On the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, a mysterious aircraft circled overhead U.S. navy’s most important naval base at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Many personnel misunderstood the situation as a naive pilot flying in unauthorized areas until additional planes appeared atop with red circles, which were promulgated as the rising sun, the Japanese symbol for war (Wukovits 8). However, this “surprise” attack came with a reason: The U.S. had been at political odds with Japan for over a decade, as it had ceased importing oil shipments from Japan. Although the military tried to defend themselves to their utmost power, America was not prepared enough. Bombs were dropped, destroying infrastructure, killing 2,403 civilians and wounding 1,178 others (Kiong 1). Franklin D. Roosevelt, and navy personnel could have prevented these losses. In retrospect,there were many prognostications that, if were scrutinized more meticulously, the United States government could have used to prepare …show more content…
perspective of Japan’s power was both inaccurate and underestimated. Japan and China were in a war, and rather than in Japan, the U.S. had interests in China. On top of that, it supplied no respect to the Japanese in China either. By submitting to the economic reprisals on trade administered by the U.S., “not only would Japan's prestige be entirely destroyed and the solution of the China Affair rendered impossible, but Japan's existence itself would be endangered” (Kiong 2). Japan needed a way to sustain itself, and having two of the most powerful nations against it did not support its case. In order to save its nation, Japan started spreading propaganda about the U.S. Even though Japan asked to restart the shipments, the U.S. refused to have any affiliations with it. Hence, their brash attitude and underestimation of Japan elicited the foreign nation’s inclination for revenge. However, this was not the only indication that Japan was going to retaliate (Wukovits
Previous to the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7th 1941, tensions had been forming between the USA and Japan in the pacific. The US had cut of most supplies to Japan with the fear of Japanese expansion. The conflict that had been escalating between Japan and China since 1937 had the US treating Japan with great cautiousness. They had been monitoring Japanese Americans in anticipation of a surprise attack. However the attack on Pearl Harbour still shocked and outraged the American nation and affected the American psyche. After being assured that “a Japanese attack on Hawaii is regarded as the most unlikely thing in the world”(1), the sudden mass destruction of the U.S Navy’s Pacific fleet and deaths of roughly 2400 U.S soldiers and civilians as a result of such an attack undoubtedly lead to confusion and racial hatred amongst many US citizens. The assumption on the War Department’s behalf that Japan’s Navy were incapable of launching a full scale assault on the US Navy’s chief Pacific base was more than inaccurate. As a result, the US Naval base was unprepared and was quickly taken out. A hidden bias would soon become evident in both average civilians and higher positioned government officials. This bias against Japan aided in the formation of the Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) on February 19th 1942.
In reaction to Japan’s landing and hostility towards China, the United States, who wanted to keep the open-door policy with China, placed economic sanctions on Japan to slow down Japan’s advances in China. Higgs.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The United States became a major threat to Japan. Many people believe the Japanese were successful in their attack. But, the result of the attack did not enable Japan to expand into the Pacific. It did not result in the acquisition of more natural resources.
Japan wanted the United States to stop sending China supplies, but the United States refused. The United States opposed the expansion of Japan in Asia, so they cut off important exports to Japan. General Hideki Tojo was the Premier of Japan. He and other Japanese leaders did not like the fact that Americans were sending war supplies to China and other countries in Asia. A surprise attack was ordered by Japan on December 7, 1941.
On December 7, 1941, aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. About half the United States fleet was at Pearl Harbor at the time. More than 2,400 American servicemen and civilians were killed. Another 1,200 were wounded. Eight battleships of the Pacific Fleet were damaged or sunk, though the fleet's aircraft carriers were at sea. Hundreds of aircraft were destroyed. The same day, or shortly thereafter, the Japanese launched attacks against Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Guam and Wake Island. Because of the swift advances of the Japanese military, many Americans concluded that an invasion, either of Hawaii or the West Coast, was inevitable. (Leitich 1)
On December 7,1941 Japan raided the airbases across the islands of Pearl Harbour. The “sneak attack” targeted the United States Navy. It left 2400 army personnel dead and over a thousand Americans wounded. U.S. Navy termed it as “one of the great defining moments in history”1 President Roosevelt called it as “A Day of Infamy”. 2 As this attack shook the nation and the Japanese Americans became the immediate ‘focal point’. At that moment approximately 112,000 Persons of Japanese descent resided in coastal areas of Oregon, Washington and also in California and Arizona.3
1941 December 7th was the day in which will live in infamy and also controversy. The Attack at Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack on the American fleet at the at the navy base in pearl harbor at Hawaii. Japanese attackers us hard and the planes came in waves, the first hit us at 7:53 and the second hit us at 8:55. Nothing but chaos was left. 2,403 dead, 188 planes. But was this attack really a surprise? Did we really know about it before hand? Or did we just really be bombarded with a Japanese surprise attack.
