On December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor is located near Honolulu, Hawaii. The attack on Pearl Harbor is also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese unleashed this as a surprise. They were trying to convince the US to stand down from the war, but that just made the US angry. This battle was the historical event that brought the United States into World War II.
The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating. The fire destroyed everything. The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships. It destroyed more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another
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It was inconvenient. Hawaii and Japan are 4,000 miles apart. All American Officials thought if Japan was tough enough to make the first move, the maved would be made on a relatively nearby European colonies in the South Pacific. Almost the entire Pacific Fleet was moored around Ford Island in the harbor, and hundreds of airplanes were squeezed onto adjacent airfields.
To the Japanese, Pearl Harbor was an irresistible target. Everything was close together, it only took one bomb. Japan’s plan was plain and simple. They wanted to destroy the Pacific Fleet. Then, Americans would not be able to fight back as Japan’s armed forces spread across the South Pacific. At about 8 a.m., Japanese planes covered the sky while Hawaii started raining bombs and bullets. At 8:10 a 1,800-pound bomb was dropped from a plane above. It smashed into a deck of the battleship that held more than 1,000 men. Torpedoes started piercing battleships that also contained soldiers. By the end of the attack every single USS battleship in Pearl Harbor –USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Utah, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee and USS Nevada–had sustained significant
The Japanese' motive for the bombing Pearl Harbor was to destroy the United States Pacific fleet so that the Japanese could have complete naval control of the Pacific Ocean as well as to go through with the Japanese Pan Asian program with-out the United
On April 18, 1942, the Japanese capitol city of Tokyo and the nearby cities of Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe were bombed by sixteen United States Army B-25 bombers. In these attacks the United States damaged ammunition factories and steel plants. These small bombings did not really do much damage, but they did do their job, however, boosting the confidence of the American people. Captured Americans flying in the B-25 bombers were not considered Prisoners or War, but criminals, and went to trial. The Americans were put to death in some cases. Japan continued to build up a massive fleet that included four aircraft carriers, seven battleships, thirteen cruisers, forty destroyers, sixteen submarines and many troop transport ships (McGowen 24). The Japanese sailors had great morale and felt
The cause of Japan wanting to attack Pearl Harbor was the United States standing in the way of Japan for their plan for a new world order. In 1938, Japan announced their plan for a new world order (Doc C). Japan wanted their empire to rule the entire world (Doc A). The idea was that Japan would be in control of Asia, Japan, the United States. (Doc A). Japan started by occupying Manchuria in 1932 and attacking China in 1937 (Doc C). Japan did not want other countries to overpower them and wanted control to themselves.
Japan bombing Pearl Harbor left 2,403 Americans dead, and millions of citizens startled. Pearl Harbor is a naval base off the coast of Hawaii. After killing thousands of America’s military, the United States was forced to join World War II. Immediately after the strike, many Americans became anti-Japanese and had vengeance for years to come. Japan had many reasons for causing this national uproar. Many people believe the Japanese government bombed Pearl Harbor due to financial disputes, power gains, and safety precautions.
To begin with, japan attacked pearl harbor because of the situation of the oil embargo. One reason is because the US did not want to keep sending oil to Japan . For example, Document C declares, “ The United States imposes an embargo on oil shipments to Japan”( Document C 327). In addition from 1937 through 1941 most of Japanese imports came from the US. Statistics show in document D that by the late 1930’s about 80% of Japan's oil came from the United states. Japan did not like the fact that they no longer were able to obtain oil from the us. As a result they targeted the US and were angry at them. Therefore, they decided to attack on pearl harbor.
At 7.55am on Sunday 7 December 1941, the Japanese began their attack on the US Pacific Fleet, at Pearl Harbor. Within two hours, five battleships had been sunk, another 16 damaged, and 188 aircraft destroyed. Only chance saved three US aircraft carriers, usually stationed at Pearl Harbor but assigned elsewhere on the day. The attacks killed under 100 Japanese but over 2,400 Americans (Source:A) The Japanese plan was simple: Destroy the Pacific Fleet.
