Rationalist School Of Thought: War Between Japan And The United States

On December 7th 1942, the day before Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) delivered his speech to Congress to ask them to go to war with Japan, The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Over 2000 American lives were lost from one of the most deceptive attacks the United States of America has ever undergone. FDR’s central purpose of his “Pearl Harbor address to the nation” speech is to try to persuade Congress to go to war with Japan. He develops this argument through characterizing japan and the nature of attack, showing the extent and danger of the attack, Reassuring the public and at the same time builds support, finally by his use of rhetoric.

Assisting its European allies in the war against the Nazi’s, the U.S. was focusing much of its attention on the Atlantic and European theatre. During this time most of the United States was focusing on the war planes and sending soldiers to help fight. With the focus being almost entirely on the Atlantic the U.S. Navy was slowly cannibalizing the Pacific fleet to help block shipping lanes and fight the German U-Boats that were ravaging the Atlantic coastlines and shipping lanes. With the war raging on so far to our east and at the time, no viable threat laid to our west. During this year diplomatic peace talks had begun with the Japanese in the attempt to strengthen our relationships with non allied countries in the western pacific. The Japanese on the other hand had a different idea of things to come. Prior to 1941, the Japanese thought that if a war were to begin that the United States would be their only enemy, however, Japan's entry into the Tripartite Alliance and the United States' aid commitments to Britain had created a new international line-up which made previous Japanese naval planning obsolete. [1] With previous planning now obsolete a new concept to include war against the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands was now a necessity. In January of 1941 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese combined fleet conceived a plan of a surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl

There were numerous strategic and political reasons that lead to the bombing of Pearl Harbour on December 7th, 1941. However nationalism, militarism and imperialistic notions were key influential factors, which together contributed to the almost complete annihilation of the US Pacific fleet. Based on Japan’s nationalistic beliefs of superiority over Asian nations, the surprise attack attempted to fulfill a change in the balance of power within South East Asia and expose the vulnerability of the West.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was the product of Japanese anger at the United States and President Roosevelt should have taken immediate action to prevent it.

It was predicted that the invasion of the Japanese mainland at the Island of Kyushu, scheduled for November of 1945, would be even worse. The entire Japanese military and civilian population would fight to the death. American casualties for just the initial invasion to get a foothold on the island of Japan would have taken up to an estimated two months and would have resulted in up to 75,000 to 100,000 casualties and potentially up to 20,000 dead. And that was just to secure the beginning of the invasion. "If we were to go ahead with the plans for a conventional invasion with ground and naval forces, I believe the Japanese thought that they could inflict very heavy casualties on us and possibly as a result get better surrender terms.” said General Carl Spaatz who was in charge of the Air Force operations in the Pacific. He expresses in his words that he strongly believes that the Japanese knew they had a good chance of overcoming this invasion due to their potential to cause mass destruction in terms of outnumbering the American troops. Thus, due to the undesirable costs the alternative of invasion presented, the USA was justified in using the atomic bomb on Japan as the more ideal alternative.

The war in the Pacific is considered to be the most unique war of all wars. On December 7th, 1941, Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. This event led the U.S. to declare war on them. For the next 4 years, both sides had encountered battles that depleted resources from both sides. Having enough, President Truman decided to drop an atomic bomb onto Japan, hoping that the enemy will surrender. This decision led to the question, was dropping the bombs a necessity? And the answer to this question is yes. The reasons as to why the bombing was necessary were due to the savage behavior of the U.S. Solders, Destroying the Japanese Superiority, the depletion of resources and soldiers and the increase of expenses.

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

Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor seems unwise, ill-judged, and senseless. The attack was meant to keep the U.S. out of the war, but had the opposite effect and instead made them want to fight and join it. Japan, at this time, was not a major power and having them attack one of the biggest major powers by bombing the U.S. naval base in Hawaii didn’t appear like an appropriate idea for them. Then why did they do it? Japan’s reasons for attacking Pearl Harbor was their plan for a ‘new’ world order, the U.S. oil embargo, and the relocation and expansion of the U.S. naval fleet.

There were many events that led up to Japan making the decision to bomb Pearl Harbor. It all started with Japan wanting to expand their power. Japan was an island nation, it was

“Our military thought that they couldn't get to Pearl Harbor, that it was too long a journey from Japan to get there, and they proved us wrong”- Jerry Bruckheimer.(Jerry Bruckheimer Quotes) This quote helps explain that the United States thought that Japan could not get to the United States. The cause of Pearl Harbor is why the attack was so shocking the United States lost and damage many ships.

The U.S. decision to enter World War II was not one which was hastily made. World War I had been simmering for some time, over two years in fact, prior to the U.S. entrance into this bloody affair. Endless debate had occurred at all levels of our government, and even among the general population, to the appropriate role of the U.S. in this war. As one factor after another combined to make U.S. involvement more of a probability, one factor in particular would prove to be the final straw which would topple the decision making process from one of restraint to one of action. This factor was, of course, the Japanese bombing at Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was attacked on the morning of December 7, 1941 and would prove to be Japan’s greatest mistake, a mistake for which the consequences would extend throughout the war and well into Japan’s post-war future. More immediately, however, it would serve to drop the restraint which the U.S. had maintained as the war had raged on in Europe for over two years. The U.S. would have entered WWII even if the Japanese did not attack Pearl Harbor. The axis powers, Germany and Italy, were gaining to much power in Europe and then Japan decided that they were going to join with the axis powers, this was not settling well with the U.S.

On December 7, 1941 the infamous bombing of Pearl Harbour by the Japanese took place, but who was really responsible? Many historians lay the blame with President Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR), citing his approach to the war as antagonistic and inciting a Japanese attack. This report however will highlight that the Japanese were the real antagonises, deliberately and purposely attacking the United States (US), United Kingdom and Holland, and Pearl Harbour was but a pawn in their war plan, thus alleviating FDR of the historical responsibility bequeathed to him over the last 70 years. The key elements within this review focus on Japan's Pacific War plans, FDR's

What the admiral was afraid that the americans would come to the japanese with a strike even harder than they landed instead of their intentions about america keeping out

Throughout the work, Fujitani draws evidence from, and references, a plethora of different sources that add validity to his statements and accounts of not only what the Japanese and United States did, but also why they acted the way they did. In a time of war, both countries took different actions that were not readily understood. Japan

The United States assumed a three phase war. In the first phase, Japan would strike suddenly. In the second phase, the US Battle Fleet would move east and set up a blockade of Japanese trade in Guam, the Philippines, etc., and in the third phase, the United States would create a tight blockade and use air attacks to force Japan to sue for peace. No land invasion was ever suggested. In the second period of planning, the Battle Fleet moved to