Gracie Watkins
Monday, March 13, 2017
8:45 PM
The American's part in the Battle of Iwo Jima
Before World War Il, Iwo Jima had no importance to Japan. Once World War Il began, it became an important stepping stone for America to conquer Japan. The United States wasn't planning on being apart of World War Il, until the Japanese provoked them into retaliation. Japan planned to attack the U.S. in retaliation for the oil. The U.S. Refused to give Japan more oil, then Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, which killed thousands of soldiers. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan. Germany and Japan were joined together as the Axis Powers. Germany then declared war on the U.S. and World War Il was started.
The second and one of the more underrated reasons Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was because of America putting an embargo on their oil. In August of 1941, America stopped shipping goods to Japan. The many goods America shipped to Japan were vital because it was more of an underdeveloped country and couldn't get the good themselves. As provided in Document D, more than 70% of Japan's oil came from the United States. When that drastically changed it provided a valuable explanation to why Japan declared war.
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.
Over the span of a few decades, the Japanese and Americans were as is, heading towards war due to a varying amount of disputing between the two. In the 1930’s, Japan invaded China. This caused an uproar between the two countries at the time. This was one of the first few sparks to the flame. In order to create the perfect Yamato race, the Japanese felt that there was more validity if there were no one to stop them, (Document A). Destroying the Pacific fleet was the goal so they could expand and imperialize the world around them. America, being one of their main oil producers, made them the perfect target. Leading up to the attack, America placed an embargo on Japan, (Document C). Japan wanted to destroy the Pacific Fleet to gain oil and continue imperialization to obtain the perfect Yamato
The bombing of Pearl Before was a bombing that the country of Japan had declared on the United States and had planned prior to the event. Japanese had many reasons why they bombed the Naval Base of Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japan following the decision of the Governor of Premier, Hideji Tojo, that the Roosevelt administration would not abandon the regions of South East Asia and China to the Japanese military or continue to supply Tokyo with oil and other valuable resources that they would need in the war. The Emperor of Japan, Emperor Hirohito, wanted to enlarge the territory and power of Japan. Japan wanted the natural resources of oil and aluminum that are found in the Netherlands East Indies, but in order to gain these resources they had to get through the United States first (Quiroz 2). In July of 1939, President Roosevelt decided to end the 1911 Japan Treaty of Commerce and Navigation with the Japanese. In reaction of President Roosevelt doing this the Japanese were getting furious with The United States of
On December 7, 1941 Japan bombed the United States at Pearl Harbor. The bombing of Pearl Harbor lasted very short than what you would expect which was only one day. Before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, they started war with different nations that were around them. They did this to get the other nation’s materials, for an example oil, lumber, and coal. Japan was foolish for attacking the United States during WWII at Pearl Harbor; their motive was to take over the islands that the United States owned to become more powerful , in contempt of the end the Japanese lost and their cities were destroyed.
On December 7, 1941 Japan bombed The United States at Pearl Harbor. The bombing of Pearl Harbor lasted very short than what you would expect which was only one day. Before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, they started war with different nations that were around them. They did this to get other nation’s materials, for an example, oil, lumber, and coal. Japan was foolish for attacking the United States during WWII at Pearl Harbor; their motive was to take over the islands that the United States owned to become more powerful, in contempt of the end the Japanese lost and their cities were destroyed.
Japan felt humiliated when the U.S. cut-off all of its resources in the states. The U.S. was one of Japan’s biggest providers of oil. Almost 80% of their oil came from the U.S.(Doc D) Due to the Japanese advances in China and the U.S.’s want to stay out of the war, the United States thought it would be best to do an embargo of Japan.(Doc C). Japan does not produce
“August of 1941 the United States imposes an embargo on oil shipments to Japan” (Doc C). With the embargo the Japanese grew more than angry with the U.S. When previously the “Japanese imported 80% of their Petroleum from the U.S. In 1937 380/482 (in Ten Thousand Tons) was from the US, in 1938 316/392, in 1939 291/343, in 1940 291/436, in 1941 88/141.” (Doc D). To get to the Netherlands East Indies where the oil lay, the Japanese had to go through the Philippines which were US controlled at the time. Taking Burma, Thailand, French IndoChina, Philippines, and the Netherlands East Indies, once controlled by the Dutch, after the bombing Peral Harbor. (Doc
On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. It was indeed a great shock to the United States, many documents show that the bombing on Pearl Harbor was an attempt to stop the United States from entering into World War II. This attack was the turning in point World War II, and United States making the decision to help the Allies. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because of its narcissistic political mentality and angered by United States placing the embargo act on oil.
As indicated by Document E, its ambitious endeavor costed “several billions of yen” and “well over 100,000 dead and wounded”. In addition to the heaping problems, America began an embargo on products Japan depended on for success, starting with aircraft and aircraft parts in 1939 and oil in 1941, and freezing all Japanese assets and bank accounts (Document C). The termination of imported oil was undeniably the most damaging. Document D indicates that prior to 1941, America supplied Japan with eighty percent of its oil; Document E claims that by 1943, the military would have no petroleum to utilize. Two months after the embargo, Pearl Harbor was bombed.
While it seems as if Japan was planning it for many years, the attack on Pearl Harbor still managed to take many Americans by surprise. No one expected that they would be fighting for their life on December 7th, 1941. Within a few hours, our nation was dragged into World War II, fighting against Japan in the Pacific and in Europe against their ally, Nazi Germany. However, the question that remains unanswered is “Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?”. At the time, the United States was recovering from WW1 so, it continued to remain neutral, avoiding world conflicts.
After invading Pearl Harbor and killing thousands of Americans, Japan thought they were on the path to winning the war. Little did they know that a couple months later, America was going to get them back for what they did. Japan was frustrated that America was in their way of becoming powerful so they tried to weaken America by attacking Pearl Harbor. This did not weaken America but made America even more powerful by America dropping atomic bombs on two cities in Japan.
Although the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, the United States and Japan were on the verge of war prior to the attack. There were many factors that lead Japan to attack Pearl Harbor. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan and China were at war. Japan had invaded northern French Indochina. The U.S. did not agree with Japan’s invasion into China. This invasion lead President Franklin D. Roosevelt to placed a ban on trade exports from the U.S. to Japan. This ban of exports included oil, steel, and scrap iron. The Japanese economy and their trade and military greatly suffered from this ban. By July of 1941, Japan had occupied southern Indochina. So in return, the U.S., Britain, and the Netherlands froze Japanese assets. By doing so,
On December 11th, 1941 the United States of America, in response to formal declarations of war, declared war against the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan. Prior to this, the United States was in a state of isolationism, which meant they were staying away from the European/Pacific conflict. It was the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that sparked the United States decision to enter and declare war against Japan and the conflict going on in the Pacific Ocean. Soon after, Hitler declared war on the United States because of his agreement with Japan as allies. Until this point, the United States planned to stay neutral in Europe. With Hitler Declaring war, the United States was officially brought in to the conflict. F.D.R. spoke to Congress and received unanimous votes, with none dissenting to declare war against the Axis. This was the first time that the United States would be at war on both sides, the Pacific and the Atlantic. The United States entering the war in the Pacific and the war in Europe, was a turning point for the Allied powers, which lead to an ultimate Allied victory and the dismantling of the Axis
attacked the US. This shows that the proper chance to avoid war with Japan was given, and that