Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

In 1941, one of the largest American military defeats occurred. An entire naval fleet was destroyed, hundreds were killed, all before nine A.M. on a Sunday morning. The US did not have any knowledge of this attack, mostly because of their own ignorance, partially because of the military strategies of their Japanese opponents. The Japanese attack on the US naval base of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was a classic case of "It will not happen to me!" Although the US suspected the Japanese actions, they were not ready because they believed an attack would never happen on American grounds. Through an examination of military history, tactics and eye witness descriptions, it will be proven that the US had no knowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, but had sufficient warnings from the Japanese and others that an attack was imminent.

In the years before 1941, the war saw little American military action. After the collapse of France, American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised his county that no American troops would be sent to Europe to aid in the battle against Hitler and his powerful army. These promises caused Roosevelt to be criticized by his closest advisors for his doubt about declaring war . The President's defense to these accusations was he did not want to be looked down upon by the public. As well, he believed American intervention would cause a 'mortal blow' to the Allies cause. In reality, the advisors, as well as Roosevelt, knew that Britain could not win the war without American armed intervention.

Two oceans to the East, Japan was deep into a war of its own. Japanese forces were concentrated on the Chinese front to conquer and obtain. As a result of its unpopular declaration of war...

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...d a better way to rally the American citizens into full support for Roosevelt and his government's plan of US involvement in the war.

A previous promise between British Prime Minister, Winstin Churchill and President Roosevelt was honored when Britain declared war upon Japan two hours after the US declaration. The events surrounding the bombing of Pearl Harbor prove the US handled the situation very poorly. Many opposing tactics were noted and ignored. Warnings were thought of as routine. Even survivors, who were fully aware of the Japanese tendencies of war on China, the government war warnings and their country's unprepared state, still describe the attack as a surprise. The Japanese military strategies were intelligent and well executed; although, the Japanese attack would not have been nearly as effective had the Americans not have been so blatantly ignorant.