What happened on Pearl Harbor, 1941? So it all started on a Sunday morning on December 7th, 1941. Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. This attack was a surprise for the United States. More than 2,000 soldiers died and 1,000 were wounded. The day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. The Congress approved his declaration.
The Japanese Pacific Commander, Admiral Yamamoto, believed that in order for Japan to win full control the Pacific, they’d need to take down the US Naval Fleet once and for all. Yamamoto almost chose to attack Pearl Harbour, however America’s land-based air power had gotten much stronger since the bombing of Pearl Harbour on the 7th of December 1941, and believed that attacking Pearl Harbour directly would be too risky, and decided battling them somewhere just out of reach from Pearl Harbour would be ideal.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because they wanted to keep us out of the war with their allies in Germany and France. They said they wanted to stop us from joining the war but in the long run ity made is a bigger part of the war. Later after the attack, a message was sent to Japan from America stating they were going to bomb Japan. They ended up bomb Tokyo and Hiroshima. Japan over all wanted to cut our naval base in Hawaii so we would no longer try to take over islands in the Pacific
The first attack wave consisted of 183 Japanese aircraft, bombers, torpedo bombers and midget submarines. In the first five minutes of the attack, four American battleships were hit including the USS Oklahoma and the USS Arizona. Only a couple of minutes after it was first hit, the Arizona exploded after a bomb destroying its gunpowder stores and resulting in 1,177 of its crew dead.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor is located on the Hawaiian Island of Honolulu. More than 2,400 United States service personnel were killed. Fifteen U.S. ship were sunk and 188 U.S. air crafts were destroyed. “ The attack lasted 110 minutes, from 7:55 a.m. until 9:45 a.m.”, according to Pearl Harbor Facts - 20th Century History - About.com. On July 26, 1942, President Truman issued “ Proclamation Declaration”, which led to Japan’s surrender. If they would have dropped the bomb, which was Proclamation Declaration, 500,000 Americans soldiers lives were at stake.
The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii on December 7, 1941 at 7:50 AM on a Sunday morning. There were over 3500 Navy, Army, and Marine troops killed. Four battleships were sunk and many military vessels were heavily damaged. The U.S. and Japan had not yet declared war and the U.S. military divisions were not on any type of wartime alert.
The Japanese zeros and torpedo bombers could be heard approaching from the south. They swooped in low and close to the water trying to avoid the U.S. air force radar. At approximately 8:30 a.m, the attack began. We lost over 2,400 marines,
The target was Pearl Harbor located, "on the Island of O'ahu, Hawaii, (then a territory of the United States)" (Pearl Harbor- A Day of Infamy). The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941 at attack started at 7:55, and the Japanese attacking force included "4 heavy aircraft carriers, 2 heavy cruisers, 35 submarines, 2 light cruisers, 9 oilers, 2 battleships and 11 destroyers." (Fact Sheet: Pearl Harbor). The attack was split into two waves; the first consisted of 183 aircraft, and the second consisted of 170 aircraft (Fact Sheet: Pearl Harbor). "The attack was launched from six heavy aircraft carriers accompanied by 24 supporting vessels. A separate group of submarines was to sink any American warships which escaped the Japanese carrier force” (Fact Sheet: Pearl Harbor). Japan did not just choose this location to attack they attacked many Pacific islands and US Naval ships that same day. That American harbor was chosen though, because it was the closest to Japan and attacking mainland US would have been suicide. The Japanese would not have to attempt to attack the West Coast and face retaliation, but the fleet that is in Pearl Harbor would attack from behind. Furthermore, the
In addition, Japan were keen on expanding their empire and had to make a decision between surrendering or going to war with the United States. Lastly, United States had not yet entered the Second World War, because they were still reeling from depression due to the First World War. United States did, however, still possess the strongest naval fleets. In that perspective, the Japanese were almost as strong as the American navy. As time passed, America favored more and more towards joining the war. The Japanese anticipated a full-blown naval war with America and therefore, decided to act first by bombing Pearl Harbor which was a key terrain feature in the Pacific due to it’s massive and deep harbor for naval ships.