The Attack on Pearl Harbor was a shocking blow to the United States that forced the U.S. into World War II. The United States goal was to stay isolated from foreign affairs, but Pearl Harbor changed all that, forcing them to get involved in foreign affairs. A young, power hungry United States wanted to control Southeast Asia, angering Japan along the way. The reason the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor was the results of decades of tension starting back in 1899 with arguments over the United States Open Door Policy; both countries desired control over the Pacific and East Asia, which made war unavoidable.
The start of trouble between Japan and the United States was the open door policy. In 1899 the U.S. created the Open Door Policy, which stated that all countries had equal privileges when trading with China. China expressed their displeasure with this policy with the Boxer rebellion, when the boxers of China came together and tried to force foreigners out of China. However, foreign forces overtook them and they were stuck with being open for trade and business. In 1900 Secretary of State John Hay decided to send out a second document, in a response to the Boxer Rebellion, stating that countries should respect China and it integrity, although no replies were requested all of the major powers except Japan agreed to these terms. In 1904-1905 Japan won the Russo-Japanese war; they won because Russia had limited forces available in that area of east Asia, however this battle still proved that Japan could defeat a primary power. In 1910 the power hungry Japan took over Korea by completely annihilating there entire population. During WWI 1914-1918 Japan fought with the great powers against Germany, in the end they received islands near Ch...
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...ike steel, coal, and oil all critical to Japan’s success in expansion. Roosevelt did this in fear of Japan possibly becoming strong enough to challenge America.
Now anger was steaming in Japan and they were devising a plan that would cripple America forcing them to get involved in foreign affairs. Yomamoto the military leader for Japan, devised a plan in 1940 to devastate America by taking out Pearl Harbor. The last straw for Japan was when FDR cut off all supplies to Japan this is when Japan devised their plans to take out the U.S. Navy. In 1939 Roosevelt ended the 1911 commercial treaty. In 1940 he signed the export control act that stopped all goods from going to Japan. In July of 1941 Roosevelt froze all of the assets of Japan in the United States. All of these crucial moves made by the United States should have prepared them to expect an attack by the Japanese.
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Show MoreThe Battle of Pearl Harbor was one of the most atrocious events that happened in U.S. history. On December 7, 1941, Japan made a surprise aerial attack on the United States naval base and airfields at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. More than two thousand Americans died and a thousand two hundred were wounded. Eighteen ships were badly damaged, including five battleships. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt with the support of the Congress, declared war on Japan. 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.
Starting in the early 1930’s, the Japanese began to display their great imperialistic dreams with ambition and aggression. Their goal was to create a "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" where they controlled a vast empire in the western Pacific.1 In September of 1939, Japan signed the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis Treaty, allying themselves with Germany and Italy in an effort to safeguard their interests in China from the Soviet Union. Japan’s only major obstacle left lay in the significant size of the United States Pacific Fleet. To rid themselves of this, Japan attacked the United States Pacific Fleet in hopes of crippling it enough to prevent any further hindrance from the US. Although Japan began the War in the Pacific on the offensive, winning many battles and gaining significant territories, the tide quickly turned in favor of the US because of the their dominating industrial capacity. Thus, the Japanese began to resort to ghastly measures to prevent a humiliating defeat.
During the 1930s, the Americans desire to avoid foreign entanglements became a priority for congress. Therefore in the beginning of 1935, lawmakers passed a series of Neutrality Acts that banned travel on ships and the sales of arms to countries at war. This policy was formed in hopes to avoid Japanese and German aggression. However during December 1940, Roosevelt announced the United States would become the “great arsenal of democracy (Foner 857),” providing Britain and China with military supplies in their fight against Germany and Japan. In addition to forming an alliance with Britain and China, president Roosevelt froze Japanese assets in the United States, halting all trade between the countries, including the sale of oil vital to Japan. Little did the United States realize, their contribution to the war efforts only involved them in the war, but why did the U.S policymaker decide to use the atomic bomb? One reason was that they wanted to be sure that the USSR did not occupy Manchuria, secondly the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor created fear and racism towards Japanese nation’s ominous power, and lastly due to Japanese demoralizing strategy of human bombs, it fueled the Americans’ hatred, further motivating them to end the war efforts quickly.
December 7, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt described this as a day, “that will live infamy.” The attack on Pearl Harbor, in the early morning hours of December 7, was one of the most devastating defeats that the United States of America had ever encountered. In the years leading up to the attack there were many events that happened that would inflame Japanese aggression towards the United States. Some people say that these events could have been prevented and some say that the President let the events happen to push his agenda of inevitability for the United States to enter WWII. So why did the Japanese attack the United States at Pearl Harbor?
There were many events that led up to Japan making the decision to bomb Pearl Harbor. It all started with Japan wanting to expand their power. Japan was an island nation, it was isolated from many other nations, and Japan chose to be that way. But by the beginning of the 1900’s Japan was starting to fall apart as it was starting to become short of raw materials. Japan figured if it wanted to survive it would have to expand to get more materials. (O'NEAL 410-413). Japan started trying to take over Asia; they landed in the east coast of China in Manchuria and stationed troops there in order to try to take over northeastern China. ("Japan Launches A Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941"). 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 of Japan to slow down Japan’s advances in China. (Higgs). President Roosevelt hoped that these sanctions that the United States put on Japan would lead them to making the mistake of declaring war on the United States (which would also bring Italy and Germany into the attack too since they were all allied) the reason why Rooseve...
