pearl harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a tragic event in American history. President Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy." On that day, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor and killed more than 2,300 Americans during the attack. The attack took the United States by surprise and especially the undefended naval base. There were a lot of factors that played a role in the attack, including why Japan thought they had to attack, how they were able to achieve surprise, and the damage they inflicted on the American fleet.
In 1937 Japan declared war on China in an attempt to solve economic problems. They had a long an unsuccessful campaign until 1940 when they allied themselves with the axis powers. In response to these efforts the United States cut off all trade to japan which included all their essential resources like coal and oil. Their goal was to force japan to stop their expansion because of the lack of supplies, yet the opposite occurred making them more determined than ever. The two governments negotiated for months but neither side would budge, making war inevitable.
No one expected japan to attack Pearl Harbor because of the 4,000 mile gap between the two islands. Since Americans were convinced that they would attack an outpost in Europe they left Pearl Harbor virtually undefended. They had the entire pacific naval fleet moored around Ford Island in the harbor and the aircraft were all squeezed onto small adjacent airfields, which made it ideal for the Japanese to make a surprise attack. But even with all these ideal conditions japan wanted to ensure they would achieve surprise. In an effort to do this, during their preparation and training the Japanese were ...

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... the Japanese home land to prove that they were in the war so he created the Doolittle raid.
The USS Hornet arrived at Naval Air Station Alameda, California on 20 March 1942. With sixteen B-25 bomber planes. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, seventy officers and sixty four enlisted men reported aboard on April 2nd Captain Marc Mitscher informed his men of their mission: a bombing raid on Japan. Eleven days later, USS Hornet joined the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise off Midway Island, and Task Force 16 turned toward Japan. With Enterprise providing combat air cover, USS Hornet was ordered to sail deep into enemy waters.

Works Cited

Department of Defense. 50th Anniversary of World War II Commemorative Committee. Pearl Harbor: 50th Anniversary Commemorative Chronicle, "A Grateful Nation Remembers" 1941-1991. Washington: The Committee, 1991.