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Essays on the attack on pearl harbor information
Essays on the attack on pearl harbor information
Essays on the attack on pearl harbor information
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America’s defenses were surprised and unprepared for the attack on Pearl Harbor. There was a major communication problem, which lead there to be little suspection that there would be an attack on Pearl Harbor. Due to this false sense of security there was little to no preparation if anything were to occur. According to Admiral H.E. Kimmel he was notified to send resources to countries who were suspected to be under attack (like Guam and the Philippines). In the text on Document B, Admiral H.E. Kimmel , “On November 27, the Navy Department suggested that I send from the immediate vicinity of Pearl Harbor the carriers of the fleet’s main striking defense against an air attack.” Kimmel also stated, ”On November 27, the War and Navy Department
suggested that we send from the Island of Oahu 50 percent of the Army’s resources in pursuit planes.” Thus, contributing to the overall unpreparedness and utter shock everyone at Pearl Harbor felt. Additionally, some people (like Secretary stimson) blamed the Generals and Admirals, claiming that they were at fault. In the text on document C, Secretary Stimson claimed, “Under these circumstances, which were of general knowledge and which [Admiral H.E. Kimmel] must of known , to cluster his airplanes in such groups and positions that in an emergency they could not take to the air for several hours.” In this situation Kimmel, who was not suspecting an attack, decided to cluster all the airplanes in a way that would take many hours to get unclustered, which definitely a poor decision on his part. Yet, this still reiterates the fact that there was a huge flaw in their communication, one of which impacted and reflected how prepared they were. Overall, America’s defences were surprised and completely unprepared for the attack on Pearl Harbor.
To begin, the attack on Pearl Harbour was devastating to U.S. naval capabilities in the Pacific at the onset of their entry into the war. Japanese officials had grown tired of the U.S. oil embargo, which was meant to limit their territorial expansion and aggression in South-East Asia as well as China, and as negotiations weren’t reaching any conclusions they decided that the only course of action was a first strike on the aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbour to cripple U.S. naval capability in the Pacific (Rosenberg 1). The attack, which lasted about two hours, had resulted in the sinking of four battleships, among ...
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the most atrocious attacks to have ever happened on American soil, starting with disagreement on the Potsdam declaration. Japan’s greed for more land and industrial materials led the Japanese to make a plan to keep the United States out of the war, which consisted the use of kamikaze pilots and bombs to destroy our aircraft carriers and boats in an attempt to control the Pacific. While leaving the drowning, and dead bodies of thousands of American seamen and battleships at the bottom of the sea, seemed to be a good idea to the Japanese; America joined World War II and introduced the first nuclear weapons as reprisal for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Had the Japanese agreed to an unconditional surrender and end to militarism during the agreement on the Potsdam declaration, the introduction to nuclear weapons and the death count wouldn’t have been so high and devastating on both the American and Japanese sides.
Year’s prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor; the United States Government was intercepting and decoding secret messages from the Japanese Islands and the Japanese Government. During that time the relationship with the Japanese Government and the rest of the world, especially the United States, was extremely tenuous. To avoid a war, which had began to loom in the waters of the Pacific, off the coast of the Hawaiian Islands, a territory of the United States, Great Britain, the United States and other countries of the world called for all trade to the Japanese Islands be halted and assets to be frozen, which ultimately caused a near collapse of the Japanese economy. In the early Fall of 1941 the U.S. Government, knowing a possible war approached, secretly requested that those Japanese immigrants and the large population of Japanese- Americans (those born in the United States) be questioned as to their loyalty. “The President of the United States ordered a special intelligence finding investigation to be conducted” (Armor and Wright, 13-14). According to our reading of Shea, the President of the United States used his prerogative power to appoint a Representative of the State Department to conduct such an investigation (Shea, 259). “ The investigator provided a report to the President, which later became know as “The Munson Report”, which certified a remarkable, even extraordinary degree of loyalty among this generally suspect ethnic group” (Weglyn, 34). Due to this investigation and the information provided it indicated the Japanese were loyal and they were not a problem or threat, however with the concealment of this document pro-internment hysteria ran ramped throughout the West Coast and the remainder of the country. “Proclamati...
The attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 were the first attacks ever to take place on American soil, the repercussions were devastating for the Japanese Empire; sadly, Pearl Harbor would not be the last threat America faced on her own land. On September 9th, 2011 (9/11) a radical Islāmic terrorist group known as Al-Qaeda attacked America. While America dealt with both of these attacks with unyielding resolve, executing that resolve was what is starkly different between the two tragedies. Pearl Harbor did have some quintessential similarities to 9/11; both attacks unprovoked by America, both provoked public support against aggressors by way of presidential speeches, both lacked prior intelligence on the attacks themselves, both sparked
The attack on Pearl Harbor would hurt the United States’ strongest defense and kill many Americans. This was the first terrorist attack on the United States, by another country, which came as a total shock to many people. One of the people who is rumored to have known about the attack was the president. President Roosevelt knew the attack against Pearl Harbor had to have been planned for a while, because of the distance, the organization, and telegrams that had been coming in. Japan was too far for the attack to be an accident or a spur of the moment type plan.
“AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NO DRILL.” This is the message sent out by radioman Kyle Boyer at 7:58 a.m. Sunday December 7, 1941; a date which will live in infamy. The empire of Japan had attacked the United States’ Pacific Fleet based in Pearl Harbor. For months the US Intelligence community, as well as others around the world, had been intercepting and decoding transmissions from mainland Japan to their diplomats and spies in the US. We had cracked their Purple Code, and knew exactly what military intelligence was being transmitted back and forth. The Dutch also cracked Purple and informed our government of the Japanese plan and were shocked to hear reports that we were taken by surprised. Even more disturbing, months before the attack a British double agent, Dusko Popov, codenamed Tricycle, turned over to the F.B.I. detailed plans of the Japanese air raid, which he had obtained from the Germans. The government had the information, and did nothing with it.
On 7 December 1941 the Japanese Military launched a destructive surprise attack on United States Military Forces in Pearl Harbor, HI. This forced the United States into the ongoing war that they had hoped to avoid. With a Naval Fleet that suffered significant losses in the attack at Pearl Harbor, the US began offensive and defensive campaigns throughout the Pacific region ranging from open water naval battles to close combat engagements in the Philippines. America was quickly losing ground and desperately needed positive news after suffering heavy loses early in the war. President Franklin Roosevelt turned to his senior military advisors in Washington, DC and asked what it would take to strike a blow the Japanese mainland as they had done to America. At the time, the US Army Air Corps had no bases in Asia within bomber range. The Navy had aircraft capable of accomplishing the mission but was reluctant to bring its ships within the bombers range for fear of losing what few ships still remained in the region. It was then that a Navy Captain named Francis Low, an Anti-Submarine Warfare Officer serving on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Ernest King, suggest...
In World War II their were a lot of battles. There were a lot of city’s bombed. How would you feel if you were in World War II ? I would be running from the Japanese and the Natiz . Also I would probably die or hide in a road gutter . The question is what would you do if you were in World War II ?
...ip, and moved it against the quays. It heaved up the port side, and you could feel the decks-the compartments-being penetrated…You began to get afraid. I don’t know about other people, but I though “Geez I might get killed”.” (Remembering Pearl Harbor page 16). The attack by Japan was a smart tactical move on the United States. It was a two-fold plan, first If they attacked the US, they would draw attention from what was happening in Europe and all sources would be directed to the west half of the US. Second since the attack was so quick and unexpected the US was caught off guard. Since Japan attacked the largest base in the Pacific, Japan believed they would be able to cripple the US defenses for a while. “The Japanese did not realize that the attack on Dec. 7, 1941 would be a rallying cry for the Americans that had not enlisted to enlist in troops.” (Hampton)
On the day of the attack, Japan succeeded with their plan of “surprise.” The United States had “ no defenses and many of their guns were not loaded” (Keegan 255). Although they saw many aircrafts approaching through the radar that was installed at the harbor, the Americans thought nothing of it (Keegan 254). Because of the unexpected Japanese move, the United States suffered greatly on December 7, 1941; Japan successfully sank and damaged 18 US ships, 8 battleships, and 180 planes. In addition, thousands of innocent Americans lost their lives that day, and many homes were completely destroyed. Once Yamamoto heard the results of the attack, he was thrilled; Japan successfully carried out their long scheduled attack (Axelrod 152). However, his joy soon ended as on December 8, the day after the bombing, when Roosevelt declared war against Japan (Axelrod 149).
Introduction – Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to attack because of the obstruction of defense and warning.
Pearl Harbor is easily one of the most disastrous events that occurred on American soil. It was a deliberate attack against the United States from Japan. Before December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked, America had decided not to get involved in European affairs, which included the beginning of World War II. However, once the United States saw how much Britain and the Soviet Union were suffering from fighting with the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan), America felt obligated to help in some way to help without actually entering the war. Weapons, money, and food were sent over seas to help aid them in any way it could. It was very obvious that if America had entered the war, we would join the side of the Allies (Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union). The day after Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt approached congress and asked for a declaration of war against Japan. Pearl Harbor affected many events that occurred in World War II. Not only the United States, but the world was affected that day.
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.
The Japanese never intended to invade or conquer America, their only goal was to become strong enough to impose a severe threat towards the United States, so that the U.S. could not discontinue Japan from conquering Asia and later on the world. The United States was the only major force because the other major countries were occupied with the world war that kept them from interfering with Japans military action. America cut off Japans source of supplies and as an effect their military weakened significantly. This action gave Japan the rage they needed to approve the plan and attack Pearl Harbor.2 The British broke in to Japan’s diplomatic code before the attack and gave the information to America, The U.S. knew from this intel that an attack from the Japanese Empire was liable to occur but never expected anything so drastic or soon because they did not think Japan had a strong enough military to impose a big enough threat to America.3
With the outcome of the Battle of Pearl Harbor not accomplishing Japans ideals and retaliation was for certain. The island of Midway started preparing for a battle, “After the somewhat shaking events of 7 December, Midway, no less than Pearl Harbor, prepared for the worst with full anticipation that it would come” (Heinl, 16). Within two weeks new shipments of aircrafts and US troops to the island had arrived to stockpile resources. The United States was preparing to defend their fleet and resources involved. The attack on Pearl Harbor opened up the idea to American that the war had already started whether people kne...