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
and European imperial rule in the region. Already a regional colonial power around the 1930s, Japan was determined to assert its status as a great power and guarantee its self sufficiency by conquering markets and raw materials controlled by its European rivals. Japan's aggression in China in the late 1930s and the closing off of Asian markets posed a deadly challenge to the US desire for a more open world economy. The U.S. responded by embargoing the sale of oil, iron and steel to Tokyo and increasing military aid to Chinese forces fighting Japan, driving Japan to invade other Asian countries in quest of these resources. Japanese officials proposed negotiations with the US, but did not meet President Roosevelt’s demands for a retreat from China and commitment to free trade in the region. Negotiations were never held, and on December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the American naval base of Pearl Harbor because of it. Dued to the action of the Japanese, the government made a decision to relocate any individual with Japanese
During months of negotiations between Tokyo and Washington, D.C., neither side would budge, making the war inevitable. Japan wanted to bring the United States into the war, so they began to plan their infamous attack. Japan’s military envisioned a grand empire that would cover most of Southeast Asia and the islands of the South Pacific. The Philippine Islands are in the middle of that domain, which was at the time American territory. Military bases with thousands of U.S. troops were stationed on these islands. The Japanese predicted it was only a matter of time before America would enter the war. Therefore, decided that a surprise was their best weapon against the United States. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was a huge tragedy to the U.S., and caused the U.S. to enter into WWII, but brought more consequences to Japan than could ever be
In 1927, Prime Minister Baron Tanaka Giichi revealed this to the Emperor Hirohito. It provided the necessary steps to conquer Asia. Their effort on world domination, for the most part, succeeded. But by introducing to the world to a new kind of war. A war of deliberate terrorism, of deliberate mass murder. Military advisor, General William Mayor said, when explaining Japanese justification on the un-declared war with China, that “once more Japanese honour had been insulted, once more the insult must be avenged.” This is an example of how strong the Japanese nationalism views were held, and how focused they were on seeing themselves as the leaders of Asia. Japan relied heavily upon American oil and metals to supply its war effort in China. Any threat to stop those exports would have a significant impact on Japanese plans. In hopes of giving pause to Japanese plans, the United States in May 1939, notified Japan that it was withdrawing from the 1911 Treaty of Commerce. According to terms of the treaty, in six months the United States would be free to limit or terminate exports to Japan. But to surrender or back down for the Japanese is worse than suicide, as it harms their honour. And so Japan continued its war in China. Even after the six months passed, the U.S government hesitated freezing assets to Japan. Believing that it would force Japan to invade to get new sources of
Pearl Harbor was the point at which America decided to go into war. There has been many arguments on whether America would have went into war regardless to help their allies in Europe. This debate came from Franklin D. Roosevelt's inclination to want to go into war. FDR saw a need for American involvement as the Allies was slowly losing more and more ground to the Axis power. The possibility of a loss was made very evident with the fall of France to Germany. Although FDR was inclined towards helping the Allies, the American people were not aligned with this view. The American people were against going into war after their involvement in the first World War. The first World War gave Americans some common views. One of the common views of the people was that America does not need Allies because security is held up through the protection of the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Their belief led to foreign affairs policy of isolationism. The policy of isolation and neutral stance in foreign affair came crashing down with the Imperial Army's attack on Pearl Harbor. The day of December 7th, 1941 is when America began its journey to the position it still holds in the world today‒ a superpower. A superpower is a country with a strong military, economy, and international political power. After the second World War, America had created the largest military force it has every had. World War II required
Just before Hitler’s invaded the Soviet Union, Japan signed a non-aggression pact with Stalin. This removed the threat of a Russian attack on Japan’s new holding. Europe was occupied fighting Hitler, which left the United States as the only obstacle to Japan’s aim to establish a an East Asia spanning empire. By the end of 1940, he United States had ended shipments of scrap metal, steel, and iron ore to Japan. At the same time, the United States began to send military resources to the Chinese resisting Japanese aggression.
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.
Consequently, Pearl Harbour was a preferred target to attack in order to retaliate the United States. The signing of the Tripartite Treaty with Germany further fuelled Japan’s aggression towards the United States. The Japanese had planned the attack in mind that if the US did engage in war, they would have struggled fighting two fronts. “The causes of the attack on Pearl Harbor stemmed from intensifying Japanese-American rivalry in the Pacific. Japan’s imperial ambitions had been evident from as early as 1931 when she invaded Manchuria.” The United States contribution towards aiding countries in relationships with them accordingly resulted in the attack on Pearl Harbour. At homeland Japan, the Japanese people sought that if the Japanese forces took out America’s naval forces at Pearl Harbour, it would have resulted in no immediate attack on Japan and would have created further havoc for the United States. As a result, Pearl harbour had to inevitably be
The attack on pearl harbor . It was the most dramatic effect of the World War II for the UNITED STATES . The pearl harbor attack gave the Japanese the advantage of the war . They attacked out American fleet at Pearl Harbor . This made UNITED STATES very angry at Japan . Here are some facts about the Pearl Harbor attack . 18 ships were destroyed at Pearl Harbor . Around 2,400 Americans were killed . The Japanese forces were 6 carriers with 400 aircraft .
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.