The Battle of Pearl Harbor Cause and Effects
By Dawn Martin (4631058)
American Public University System
June 11, 2017
HIST102: American History since 1877
Thomas Pfundstein
The Battle of Pearl Harbor Cause and Effects
On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, at 7:55 AM the Japanese Empire led a surprise attack on the US Naval base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, that would leave millions of Americans in shock, and heartbroken. Before the attack, the United States kept a low profile on International affairs, and concentrated on the domestic affairs at hand. This tragic moment in American history forever remembered. It is a mournful day for the American people, although, for the Japanese Empire it was an honorable day, one they would call a
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In 1940, the United States was extremely against this animosity and reacted with trade embargoes and monetary approvals. FDR had talked with the Dutch and the British to see if they would agree upon embargoes on Japan. Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not want a conflict in the pacific as the United States was not prepared for war. For instance, the oil embargo that was organized between the British, the Dutch, and the United States was about 90% of Japan’s imported oil. [3] This upset Japan because without oil or fuel their military and war efforts would come to a complete stop.
Beginning of the year in 1941, FDR decided that the Pacific Fleet would move to Hawaii from San Diego in the hopes of discouraging the invasion of the Japanese. Negotiations between Washington and Tokyo had been going on for several months without a resolution. On July 2, 1941, the Imperial High Command was tired of negotiations with the United States and needed to proceed with their development within Asia even with the embargo in place and meaning it would be at a high risk of war with the US. [4] Therefore, the Japanese had deceived the United States, ignored the arbitration, and moved forward with their plans. The United States had hoped that this restrictive embargo would halt Japan’s assault as negotiations had continued well into November.
Instead of giving into the United States demands, the Japanese had decided to finally put their surprise
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, was on of the worst attacks ever on the United States. Out of that day, 2,403 soldiers were killed in action, 1,178 were wounded in action. Through the misjudgments of numerous U.S. armed forces personnel, the Japanese were able to carry out this terrible attack, which crippled the United States’ Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
December 7, 1941 was one of America’s darkest days. This was the day of the famous pearl harbor bombing. This attack came from the Japanese attacking the American Naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack had been in the planning for many years to attack and weaken the United States Naval force. Japan wanted to do this to gain more superiority in the Atlantic and to grow their ties with European nations. In this paper I will talk about the people, the planning, the attack, and the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor bombing.
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
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.
In Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War by Akira Iriye, the author explores the events and circumstances that ended in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an American naval base. Iriye assembles a myriad of primary documents, such as proposals and imperial conferences, as well as essays that offer different perspectives of the Pacific War. Not only is the material in Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War informative of the situation between Japan and the United States, but it also provides a global context that allows for the readers to interpret Pearl Harbor and the events leading up to it how they may. Ultimately, both Pearl Harbor and the subsequent Pacific War between
Before any of this occurred, in 1930 the United States should have taken action against Japan, but never did. They didn’t like Japan’s attitude towards China and other countries. Again, in 1940, the United States should have done something, but this time not military action. The United States tried to negotiate peace, with Japan, but nothing ever got going (Danforth, 1). Neither side could agree on one thing because they thought of them as “still a country with similar goals” and it ended in a stalemate, causing tensions to run high. This was a dangerous end to talks because Japan was already in the second World War. The United States should have and many people were expecting something to happen, but were completely oblivious to the attack on the morning of December 7, 1941. Several people were convinced that President Roosevelt had been putting pressure on Japan to make an attack on the United States, but evidence suggests otherwise (Vidyalankar, 847-856). When George Washington was president, he declared that the United States would stay out of foreign conflicts, but this was broken before World War II so that had no effect on the president’s decision making. President Roosevelt
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.
The United States along with our allies Britain and Dutch, provoked the Japanese to attack. In 1937 Japan declared war on China which aggravated the US. The US and its Allies formed a plan and cut off the oil supply for the Japanese military. No oil, meant no fuel for the war. By the US making the strategic plan to cut of the oil supply, left the Japanese finding oil elsewhere. So, they planned to invade into the Philippines and the Malaya territories. By moving into these locations with the hopes of finding a steady source of natural resources such as oil and rubber. In order to do so, the Japanese empire had to cripple the US military base that was 5,276 miles way. After months of planning, the Japanese Empire put their attack in motion. After many different red flag scenarios, the Japanese Bombers still managed to get the upper hand on us. With all of the red flags that’s presented hours, days, weeks before the attack why was the Pacific not
During the early stages of WW2 Japan withdrew from the League of Nations and invaded China killing over 100,000 civilians. Do to Japans actions, the American government slowly began to cut them off from their assets and sent them a warning letter saying America wasn’t going to turn the other cheek if these actions were kept up. Japan decided to make no efforts in changing their military strategy so we fully cut Japan off from American supplies in 1941. Now its hard to say whether or not America made the correct decision when cutting off Japan during WW2, it created a lot of tension and anger towards America from the Japanese. Japan began to plan a surprise attack on one the U.S. Naval bases in Hawaii called Pearl Harbor. The attack occurred on a Sunday morning December 7, 1941. America lost 2,000 citizens and soldiers that day. The next day Franklin D. Roosevelt (America’s president at the time) announced Americas entry into WW2. I believe that if America had never cut Japan off from their assets then the anger and hostility would not have been there creating a reason for Japan to attack America and without the attack on Pearl Harbor, America would have no reason to enter the war during the year 1941.
World War II, along with its numerous battles, brought great tension between two of the strongest countries during the 1940s: the United States and Japan. Conflict between these two countries started with Japan’s push past Chinese borders into Manchuria in search of the natural resources Japan lacks. At first, the United States avoided military action with Japan by waging economic warfare on them. This economic pressure included the passing of the Neutrality Act, which prohibited the sale of weapons to nations at war (Nash 513). Additionally, the United States placed oil embargoes on Japan hoping it would force Japan to shut down military operations in China. Japan, at a critical decision point, decided to bomb the American naval base
“Yesterday, 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…It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.” (Senate Document No. 148) This speech would echo through history as the moment the United States officially entered the most costly five year period in all of human history. President Roosevelt continued stating multiple islands and American
On December 7th, 1941 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was the target of an unannounced military attack by the Japanese Navy. This resulted in the United States entry into World War II. After almost 4 years of war, 400,000 US casualties, 6 months of air strikes on Japanese cities and an impending defeat of Japan, an ultimatum was delivered to Japan by the United States: surrender or be destroyed.
attacked the US. This shows that the proper chance to avoid war with Japan was given, and that
Shortly before 8am on Sunday 7 December 1941 , the first of two waves of Japanese aircraft launched a devastating attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet, moored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The raid, which came with no warning and no declaration of war, destroyed four battleships, leaving an additional 4 damaged in merely two hours. The attack destroyed 188 US aircraft, killed more than 2,400 Americans, and injured another 1,200 . Although remembered as “the day that will live in infamy”, the exact reason behind the attack on Pearl Harbor still remains unknown. Some believe that the Japanese were galvanized by Germany to attack the United States because of the assumption that the United States would be unable to concentrate all of its resources toward the fight with Japan. Germany desired assistance in the fight during World War II and, because of that, nearly guaranteed the United States’ defeat if Japan attacked. On the other side, it is believed that the Japanese prompted the Pacific war with the attack on Pearl Harbor in order to eliminate their primary competitor for resources in the Pacific and fulfill its destiny of creating a “greater East Asian co-prosperity sphere” .