On 4 June 1942 American carrier-based naval aircraft destroyed four of the six aircraft carriers that Japan had used on the surprise aerial attack on the naval station in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Each side demonstrated positive use of the principles of war; however both were guilty of serious breaches in the principles and in duties of command. Through unity of command and superior command decisions by the American naval leaders, the United States scored a resounding victory that has been coined as the turning point of the Pacific Theater in the Second World War. In contrast, the Japanese naval leaders failed to exhibit the same mature and sound decisions prior to and during the battle as did their American counterparts, breaching the principles
In this paper I will discuss the similarities between what happened in the September 11th attack in 2002 and the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. I will describe the Presidential responses to these attacks, as well as investigate the roles that class, culture, religion, and notions of superiority played in these attacks on the United States. Both of these events were undeniably tragic because of how many lives were cost and how surprising it was to everyone at that time. But there are many more detailed similarities between the two.
It’s a beautiful sunny morning, on a tropical island that everyone would love to take a vacation at. It’s approximately 6:00 am, December 7, 1941, when a first group of 181 kamikaze planes attacked; targeting key naval bases stationed at Hawaii; a sustained crippling of U.S. naval forces for about 6 months. The death toll was 2,500. Out of the 9 battleships, 8 were heavily damaged by the assault on Pearl Harbor and out of the 8, three were unrepairable, USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, and the USS Utah. 160 aircrafts were put out of commission, and nearly 130 were heavily damaged. This was the first incident in which there was an act of war, committed on U.S. soil, outside of the American Revolution and the Civil War. The world was at war, and the U.S. remained neutral until now. Before the attack, the U.S. was in great debate whether to enter the war or to stay out of it. The act of war forced the U.S. into the War and triggered a controversial debate in whether to retaliate against Japan with the use of nuclear arms.
It was a Sunday morning, on December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor, US naval base located on Hawaii, was attacked by the Japanese. They caught unguarded the whole nation, and for that, this attack is considered one of the top ten failures of the US intelligence. The Japanese were able to attack Pearl Harbor by surprise because of the mindset of US officials, whom they saw Japanese as a weak enemy, who wouldn’t risk attacking US territory, caused by a supremacy factor; As well as the not good enough US intelligence efficiency to encrypt Japanese codes, and the handling of such information. After the negotiations between the Japanese and the United States ended, there was no doubt that they would make an attack, but they didn’t know the target of it.
When President Roosevelt decided to move the US Pacific Fleet from California to Pearl Harbor in 1939, Japan had found it to be a threat to them, because Japan wanted to expand the Pacific, of the Pearl Harbor and Military leaders. Due to Pearl Harbor, Japan had attempted to knock the US pacific out in one strike; in return, the Japanese forces would expand the Japanese sphere of the pacific. "President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1939 decision to move the United States Pacific Fleet from California to Pearl Harbor ultimately contested Japan's influence in the Pacific, thereby sparking the Japanese decision to provoke a war and attack America at Pearl Harbor."
In July, year 1939; after Japan seized the Southern Indo- China, congressional support was being found by President Roosevelt to revoke the treaty of navigation and commerce of 1911, hence releasing him to give rise to trade limitations. The government of Japan was astonished by this move. The soft liners like Kichisaburo Nomura the Foreign Affairs Minister; proposed to change preexisting strategy towards China. So it can be derived that at least America had partially attained its objective. Faced with the moderate attitude of the cabinet of Prince Konoe, the Washington hard liners; like special adviser Stanley Hornbeck, yet found Japan doubtful. He had an obsessive dislike towards Japan, and advised Roosevelt to give rise to an embargo. Hence, Japan, discerned that America will no longer be a stable oil origin, it strived to rely less on America. Also that was the occasion when Blitzkrieg of Germany had stroked a huge success. So in the month of September, year 1940; the Tripartite Pact was being signed by Japan with Italy and Germany, considered to be the insurance against the intervention of America in the European warfare, since this would prompt Japan’s announcing war on America, propelling the America into war on two battlefields. Japan also anticipated the Pact can avert US from encouraging China (Davenport,
“December 7, 1941, a date in which we will live in infamy… No matter how long it may take us to overcome the premeditated invasion the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory” - President Franklin D. Roosevelt
First, let us discuss what happened to provoke it. The United States realized that by providing Japan with the resource they were fueling the war. Also, they were further supplying the enemy of their allies. On July 26th, President Roosevelt ordered the freezing of all Japanese assets in the United States and the placing of all petroleum exports to Japan under embargo subject to licence (http://web.b.ebscohost.com/). By the end of 1940, the United States had ended the shipment of scrap metal, oil, steel, and iron ore to Japan (ushistory.org). Limiting japan’s resources became known as the plan’s Achilles’ heel. Japan needed to find a new source of resources for the war and decided to advance into Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. However, the Japanese had a second reason to attack. Previously, the United States Naval Base was located in the Atlantic and the move to Hawaii posed a threat to Japan. In order to control the Pacific, Japan first had to destroy the United States Naval Base. They thought that this would help them gain more land and also keep the United States out of World War