WWII at Home Essay

On December 7th, 1941, Japanese fighter planes staged an attack on U.S naval and military forces based in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. In around just two hours, America suffered from approximately 3,435 casualties including 2,000 deaths. The shattering defeat cost the U.S, 8 battle ships and around 200 airplanes. The following day, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. This was approved, and more than two years into the conflict, America had eventually fully committed to the war.

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.

The American home front during World War II is recalled warmly in popular memory and cultural myth as a time of unprecedented national unity, years in which Americans stuck together in common cause. World War II brought many new ideas and changes to American life. Even though World War II brought no physical destruction to the United States mainland, it did affect American society. Every aspect of American life was altered by U.S. involvement in the war including demographics, the labor force, economics and cultural trends.

During World War II the United States began to manufacture war materials to support its allies through lucrative government defense contracts as automobile factories like Ford and General Motors put aside their usual business operations and began to produce tanks and airplanes, shipyards too expanded their operations . The demand for war equipment naturally increased the demand for labor and as a result helped pull the American economy out of the grips of the Great Depression. Then as the unthinkable happened, on December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, which drew many young American men into the battlefield.

World War I began in 1914 but America remained neutral until its entrance into the war in 1917. The U-boats sinking of the British liner Lusitania in 1915, the sinking of five American ships in 1917, and the “Zimmerman telegram” sent from Germany to Mexico led up to America’s declaration of war. America’s involvement in World War I not only impacted the war front but also the home front.

Japan's Attack on Pearl Harbour In December 1941, Pearl Harbour was attacked by the Japanese. It was the consequence of a series of events which brought tension between Japan and America to boiling point. Japan was a country growing in power and stature and America soon came to realise that this growth could prove a threat to them. America aimed to stop Japan's growth in its tracks as they realised that if the situation was left to evolve much longer then the situation may be out of their control.

Tension with Germans also became manifold after devastation of American merchant trade with Britain as U-boats destroyed more than 4,700 merchant ships and 200 warships. Stalin stressed the Allied invasion of France while Roosevelt urged troop’s deployment in North Africa. Allied leaders planned invasion of Italy in 1943 but downfall of Mussolini took eleven months and cost was heavy for American. Despite zero physical harm at home ground, war changed America completely. Millions of Americans worked overseas, women replaced men in factories and automobile factories became weapon producing units. Mobilization for war resulted in a thriving economy.

Following World War I, and into the beginning of World War II, the United States of America was still recuperating from the first war, and therefore did not engage. The focus was reestablishing the military in the form of personnel and equipment. It was becoming evident that the forward shift in technology was forcing

World War II (WWII) had an immense effect on the United States; culturally, economically, and industrially. Although no battles were fought on American soil, the war affected all phases of American life. Among the infinite of changes experienced by Americans during this time, there was a big shift in the industrial complex, a re-imagining of the role of women in society, and economic boost. Social shifts began to shape a new national identity which would change the country forever.

7:55am, December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor is attacked. The Japanese surprise attacked Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii. At the time that Pearl Harbor was attacked Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was high up on the chain of command. He and the other people that were part of the government had decided to attack Pearl Harbor. They wanted to be the strongest naval and America was standing in the was of them gaining that title. Another reason as to why they attacked America was because they cut of trade with them. America wasn’t happy that Japan was invading China so they stopped trading with them. Since the Japanese couldn’t get oil, steel, and scrap iron from America they gave a big set bad to Japan’s economy and their military was adversely affected.

In fact, the United States had enjoyed an extended period of economic expansion during the war, and following the war the U.S. economy continued with great strength for more than a decade. Life in America, consequently, was arguably better than it had ever been. The middle class had swelled, unemployment rates were some of the lowest in history, and the “American Dream” was for many families a reality.

Pearl Harbor The events of the attack on Pearl Harbor happened on December 7th 1941 at 7:48 AM Hawaiian time Sunday morning. A day that will always be known in infamy, Japan launched a surprise attack against the Pearl Harbor naval base located near Honolulu, Hawaii. Japan’s offensive was planned by Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, commander in chief of Japan’s Combined Fleet, while the attack itself was led by Vice Admiral Nagumo Chuichi.

The attack of Pearl Harbor happened on December 7, 1941. Right before eight o’clock on that Sunday morning, Japanese fighter planes made a sudden attack on the base. They managed to destroy or majorly damage approximately twenty American naval vessel, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 people were killed, this including civilians, and over 1,000 more were wounded. The day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked congress to declare a war on Japan.

“December 7th, 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” (Roosevelt). Japan surprise attacked the Hawaiian naval base, Pearl Harbor, approximately at 7:55 am. The intent of the Japanese strike was to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with plans to seize overseas territories belonging to United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States.

The Effect of World War II on the Lives of People at Home World war two was officially started with the invasion of Poland, September 1939 where the British being an ally of Poland and disagreeing with Hitler’s actions, declared war against Germany. The war lasted for 6 years in Europe until 1945. It managed to involve most of Europe and Asia, America, Canada, Australia, Africa. Debatably more the 30 million perished as a direct result of the war and generally it was the war that the world collectively lost more in than any other through out history.