Pearl Harbor Dbq

The main focus on this essay is “Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor?”. On a normal Sunday morning when the American navy units were busy doing their normal routine work, the Japanese navy planned a surprise attack that stunned the world. This attack was so unpredictable that the entire American navy went in deep shock. Very few of them realized the need to manage and control their position to save the naval power. All the staff and ships that were present at the Pearl Harbor suffered massive loss. Just a couple of hours of bombing gave the Pearl Harbor, a battlefield view with fire and smoke emerging from every corner. The attack left American navy at a loss of 2400 of her best men as well as 21 ships that were either sunk or completely demolished.

Have you ever felt threatened by the one you once called a friend? American’s know this feeling all too well. In 1919, the major world powers met to deal with the wreckage that had occurred in World War 1, among those present were Japan and the United States. Japan was unhappy about how Great Britain and The United States punished Germany, the Japanese saw it as they were trying to stick to the status quo and to not cause a commotion within the League of Nations.

The passing of the Lend-Lease Act gave the United States permission to fund nations such as Britain and France, with guns, other arms. It allowed the United States get involved, while claiming neutrality.

In the beginning of the 1930’s the U.S had no desire to enter another world war or involve themselves in European foreign affairs. The U.S policy of isolationism was extremely popular not only with citizens but with government officials as well. With this being said, what factors could have contributed to the U.S involvement in World War II? . Pearl Harbor was the main factor that led to the U.S involvement in World War II despite the fact that the fact that the overwhelming majority of the country wanted nothing to do with the war in Europe. (Foner 856) “December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” These were the

The war in Europe was finished and America was still fighting Japan in the Pacific. The American people’s will to continue the war effort was falling and the government had to think of a way to end the war. They needed to take some of the Pacific to be able to get close enough to Japan to finish the war. They started by taking islands but ran into heavy Japanese resistance; soldier’s that were almost all willing to die for their emperor. That included fake surrendering, making and then hiding in elaborate cave systems, and killing other Japanese who were trying to surrender. This weighed heavily on the soldiers and made fighting incredibly hard. Even when they had an island there were Japanese who had hidden and still tried to kill the

An event that shook the nation, will not bring it to its knees. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and afterward, the U.S. entered the war. What reason did the Japanese have to bomb Pearl Harbor? Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because they saw the U.S. as a threat because they cut off their reasons, threatened them by moving military forces, and they stand in the way of Japan’s new order.

Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on the Pretense of expanding their area of control. Document A the Japanese Ministry of Education on August 1, 1941, states “An old order … (European and American) … is now crumbling.” (Doc A). Meaning not only the Germans fighting the British, French and other European countries, including the US who supplies them, are losing the war. “The Benevolent Rule of the Emperor may be extended so as to embrace the whole world.” (Doc A). In this weaken world the Japanese are will take over and the kind and generous Emperor would then rule the world. A Map, Document B shows just how much the Japanese took in their plot for World domination. The Japanese took over Manchukuo, Taiwan, and the bottom half of Sakhalin by 1932, Tonking and stealing parts of

In order to maintain independence and respect, Japan adopted militarism and an offensive military strategy. The 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was an example of Japan’s change from a small feudalistic military that kept to itself to an offensive, aggressive military reliant on military power.

to stay at equal footing with world powers such as Germany and Japan, they needed to expand their influence into the Pacific. Only then, as is mentioned, would the U.S. be able to respond to other nations with its great sea power.

Japan’s wanted to attack Midway to gain power in the Pacific Ocean and to eliminate the United States Navy for a long time. Since the U.S. suffered a major defeat at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, felt he could take advantage of the U.S. since they were weak in his mind (Hone). Japan was fixated on settling 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,” (Symonds). Posted just after the Battle of Midway it showed that the Japanese had been planning this.

December 7, 1941 was one of the most devastating days in the history of America. Over 2,000 American citizens were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, and over 1,000 American citizens were wounded. The Japanese successfully destroyed over 180 American aircraft in addition to two American battleships, the U.S.S. Arizona and the U.S.S. Oklahoma. Many people could say this was one of the most successful surprise attack ever pulled off in all of history. There were quite a few different incidents that led up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

In the 1940’s, tension between Japan and America was dramatically increasing.Japan had recently declared that there was to be a new order, and that they were the new world power. The United States did not like Japan’s motives and cut Japan off from their main source of trade and supplies. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor because America put restrictions on trade, America was becoming too strong, and Japan wanted to be the at the top of the world power.

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.

There were many battles that occurred in the Pacific during World War II, the most significant ones being the Battles of Midway, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. The Battle of Midway, an American naval victory in June 1942 is considered a significant point in the Pacific war with the Japanese fleet sustaining heavy losses and having to retreat. The Battle of Midway is significant as it firstly, “only lost one carrier… and it meant that four carriers (Enterprise, Hornet, Saratoga, and Wasp) were available when the U.S navy went on the offensive during the battle of Guadalcanal.” Secondly, subsequent to this battle, the Japanese would react to the Americans, and not the other way around, this meant that the “operational initiative” had passed

Shortly before 8am on Sunday 7 December 1941 , the first of two waves of Japanese aircraft launched a devastating attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet, moored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The raid, which came with no warning and no declaration of war, destroyed four battleships, leaving an additional 4 damaged in merely two hours. The attack destroyed 188 US aircraft, killed more than 2,400 Americans, and injured another 1,200 . Although remembered as “the day that will live in infamy”, the exact reason behind the attack on Pearl Harbor still remains unknown. Some believe that the Japanese were galvanized by Germany to attack the United States because of the assumption that the United States would be unable to concentrate all of its resources toward the fight with Japan. Germany desired assistance in the fight during World War II and, because of that, nearly guaranteed the United States’ defeat if Japan attacked. On the other side, it is believed that the Japanese prompted the Pacific war with the attack on Pearl Harbor in order to eliminate their primary competitor for resources in the Pacific and fulfill its destiny of creating a “greater East Asian co-prosperity sphere” .