Since the late 1800s, Japan had been working to establish a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" under Japanese hegemony with relative success. Japan had been able to achieve regional victories using surprise attacks to shape and maintain limited warfare. In 1895 and in 1905 Japan had gained significant objectives against China and Russia by striking the enemy and forcing negotiations for settlements. It is no surprise that in 1941, Japan sought to achieve the destruction of American military power in the Pacific using a similar military strategy. The operational strategy that the Japanese had so successfully applied for half a century would ultimately limit their options and eventually end with their unconditional surrender.
This paper will exam the strategic options Japan had in the spring of 1942 on the heels of their continued military success in the Asian Pacific against the United States following the attacks on Pearl Harbor. In order to better discuss the validity of these options, it is important view them against the backdrop of the issues facing the Japanese civilian and military leadership by spring 1942. At the time when Japan entered the second phase of their Pacific campaign, they were hampered by their
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The intent was to destroy American Military power in the Pacific and force the United States to negotiate. The mission’s inability to sink the US carriers on 7 December coupled with the lighter damage to the battleships and relative low casualty number, doomed the Japanese strategic plan. As Japan likely relied on a weaker US seeking negations in their prewar planning, there was no real effort to recalculate their strategic plan. Their subsequent military success in the next several months allowed the Navy to continue waging war without an effective strategic strategy nor did leadership account for the increasing US military buildup in the
To begin, the attack on Pearl Harbour was devastating to U.S. naval capabilities in the Pacific at the onset of their entry into the war. Japanese officials had grown tired of the U.S. oil embargo, which was meant to limit their territorial expansion and aggression in South-East Asia as well as China, and as negotiations weren’t reaching any conclusions they decided that the only course of action was a first strike on the aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbour to cripple U.S. naval capability in the Pacific (Rosenberg 1). The attack, which lasted about two hours, had resulted in the sinking of four battleships, among ...
After a quick examination of the recurring theme of Japanese military arrogance, I will argue that the three most compelling strategies that the Japanese could have pursued in the spring of 1942 were, one – to consolidate the most important resource gains that were already made; two – commence immediate planning for a strong anti-submarine warfare campaign; and three – coordinate significant operations with Japan’s Axis partners, particularly in the Indian Ocean and Southwest Asia theaters of conflict.
The Japanese government believed that the only way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand into its neighbor’s territory and take over its import market, mostly pointed at China. To put an end on that the United States put economic sanctions and trade embargoes. We believed that if we cut off their resources and their source of federal income than they would have no choice but to pull back and surrender. But the
Japan led a ruthless assault in the Pacific for fifteen years. This small island was able to spread imperialism and terror to neighboring countries through means of force and brutality. Japan even attempted to combat and overcome European and Western countries such as Russia and the United States. Even with an extreme militaristic government, Japan was unable to achieve the glory it was promised and hoped for. The Pacific War analyzes Japan’s part in the war and what the country could have done to prevent such a tragedy.
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.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the most atrocious attacks to have ever happened on American soil, starting with disagreement on the Potsdam declaration. Japan’s greed for more land and industrial materials led the Japanese to make a plan to keep the United States out of the war, which consisted the use of kamikaze pilots and bombs to destroy our aircraft carriers and boats in an attempt to control the Pacific. While leaving the drowning, and dead bodies of thousands of American seamen and battleships at the bottom of the sea, seemed to be a good idea to the Japanese; America joined World War II and introduced the first nuclear weapons as reprisal for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Had the Japanese agreed to an unconditional surrender and end to militarism during the agreement on the Potsdam declaration, the introduction to nuclear weapons and the death count wouldn’t have been so high and devastating on both the American and Japanese sides.
“It was very apparent to everyone who had carefully followed the course of events that we would sooner or later have to meet the threat to civilization which these aggressor nations were presenting to the world…and that we would ultimately be left to face the onslaught alone…” are words from then Secretary of War Henry Stimson. America knew she was headed for war, her people though, not directly feeling the effects of the conflicts going on half a world away would not support the loss of American lives for a foreign war. The government knew about the planned attacks on Pearl Harbor, kept the information from the military leaders that needed it the most, and used the tragedy to rally the nation toward war.
Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S Naval fleet at Pearl Harbor for 3 main reasons. Japan had a plan for global domination, and the United States was in the way. Japan was also aggravated at the U.S because the U.S.A had halted from selling oil and materials to Japan. Also, Congress’ decision to expand the U.S Naval fleet furthermore angered Japan. These 3 reasons are why the Japanese assaulted Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In Document A, The Way of the Subjects states that “An old order…(European and American)... is now crumbling.” The Japanese Empire hoped to create a New Order and come in the place of Europe and the U.S.A. Also in Document A, The Way of the Subjects says “The Ideals of Japan...are represented by the principle that the benevolent rule of the
...feat of Japan in World War 2). With the changes of the nature of power, Japan by balancing out aggressive economic policies and a quiet military buildup, was able to build herself up to become a prominent player in the international sphere today. In closing, while Japan’s policies today in general have been skewered towards the arguments of the ‘Gentleman’, increasingly Japan has considered more realist concerns of security in the escalation of tensions of the East Asian geopolitical sphere. Chomin’s Discourse has nonetheless served as a prophetic blueprint for more than a century of Japan policy-making.
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.
In Asia however there was a different dominant country, Japan. Japan had stayed and watched things go by in Asia for years, they were like a dormant volcano waiting to erupt. They had watched countries like America, England, France and even Holland take islands and turn them to colonies, so why couldn't they do the same thing? Japan was eager to expand its borders, they knew that they could do it, however there was one problem, The U.S. They were currently the dominant country in the southern islands of Asia. With bases situated in Pearl Harbour and the Philippines, Japan had to weaken the American Navy before they could expand. Japan attacked pearl harbour by surprise, thinking that they could put the American Fleet out of action. This would give them a year to expand all they wanted to. Japan first moved west and took Manchuria and parts of China.
In the morning hours of December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked the Hawaiian islands at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese had been feeling the pressures of World War II (WWII) as did many others. With the resources of the Japanese dwindling, the Japanese decided to attack the U.S. while simultaneously planning the attack during the negotiations of continued peace between our two countries. The Japanese were able to cover up there planning for nearly a year. Planning for the attack and ultimately war in the pacific, started in January of 1941, and was finalized during the war games in November of 1941. The U.S. on the other hand would become a reactive force after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The inability to crack the Japanese code lead, to a lack of intelligence during this time making the plan of attack for the Japanese a successful one. It would seem that the year of planning and the strategies laid out in the “Combined Fleet Operations Top Secret Order 1” of the Japanese navy would become a reality in the pacific, allowing for an easy sweep of the military targets for the Japanese fleet.
One of, if not the most influential part, of allowing the bombs to drop is because of the mentality of the Japanese military and the pull they had in politics. As Maddox stated, “[t]he army, not the Foreign Office controlled the situation” (Maddox, pg. 286). Although Japan had an influential leader in regards to their emperor, the military wanted to and would have engag...
Japan wanted many things, world expansion was one of them and the only way to get that was to destroy America. “Japan declared its policy to establish a ‘New Order in east Asia,’” according to Iriye (1999). A year later the US stopped all trade or aircraft and aircraft parts with Japan, this led to one of the many reasons Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Before the Japanese could even think about world domination they would have had to take out the American naval fleet to accomplish building the empire sized naval fleet that they wanted.
Introduction – Pearl Harbor was vulnerable to attack because of the obstruction of defense and warning.