World War 2 Dbq Essay

World War One started in 1914 and ended in 1918. There were a variety of underlying causes of World War One. Starting with the assassination of Archduke was a cause of the war. Also the alliance system caused many problems in the long run of the war. Another cause that was big was that the people started to believe that war was everything in life (DBQ Project Essay Background). Another big cause of the war was, countries building up their armies and navies, so they could be ready to attack at any given moment (DBQ Project Doc 7).

The last and final reason is that Japan thought America would crumple their power and also attack them first. Japan thought that America had the means and potential to attack them first so they wanted to get out their first and prevent an attack on their end. In closing there are many reasons as to why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. It was a surprise attack that has left many americans still in shock and confusion to this

The Second World War began in September of 1939 and was between the Allies and the Axis. It began with Germany’s unprovoked attack and conquest of Poland, and involved Britain and France from the beginning. Its origins lay in German resentment at the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the economic crisis of 1929-30, which favored the rise to power of Fascist dictators, the failure of the League of Nations to gain international acceptance for disarmament, and the policy of imperialism adopted by Germany, Italy and Japan as a means of acquiring raw materials and markets. As a part of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to accept full responsibility for the First World War, which then led up to the outbreak of the Second. The

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

Japan and the United States had different kinds of relations that could have lead Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor.The United States military and Japan’s relationship seemed to get worse after Japan sank the USS Panay even though Japan apologized for sinking the ship. Japan became aware in the 19th and 20th century that there was threats from different nations influence became very loyal. During 1939 - 1945 the United States, for the second time, applied domestic penalties to Japan and sends to Europe military supplies because Germany, Italy, and Japan made the Anti Comintern Pact. Japan wanted to take control over some land in northeastern China, this lead to domestic penalties that were charged against Japan from the United States and Europe. Even though the United States saw Japan as a minor threat because Japan had a little military compared to the United States navy. Japan decided

Japan and the United States had different kinds of relations that could have lead Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor.The United States military and Japan’s relationship seemed to get worse after Japan sank the USS Panay even though Japan apologized for sinking the ship. Japan became aware of the 19th and 20th century that there was threats from the different nations influence became very loyal. During 1939 - 1945 the United States, for the second time, applied domestic penalties to Japan and sends to Europe military supplies because Germany, Italy, and Japan made the Anti Comintern Pact. Japan wanted to take control over some land in northeastern China, this lead to domestic penalties that were charged against Japan from the United States and Europe. Even though the United States saw Japan as a minor threat because Japan had a few military compared to the United States navy. Japan decided to

Hideki Tojo, the Prime Minister and War Minister of Japan, didn’t like the U.S. expansion at all. He said, “When I think about the strengthening of American defenses in the Southwest Pacific, the expansion of the American fleet, . . . I see no end to difficulties. . .” (Doc E). Tojo was frightened of what the United States might have planned since they had expanded their naval fleet. He feared Japan “. . . would become a third-class nation after two or three years. . .” (Doc E). He feared those things would become true if they just sat tight and didn’t take any action against the United States. Japan had already taken many acquisitions throughout Asia, so they wished to continue to expand their territory. Japan feared the continuation of the status quo, so they wanted a major change. That is also a part of why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

It can be stated and proved that World War II was one of the most terrific times in history, with its persecution of normal civilians for not looking “perfect” or for their religion, and the genocide of all those groups. But how did this all happen?

The most anticipated war in history, World War One, started off with the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand. As a result, Austria-Hungary gave the killer’s country, Serbia, an opportunity to take ownership and apologize to A/H’s government. Without a response from Serbia, A/H declares war, launching the July Crisis- one of many of Europe’s fighting frenzies. Countries were declaring war on each other, gathering secret alliances, and building their armies. The Crisis continuously built its longevity until declared as a Great War, a nickname for World War One. Knowing which event pushed the world to arm themselves, historians had asked what the underlying causes for the war were. Causes for the war were alliances, imperialism, nationalism, and most destructive, militarism.

During World War II, there was much advancement in technology that led to the destruction of many countries after World War II. New advanced weaponry of World War II or “The Great War” led a lack of new skills that led to many casualties because of the advancement in technology. The most significant weapon that was used and had a huge impact in the World War II was the creation of the atomic bomb. This weapon was so significant because as soon as this weapon was dropped, it would immediately cause great destruction from its explosion. The United States was the first to create and use the atomic bomb. In July 1945, the Manhattan Project, which was the creation of the atomic bomb, was successfully tested the first atomic bomb in New

What did all of this have to do with the U.S.? Well, because the U.S. had ties with East Asia, politically and economically, the decisions Japan were making were also affecting the U.S. So, America took it upon itself to increase military and financial aid to China. The reason this decision was made was to cut off oil shipments and raw materials to Japan. This is what really angered the Japanese.

Japan had half the population of the U.S. with less land than Sweden (Background Essay). The need for more land did not leave them with many option; those options being genocide or taking land they chose the latter. They started their conquest by creating the new order. The new order stated that “Manchuria is its reservoir and East Asia (including China) is its paddy field (Doc A).” This is important because it is saying that Manchuria and East Asia are theirs for the taking.

Japan was affected because America's trade was vital to Japan's survival. Trade with America became limited and Japans economic prosperity was at risk. Japan needed more imports. The army decided on a militaristic option and seized Manchuria, as it had rich supplies of raw materials such as coal, iron ore, timber and rice. They believed that by expanding, Japan could become more powerful.

According to Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War, the Japanese completed its control in Manchuria in 1932, then invaded China five years later. In the map created by various sources, the Japanese empire more than tripled its size after expansion through Manchuria in China. Japan established Manchuria as a puppet state, and held it as a reservoir for food resources, or a paddy field. To support a larger empire, its growing military, and an increase in naval power, the Japanese needed more and more oil. Unfortunately, Japan only owned a few oil reserves and produced very little of its own oil. They bought most of their oil from the United States. In fact, according to Suzuki Akira, “US Economic Sanctions Against Japan and its Aid to China during the Sino-Japanese War”, 80 percent of Japan’s 12,170,000 tons of oil was imported from the United States from 1937-1939. However, after tensions mounted between the United States and Japan, the amount of oil exported from US to Japan decreased dramatically, from 2,910,000 tons in 1940 to 880,000 tons in 1941, a 330 percent decrease in oil imports from the US. Tensions continued rising when Japan announced that they will establish “new order”, or the Japanese Empire in East Asia. The US showed their disprovement by declaring an “embargo of aircraft and aircraft parts” (Iriye 1999) in 1939, and a complete oil embargo in 1941, a resource the Japanese depended on the most. Fortunately for the Japanese, there were an abundant amount of oil fields south of Japan, in the Philippines, East Indies, and New Guinea, however, were all occupied by the European nations and the United States. The Japanese declared that the “ … old order … (European and American) … is now crumbling” (Japanese Ministry of Education 1941). In order to conquer the Indonesian islands and the East Indies successfully, they intended to destroy the American fleets stationed at the

This country was upset for quite some time with the United States. Japan was a country that was always wanting an abundant amount of natural resources from other countries. Their main resource they wanted was oil. At this time, we were giving them a large supply of oil, but then we cut it off. Our opponents realized that we, the United States did not want them importing or exporting any good along the water any longer. Now that Japan has caught on and is starting to struggle for natural resources, they decided that they needed to think of a plan B. They noticed that our country has still not fully recovered from World War One yet, and that we did not want to get involved in any type of combat anytime