Essay on The Attack on Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor is an American military base located in Oahu, named after the pearls that were found there. This base was originally a normal bay until the late 1800s when an agreement between America and Hawaii was made. At this time, Hawaii wanted to make their sugar industry stronger by taking away the money needed to send sugar into America. America accepted this, but in return gained access to Pearl Harbor and changed it into a refueling station for its army. 10 years after this agreement, America won a war against the Spanish, and gained land within the pacific such as the Philippines. America needed an army to support these new lands so, they started to change Pearl Harbor into an enormous army base. Although it suffered an attack from

On December 7, 1941 Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii right before 8 am. The officers working that day had just woken up, having breakfast, and not expecting a thing. Because of that they were unprepared. The USS Arizona was one of the many ships that got hit. The ship immediately sank, taking 1,177 crew members on that ship. Japan’s aggression was literally being fueled by the United States. Beginning with the late-1940, the United States grew less patient with Japanese atrocities and began to restrict trade with the empire. In Europe busy fighting Hitler, the United States remained the only obstacle to the establishment of a huge Japanese empire spanning East Asia.

The United State’s direct involvement in World War II officially began as soon as the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Prior to that event, America had been providing arms and equipment to England but stopped short of any direct military confrontation with the Axis. The War in the Pacific was considered Asia’s War and the European War was considered a local conflict. US-Japanese relations had become strained in 1941, though America felt secure that her naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was powerful enough to discourage any aggression from Japan. On July 24, 1941, Japan occupied French Indo-China (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos). Two days after that, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the United States. American trade

December 7, 1941: Attacks on Pearl Harbor: Around November 25, the US intercepted a message of an imminent attack on US soil. In addition, Japan started to move its navy towards Hawaii. Washington’s response to this was a warning to Hawaii, indicating the anticipated attack. However, on December 7, 1941, a fleet on Japanese bombers approached Pearl Harbor with the intent to bomb the navy port. US navy ships were left defenseless as the Japanese torpedoes starting to sink them. Within two hours, US lost eight battleships, two cruisers, and more than a hundred planes. About two thousand soldiers died and one thousand were injured. As a result of this attack, President Roosevelt addressed the Congress, asking for the declaration of war. On

December 7, 1941, was one of the worst attacks on the United States in U.S. history. Of that day 2,403 soldiers were killed in action, 1,178 were wounded in action. Numerous U.S. armed forces personnel were misjudged, which allowed the Japanese to carry out this terrible attack. Not only did the Japanese hit the U.S. where they knew it would hurt the most, but it crippled the United States’ entire Pacific Fleet.

(Higgs). Japan was angered by the United States putting these sanctions on them, as they thought of the attack on China as internal affairs. As many countries in Europe also placed economic sanctions on Japan , that led to Japan withdrawing from the League of Nations in 1933. After withdrawing from the League of Nations, Japan launched a huge attack on eastern China and eventually Japan took over the capital of China, Nanking. ("Japan Launches A Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941"). The view on Japan to worsened when Japan sunk an American Gunboat, Panay, while the boat was on patrol on the Yangtze River. The Japanese later apologized for the sinking of the Panay but the chances for an American-Japanese battle increase. ("Japan Launches A Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941").

"How secret is secret in a country where years of censorship have trained an inquisitive, alert population in the discreet whisper and the fine art of putting two and two together? And how secret is secret when one's ideas are no longer exclusively one's own?" (At Dawn We Slept, Prange 30) The tragic attack of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 has many events connected to it that lead people to believe that it was no surprise to the United States government. "The attack marked the entrance of Japan into World War II on the side of Germany and Italy, and the entrance of the United States on the allied side." (Microsoft Encyclopedia)

Pearl Harbor is a naval base on the island Oahu, Hawaii, it is also a major site of the U.S navy. A surprise attack happened by a fleet of around 1200 Japanese borne fighter planes on a Sunday morning on December 7, 1941, it imposed heavy damage to the harbor and that brought the U.S into World War II. The reason the attack on Pearl Harbor started was because the U.S put sanctions on Japan and that cut off the majority of their oil supply because Japan was a part of the axis forces; Germany Italy. Before the Pearl Harbor attack the United States was against getting into the war it had a policy called isolationism. One has to remember that just 20 years prior the United States was involved in World War I with many of the citizens not wanting

Among many other important factors that played a big, factor in the Pearl Harbor aerial devastation was that the two countries had heated debates over certain policies, along with other issues for at least a decade. The fact that the U.S government or anyone saw this as a surprise attack is not completely true. Franklin Roosevelt gave a message to British prime minister at the time, Winston Churchill about the possible threat that Japan posed to Americans. His message stated that, “We must all prepare for real trouble possibly soon”.

The Japanese military conducted an attack on the American naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941 just before 8am in the morning. They came with a total of 408 fighter planes when they attacked Pearl Harbour. This disastrous attack lasted about two hours and had devastating results for the United States of America (USA), both in the short-term and long-term. During the attack on Pearl Harbour, almost twenty American naval vessels, including eight battleships and more than three hundred airplanes were destroyed. Close to two thousand American soldiers died and one thousand were wounded. In response to the events at Pearl Harbour, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan. This was approved by the congress in one dissenting vote. Japan then allied with Germany and Italy and retaliated by declaring war on the USA. After two years of observing the conflict around them, the Pearl Harbour attack was what urged the Americans to join World War II. Therefore, the social, political, and economical impacts of the Pearl Harbour hit hard on the American Society.

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, many Americans believed that the war in Europe was strictly a European problem, one that would have little effect on the nation. This made the idea of an invasion directly into North America a lesser fear. However, an article in the New York Times on April 30th, 1941 titled “Let Us Face the Truth” pointed out the

On December 7, 1941, Japanese forces attacked an American naval base, Pearl Harbor, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Twenty naval vessels and 200 airplanes were destroyed during the attack. 2000 soldiers were killed and 1000 were injured. The following day, December 8, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked the United States congress to declare war on Japan. Three days later, after the United States turned its attention to Germany and Italy, the two countries declared war on the United States, which the President and Congress freely agreed to. After two years of continuous fighting in the second World War, America had finally joined (“Pearl Harbor”).

The Attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941 was an attack that changed United States history. The attack directly led the U.S. to join the Allies in World War II and come out with a victory against Germany and Japan, two countries whom that U.S. hoped to defeat. Before the attack, Americans were not interested in being a part of the war. Life was normal, children went to school, parents to work, life was good in America. Radio shows were popular, and many attended movies twice a week; fun, funny, and uplifting movies. The war in Europe was on some

so that all could be watched by a few men. This sort of thinking was

Even before Pearl Harbor United States was already “part of” World War II as a “neutral” power. As many of the European countries were under debt towards US, it got complicated as Hover decided not to forgive the war debts. This led to Dawes plan which was a “negotiated an agreement in 1924 among France, Britain, Germany and the United States [...] American banks would provide enormous loans to Germany, which would use that money to pay reparation to France and Britain; Britain and France would agree to reduce the amount of those payments and, in turn, use those funds (as well as the large loans they themselves were receiving from American banks) to repay war debts to the United States” Brinkley, p.613). These series of loans given to european