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 …show more content…
They lacked the manpower and industry to project power all the way across the Pacific. They were hoping for a war of rapid conquest followed by a negotiated settlement. Pearl Harbor ruined that plan, because the surprise attack so angered Americans that a negotiated settlement was now out of the question; America was determined on total war and total victory.Had Japan followed American expectations and hit Manila instead, it’s possible that the US would’ve accepted a Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia in return for a peace in the Pacific that would’ve allowed a concentration of American might against Nazi Germany. But the US had such a depth of resources that it might have done just what it did historically; devote most of its effort to Europe, and fight the Japanese with whatever was left over. It proved a winning strategy, after all.The United States would have gone into WWII regardless of the Pearl Harbor attack, although we were hesitant about war, the Japanese attacking had given the US now a legitimate reason to go into war. Had this attack not happened, 2,403 Americans would still be alive and 1,178 unwounded. Eighteen ships were sunk or run aground, including five
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.
The United States was at peace with Japan following peace negotiations that had been made. The President expresses his concern that the United States was still in conversation with Japanese government and its Emperor looking towards the continuation of peace in the pacific. Japanese had a series of secret plans to bomb America. The president says that the previous day’s attack on Hawaii Islands had caused severe destruction to American naval and military forces. In his speech, he expresses his regrets to inform the Congress that Americans had lost their lives. He continues to state that American ships had been submerged in elevated seas starting from San Francisco and Honolulu. Consequently, these harsh actions by Japanese government made Roosevelt, as commander in chief of the army and navy, dictate on the possible measures to fight back. He is very confident to state that even if it takes a long period for the United States to conquer the enemies’ actions, which he refers to as old-fashioned invention, the people of America will emerge the absolute victory. He believes that, through defending his nation against enemies, he will be acting upon the will of his people and of the Congress. He promises his people that such attacks w...
The 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.
While Japan was greedy for more land and industrial materials, no one believed that the Japanese would start war with America by planning an attack on American soil. Another reason that the United States thought that the attack wouldn’t happen so close was because they were confident that Japan would try and take over the the Dutch East Indies, or French
During the early days of World War II, the United States remained officially neutral. It was not until the attack on Pearl Harbor, by the Japanese, that the United States had no choice, but to declare war. At the beginning of the war Japan won most of the battles (Gailey). These defeats resulted in the morale being low among the American troops. President Theodore Roosevelt wanted to boost morale and push forward the Pacific front with a strike on the Japanese homeland to serve as a testament to American military prowess and retribution for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor (Shepherd).
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
The predominant conflict between the United States and Great Britain prior to the war of 1812 was the British impressment of American sailors and merchants. At the time, Britain was at war with the First French Empire led by Napoleon Bonaparte. It was anticipated that many soldiers and sailors would desert the British Navy because of its substandard conditions. The majority of the deserting sailors joined the United States Merchant Marine; it not only had safer working conditions, but had payment of approximately four times the amount received in the British Navy. As substantial amounts of sailors abandoned the British Navy, U.S. ships were frequently stopped and searched for deserters. In this process, anyone allegedly deserting was impressed,
One of the many was the lack of cooperation between the Army and the Navy, no one of authority believed that Pearl Harbor was in any danger. This caused them to be defenseless when it really mattered the most. Additionally, the US made incorrect assumptions about Japan’s military capabilities. For starters, everyone believed that they had no seaborne aircraft capable of catching the American B-24 bomber.
Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was intended to be a preventive act in order to keep the United States Navy from intruding on their military plans. Why Japan would try to take on a force they knew they could not overcome still stands in question. Japan was already engaged in a four-year war in China and debating an attack on the Soviet Union, so why engage in a war with a country with tremendous industrial advantage? The United States was not only on the opposite side of the world but had a much stronger military force. The United States had more military weapons, tactics, and forces than other countries. When attacking Pearl Harbor Japan opted to fight a war with an enemy that had the capability to wage an unstoppable war against them.
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 ?
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 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.
On December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the United States Naval Base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. A series of important events led up to the bombing for Pearl Harbor. Tensions between the United States and Japan had been building for a time. The Philippine islands, at that time an American territory, were a Japanese target. Believing an invasion of the Philippines would invoke American hostilities, the Japanese decided that rather than seize and fortify the islands and wait for the American counterattack, the Japanese military would attack Pearl Harbor. This, they believed, would remove the American forces needed for the reconquest of the islands and thus prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with future military
The Japanese had sent spies to the United States to learn and study Pearl Harbor. (Airraid: Pearl Harbor) One of the most renowned spies that contributed mostly to the attack was Takeo Yoshikawa. He was a young boy that spied on the Pearl Harbor Naval Base by flying privately rented airplanes and taking pictures of the base as well as study it. (AirRaid: Pearl Harbor) Yoshikawa concluded which days were less busier and less armed with men so Japan could attack easier, with fewer casualties. Once Yoshikawa had found information, he sent it through an encrypted code. Little did the Japanese know that America had already broken the Japanese code. The U.S. had a top secret code-breaking machine called Purple. This machine was one of America’s greatest advantages to intercept Japanese code and decrypt it. (Airraid: Pearl Harbor) Takeo Yoshikawa sent his codes to Tokyo, but due to high code traffic, America considered codes to Tokyo a low priority. (Airraid: Pearl Harbor) “Purple” also decrypted codes about military advances to Indochina and China. Since America placed an embargo on Japan, the Japanese needed to find resources. So they started expanding toward China and Indochina. (Pearlharbor.org) “ The U.S. demanded that Japan withdraw from China and Indochina, but would have settled for a token withdrawal and a promise not to take more territory” (Pearlharbor.org) After some time, Japan had set its sights on the Pacific Islands such as the Philippines, Guam, and the Asian Oceanic Islands. The U.S. was prepared for an attack on Guam and the Philippines, due to the mobilization of Japanese troops near the Oceanic region and decrypted PURPLE code the US obtained. (Airraid: Pearl Harbor) Many expected the Philippines as a primary target, but not Pearl Harbor. A few weeks later, PURPLE intercepted a code about Pearl Harbor.
With the amount of oil that the americans had this led to the second reason why Japan attacked the Americans. In 1937, the Japanese