Japan, the United States, and Pearl Harbor Essay

This intelligence allowed Nimitz to avoid a secondary naval battle and concentrate a surprise attack unforeseen by the Japanese at Midway. Nimitz was able to position the fleet out of the Japanese carrier’s striking range and hide fall under the protection of land based air at Midway. Aligning the three carriers and land-based air power was instrumental in matching and defeating the larger and more competent Japanese fleet.

December 7, 1941, was on of the worst attacks ever on the United States. Out of that day, 2,403 soldiers were killed in action, 1,178 were wounded in action. Through the misjudgments of numerous U.S. armed forces personnel, the Japanese were able to carry out this terrible attack, which crippled the United States’ Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The naval force on both sides were mostly determined to goals of attack and had dedicated themselves to fighting for the country. In addition to that, the American military had taken their revenge for the attack of Pearl Harbor by attacking the Japanese city of Tokyo (Mcgowen 20). The Japanese mindset of superiority didn't think of this attack and Americans took advantage of that to make it into war with revenge. In addition to that, there are several other military strategies that the United States had used. First of all, the major cause of the Japanese defeat was because of Chester W. Nimitz, a United States navy fleet admiral.

What happened during this battle? The Japanese really practiced and prepared carefully for their attack on Pearl Harbor.

In January 1941, reports were received that Japan might attack Pearl Harbor but military officials ignored these reports. They considered attacks on the Philippines and other European countries to be more likely, underestimating Japan’s ability to conceal preparations for such an operation. Due to the success of the cryptanalysis machine called, Magic, American leaders started breaking Japanese military operational codes. The codes that were deciphered showed Japan was likely to take some type of military action (Irive). At that time, Japan had only a 12-month supply of petroleum to fuel its economy and war operations left. So the U.S. anticipated Japan would act quickly! The only questions that could not be answered were when and where (Woods). Pearl Harbor had been a major naval base since before 1898. In early

Before the assault, the Japanese's army was constantly improving and perfecting their surprise attack strategy. They knew that their plan was extremely risky, so the chance of success depended on complete surprise for the U.S. Pacific fleet. The Japanese attack force, led by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, began the 3,000 mile sneaky journey. Sneaking Six aircraft carriers, nine destroyers, two battleships, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and three submarines across the Pacific Ocean undetected would be a very challenging task. The

………Japan plan a attack that was the turning point in the war, just not in the way they expected. The battle of midway was supostto take out Americas already weekend nave. In the end it failed they tried a sneak attack which back fired on them losing more than they gained. The battle of midway was japans down fall.

On November 26, 1941, the Japanese Task Force comprised of six aircraft carriers. A support force, which included two battleships, three cruisers, nine destroyers, three submarines, escorted it and eight oil supply ships, began their trek to Hawaii. They must travel four thousand miles across open sea and remain undetected by the UNITED STATES Forces. (Wisniewski 20) The UNITED STATES Military knew a surprise attack by Japan was possible and they thought they were prepared. Adm. Husband E. Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, the commanders of the UNITED STATES Naval and Army forces in Hawaii, respectively, had regularly scheduled training exercises and had taken many precautions to avert disaster. (Pearl Harbor’s History, Filmstrip)

In Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War by Akira Iriye, the author explores the events and circumstances that ended in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an American naval base. Iriye assembles a myriad of primary documents, such as proposals and imperial conferences, as well as essays that offer different perspectives of the Pacific War. Not only is the material in Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War informative of the situation between Japan and the United States, but it also provides a global context that allows for the readers to interpret Pearl Harbor and the events leading up to it how they may. Ultimately, both Pearl Harbor and the subsequent Pacific War between

Pearl Harbor is a strategically placed naval base located near Honolulu, Hawaii. It defends the United States’ interests in the Pacific Ocean and Asia. Japan’s strategy was to expand its empire across Asia capturing parts of China, Singapore, Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. Crippling the U.S. naval fleet at Pearl Harbor would have enabled the Japanese to capture these Asian regions without the interference of the United States Military (Higgs, 2006) (See Appendix B for map of Hawaii and Japan).

Japan's Attack on Pearl Harbour In December 1941, Pearl Harbour was attacked by the Japanese. It was the consequence of a series of events which brought tension between Japan and America to boiling point. Japan was a country growing in power and stature and America soon came to realise that this growth could prove a threat to them. America aimed to stop Japan's growth in its tracks as they realised that if the situation was left to evolve much longer then the situation may be out of their control.

According to the General, who was also the Commander of the American Air Force at the time, Japan was already on the brink of economic collapse. He writes, ¨Our B29s had destroyed most of the Japanese industries and, with the laying of mines, which prevented the arrival of incoming cargoes of critical items, had made it impossible for Japan to carry on a large scale war.¨ (Document B). It had become increasingly unfeasible for Japan to launch offensive attacks and defend themselves for much longer, because they were out of resources and money. The tactics the army was using were working, and it wasn´t going to be much longer until the economy of Japan collapsed. This would have forced Emperor Hirohito to surrender, because his country would be unable to fight the war given their economic

suffered a major defeat at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, took advantage of the situation the U.S. was put in after its losses during Pearl Harbor (“Japs Risk Large Naval Units...”). With the backbone of U.S. Pacific Fleet torn out, Japan made several attempts to dominate the Pacific. Japan was anxious to settle their differences with the U.S., so they began risking large naval units in Pacific battles. An article posted in the Los Angeles Time, “Japs Risk Large Naval Units in Blows at U.S.” says, “For the sixth time in six months Japan made a deadly bid to capture the mastery of the Pacific, and for the sixth time she has failed after paying a price that is fast becoming prohibitive,” (“Japs Risk Large Naval Units...”). This article was posted days after the Battle of Midway, on June 7th, 1942 reflecting the actions of the Japanese Navy in the previous months. The Japanese were anxious to pounce on the weakened U.S. after Pearl Harbor, backing their attacks with large naval units. The Japanese felt that they needed to take over Midway Island in order to claim dominance over the U.S. in the Pacific.

Both sides sustained significant losses. Four Japanese aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser were sunk in exchange for one American aircraft carrier and a destroyer. The heavy losses permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), in particular the four fleet carriers and over 200 experienced naval

Chaos and continual disorder encompassed the people across the globe in the years prior to the declaration of war between the Axis and Allied powers in 1939. The Great Depression that had struck soon after the First World War left much of the world unemployed and desperate for relief. Nationalism swept through Germany in response to the terms of the Versailles Treaty that ended World War I. China and Japan had been at war since Japanese troops invaded Manchuria in 1931. Germany, Italy, and Japan began multiple invasions and occupations of nearby countries. When they received no meaningful consequences for their aggressive actions, they felt emboldened and World War II began. In the midst of war and the growing totalitarian aggression, the