businesses like the zaibatsu created confusion, hesitancy, and overall uncertainty. The overall atmosphere of uncertainty caused an unreal expectation and affected the reality of actually winning war against the United States. The reasons why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor are complicated and historians learn more evidence and theories about the attack to this day. As time goes on, history can be distorted and stories can be modified from the
In conclusion, the attack of Japan on the United States, Pearl Harbor, led to great property destruction and even loss of lives. Japan had earlier on deceived the United States of the peace negations. Japanese Ambassadors later termed the negotiation as useless, making them attack the United States. The unexpected attack led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to ask the Congress to declare war on Japan.
The Battle of Pearl Harbor was one of the most atrocious events that happened in U.S. history. On December 7, 1941, Japan made a surprise aerial attack on the United States naval base and airfields at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. More than two thousand Americans died and a thousand two hundred were wounded. Eighteen ships were badly damaged, including five battleships. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt with the support of the Congress, declared war on Japan. It led United States’ official involvement in World War II. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because of a deteriorating relationship with the U. S. The “New World Order”, expansion and resources, and economic sanctions were factors that conducted to another disaster on the Second World War.
This paper will compare Gordon W. Prange's book "At Dawn We Slept - The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor" with the film "Tora! Tora! Tora!" directed by Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda. While the film provides little background to the attack, its focal point is on the Pearl Harbor assault and the inquiry of why it was not prevented, or at least foreseen in adequate time to decrease damage. Prange's book examines the assault on Pearl Harbor from both the Japanese and American viewpoints to gain a global view of the situation and the vast provision undertaken by Japanese intelligence. The film and book present the Japanese side, the American side, the events that lead up to the attack, and the aftermath.
The Japanese government believed that the only way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand into its neighbor’s territory and take over its import market, mostly pointed at China. To put an end on that the United States put economic sanctions and trade embargoes. We believed that if we cut off their resources and their source of federal income than they would have no choice but to pull back and surrender. But the
The bombings of 1945 by the United States of America on Japan were very controversial events. Many historians believe these acts were aggressive and unnecessary. In addition, analysts argue that the U.S. should have used alternative methods instead of the bomb, but most do not realize the repercussions of these different tactics. On the contrary, the bomb was needed to ease tension quickly and effectively. Ultimately, the bomb proved more effective than any other method, and also proved to be a technique that is sufficient for America’s needs. The effort made by the U.S. to bomb Japan after their disapproval of the Potsdam Declaration was needed to end conflicts in the Pacific because of Japanese resistance, to save American lives, and to portray the U.S. as a nation of power and dominance.
America’s initial response to the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 was that of disbelief and shock. This attack took place on a Sunday morning and what surprised many was the fact that a tiny island nation situated in the Asian mainland could bring out that kind of a feat thousands of miles away from its actual homeland. A major part of this shock and disbelief was based mainly on the stereotypical view that the Americans had on the Japanese people – short people with oriental features that appeared exaggerated.
Zimm, Alan D. Attack on Pearl Harbor: Strategy, Combat, Myths, Deceptions / Alan D. Zimm ; Graphics by Matt Baughman. Philadelphia, [Pa.: Casemate, 2011. Print.
On December 7,1941 Japan raided the airbases across the islands of Pearl Harbour. The “sneak attack” targeted the United States Navy. It left 2400 army personnel dead and over a thousand Americans wounded. U.S. Navy termed it as “one of the great defining moments in history”1 President Roosevelt called it as “A Day of Infamy”. 2 As this attack shook the nation and the Japanese Americans became the immediate ‘focal point’. At that moment approximately 112,000 Persons of Japanese descent resided in coastal areas of Oregon, Washington and also in California and Arizona.3
Introduction – Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to attack because of the obstruction of defense and warning.
It was a Sunday morning, on December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor, US naval base located on Hawaii, was attacked by the Japanese. They caught unguarded the whole nation, and for that, this attack is considered one of the top ten failures of the US intelligence. The Japanese were able to attack Pearl Harbor by surprise because of the mindset of US officials, whom they saw Japanese as a weak enemy, who wouldn’t risk attacking US territory, caused by a supremacy factor; As well as the not good enough US intelligence efficiency to encrypt Japanese codes, and the handling of such information. After the negotiations between the Japanese and the United States ended, there was no doubt that they would make an attack, but they didn’t know the target of it.
Japan wanted to end the old order where countries such as America and Europe had the most power and controlled most of the world. Japan wanted to be the new world power and rule the world, this is shown by the quote “An old order (European and American) is now crumbling” (Document A) which makes this a contributing factor to the attack on Pearl Harbor. As the United States was one of the leading world powers at the time, Japan had the mindset that if they could attack the United States and win, Japan and its allies such as Germany, would be able to control the world. Document A says, “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.” This again shows that Japan believed very highly of their country and wanted to control the
America was thoroughly shocked when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7th, 1941. Japan attacked the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii with 353 aircraft at approximately 7:55 am. It took less than two hours to lose 2403 Americans and 19 U.S. Navy ships. There are multiple accounts of Intelligence failures, that if handled properly, could have changed the outcome of the Pearl Harbor. Was the intelligence gathered prior to December 7th 1941 analyzed properly?
In the morning hours of December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked the Hawaiian islands at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese had been feeling the pressures of World War II (WWII) as did many others. With the resources of the Japanese dwindling, the Japanese decided to attack the U.S. while simultaneously planning the attack during the negotiations of continued peace between our two countries. The Japanese were able to cover up there planning for nearly a year. Planning for the attack and ultimately war in the pacific, started in January of 1941, and was finalized during the war games in November of 1941. The U.S. on the other hand would become a reactive force after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The inability to crack the Japanese code lead, to a lack of intelligence during this time making the plan of attack for the Japanese a successful one. It would seem that the year of planning and the strategies laid out in the “Combined Fleet Operations Top Secret Order 1” of the Japanese navy would become a reality in the pacific, allowing for an easy sweep of the military targets for the Japanese fleet.
Consequently, Pearl Harbour was a preferred target to attack in order to retaliate the United States. The signing of the Tripartite Treaty with Germany further fuelled Japan’s aggression towards the United States. The Japanese had planned the attack in mind that if the US did engage in war, they would have struggled fighting two fronts. “The causes of the attack on Pearl Harbor stemmed from intensifying Japanese-American rivalry in the Pacific. Japan’s imperial ambitions had been evident from as early as 1931 when she invaded Manchuria.” The United States contribution towards aiding countries in relationships with them accordingly resulted in the attack on Pearl Harbour. At homeland Japan, the Japanese people sought that if the Japanese forces took out America’s naval forces at Pearl Harbour, it would have resulted in no immediate attack on Japan and would have created further havoc for the United States. As a result, Pearl harbour had to inevitably be
Japan triggered the war that led to the bombing of its two cities with its sneak attack on America’s Pearl Harbor in 1941. Subsequent systematic and flagrant violation of several international agreements and norms through employment of chemical and biological warfare and mistreatment of prisoners of war and civilians aggravated the situation[ Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth. (NY: Knopf, 1995), 89]. A response was needed to deal with increased aggression from Japan. Allied military planners had to choose between invading Japan and using the US atomic bombs in 1945[ Ronald Tabaki, Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb.