Attack On Pearl Harbor Essay

827 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Causes and effects of ww2

The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Since the beginning days of the United Sates has sought out to not “entangle alliances” with other countries (Wels,44). The U.S. rejected alliances with the League of Nations and the Treaty of Versailles(Wels,44). The U.S. was very clear they wanted nothing to do with national affairs. On the other side of world was Japan, a struggling country just like the United States. Japan was hit by depression, the lack of vital food supplies and raw materials(Wels,44). Year after year Japan denied the opportunity of “territorial expansion” by taking control of neighboring countries. Due to the global setting at the time, the attack on Pearl Harbor had a significant impact on American history.
Yamamoto began to plan the ariel attack on Pearl Harbor, known as the “Hawaii Operation”(Wels,66). The attack would be launched from a fleet of aircraft carriers. Japan’s naval fleet that would carry out the attack on Pearl Harbor consisted of destroyers, heavy cruisers, light cruisers and many other vessels(Wels,66). Japan was going for more of short-term, surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto did not think Japan would be able to win a long-term war with the U.S., due to the lack of surplus(Wels,51). This however did not stop Yamamoto, he calculated that Japan would have chance if the U.S. Pacific Fleet was eliminated. This is exactly what he did.
As the sun began to rise over Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 183 Japanese planes flew south to make history in the Pacific. Following these planes were 43 Japanese Zeros, 51 dive bombers, and 49 high-flying bombers that each carried 1,786 pound bombs, and 40 torpedo planes that were specifically made for the attack on Pearl Harbor(Wels,112). Back in...

... middle of paper ...

...m with a terrible resolve”(Davenport,91).
Despite Yamamoto’s and Naguno’s instant fame and success, it was quick indeed. Yamamoto was killed in 1943, when his plane was shot down by American fighters. As for Naguno, he decided his own fate by committing suicide in 194, failing to bring final victory to Japan(Davenport,97). Soon the Americans devised a plan, a counterattack, trying to strike the heart of Japan in Tokyo. The U.S. called this operation the “Doolittle” raid(FSBR). The attack was planned to take out multiple fuel ovens and assembly plants. Unfortunately the raid did not go as planned and only scored one hit at a plant(FSBR). Despite the “Doolittle” raid’s failure to succeed it nevertheless improved American and Chinese moral significantly(FSBR). Back at Pearl Harbor, sailors and clean up teams began to clean up the massive carnage of the recent attack.

Show More
Related

  • World War II Veterans: Thomas Mahoney

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 ...

    Read More

  • The Influences on the Signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

    1472 Words  | 3 Pages

    Previous to the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941, tensions had been forming between the USA and Japan in the Pacific. The US had cut 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 Harbor still shocked and outraged the American nation and affected the American psyche.

    Read More

  • Atomic Bomb Justified Dbq

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    Japanese stood their ground and on December 7,1941.The surprise attack on the Americans that destroyed or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded at Pearl Harbor(document

    Read More

  • Day of Infamy Speech by President Roosevelt

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, the attack of Japan on the United States, Pearl Harbor, led to great property destruction and even loss of lives. Japan had earlier on deceived the United States of the peace negations. Japanese Ambassadors later termed the negotiation as useless, making them attack the United States. The unexpected attack led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to ask the Congress to declare war on Japan.

    Read More

  • Pearl Harbor Dbq Essay

    626 Words  | 2 Pages

    It led United States’ official involvement in World War II. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because of a deteriorating relationship with the U. S. The “New World Order”, expansion and resources, and economic sanctions were factors that conducted to another disaster on the Second World War. One reason Japan assaulted U.S.A. Navy was because the "New World Order.” “The ideals of Japan... are represented by the principle that the benevolent rule of the Emperor may be extended so as to embrace the whole world.

    Read More

  • Pearl Harbor Dbq

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Pearl Harbor Compare And Contrast Essay

    1303 Words  | 3 Pages

    The attacks on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 were the first attacks ever to take place on American soil, the repercussions were devastating for the Japanese Empire; sadly, Pearl Harbor would not be the last threat America faced on her own land. On September 9th, 2011 (9/11) a radical Islāmic terrorist group known as Al-Qaeda attacked America. While America dealt with both of these attacks with unyielding resolve, executing that resolve was what is starkly different between the two tragedies. Pearl Harbor did have some quintessential similarities to 9/11; both attacks unprovoked by America, both provoked public support against aggressors by way of presidential speeches, both lacked prior intelligence on the attacks themselves, both sparked

    Read More

  • Should We Have Dropped the Atomic Bomb?

    1528 Words  | 4 Pages

    After World War II began in 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced the neutrality of the United States. Many people in the United States thought that their country should stay out of the war. The people wanted the Allied Forces to have the victory. President Roosevelt also wanted an Allied victory because an Axis victory might endanger democracies everywhere. The United States equipped nations fighting the Axis with ships, tanks, aircraft, and other war materials. The Axis did not like this. Japan wanted to take over China, but China refused. China was led by Chiang Kai-Shek at the time. 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.

    Read More

  • Doolittle Raid

    1742 Words  | 4 Pages

    On 7 December 1941 the Japanese Military launched a destructive surprise attack on United States Military Forces in Pearl Harbor, HI. This forced the United States into the ongoing war that they had hoped to avoid. With a Naval Fleet that suffered significant losses in the attack at Pearl Harbor, the US began offensive and defensive campaigns throughout the Pacific region ranging from open water naval battles to close combat engagements in the Philippines. America was quickly losing ground and desperately needed positive news after suffering heavy loses early in the war. President Franklin Roosevelt turned to his senior military advisors in Washington, DC and asked what it would take to strike a blow the Japanese mainland as they had done to America. At the time, the US Army Air Corps had no bases in Asia within bomber range. The Navy had aircraft capable of accomplishing the mission but was reluctant to bring its ships within the bombers range for fear of losing what few ships still remained in the region. It was then that a Navy Captain named Francis Low, an Anti-Submarine Warfare Officer serving on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Ernest King, suggest...

    Read More

  • Informative Essay On Pearl Harbor

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    In World War II their were a lot of battles. There were a lot of city’s bombed. How would you feel if you were in World War II ? I would be running from the Japanese and the Natiz . Also I would probably die or hide in a road gutter . The question is what would you do if you were in World War II ?

    Read More

  • Pearl Harbor Embargo Research Paper

    470 Words  | 1 Pages

    In November 1941, FDR persuaded the British and Dutch to join America in a total oil embargo on Japan, to remain in place until the Japanese gave up their brutal invasion of China, already in its fifth year. FDR knew the Japanese military would never countenance such an abandonment. The Dutch and British held huge oil fields in Southeast Asia, within easy striking distance of Japanese bases in Indochina. Everyone anticipated Japan would respond to the oil embargo by trying to seize those oil fields. And astride the sea lanes between Japan and Southeast Asia was the American colony (and major military base) in the Philippines.For 20 years prior, the US Navy had wargamed a Japanese attack on Manila (Plan Orange). It didn’t occur to the American

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Pearl Harbor

    793 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Did Truman Justified To Drop The Atomic Bomb Justified Essay

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though the US favored neutrality, the United States was forced to enter war. The progressive violent actions of the Japanese government against the US economic interest are what ultimately triggered the United State’s declaration to enter the war.

    Read More

  • Essay On Attack On Pearl Harbor

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pearl Harbor was a very vicious attack by the Japanese on the US. On December 7, 1941 US Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese fighter jets. United States had been aware of a possible attack since the 1920s; the US became more involved when the Japanese invaded Manchuria. Attack on Pearl Harbor was the beginning of something big, a bloody war between the Japanese and the United States. United States was not expecting such an event; it was such an unannounced attack on the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. That unexpected attack on December 7, 1941 was originally just a preventive effort for keeping the US from interfering with military action the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia. Japan wanted to cripple the pacific fleet so they wouldn’t foil their plan to create a defense perimeter in the Southwest Pacific. Japanese aircraft launched two aerial attack waves sinking four US Navy battleships and damaging two other battleships. The attacks also led to a high number of deaths. There original plan was to attack all of the US aircraft carriers. The attack on Pearl Harbor resulted in US entry into World War 2.

    Read More

  • Tora Compare And Contrast Essay

    2275 Words  | 5 Pages

    The events for the Japanese side begin on December 12, 1932 when Isoroku Yamamoto was appointed Director of the Aeronautical Department of the Navy Ministry. He inspired reliance and assurance with the opportunity to make the air fleet a resourceful part for the Navy. He established a long needed driving force toward the future. It was Yamamoto's temperament that also had to do with his strategy and lead on his next groundwork. Yamamoto's assessment of the war with the United States came from his extensive research he did while attending Harvard University and his service as naval ambassador in Washington. He became familiar with the United States strengths and weaknesses. It was August, 1939 that Yamamoto was appointed Commander in Chief due to his knowledge base of the United States and his Naval command that earned him this position. Yamamoto determined that if Japan was to have the lead in the war, they would have to destroy the US Pacific Fleet in a long range, preventive attack using aircra...

    Read More

More about Attack On Pearl Harbor Essay

Open Document