Japan 's Attack On Pearl Harbor

Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor seems unwise, ill-judged, and senseless. The attack was meant to keep the U.S. out of the war, but had the opposite effect and instead made them want to fight and join it. Japan, at this time, was not a major power and having them attack one of the biggest major powers by bombing the U.S. naval base in Hawaii didn’t appear like an appropriate idea for them. Then why did they do it? Japan’s reasons for attacking Pearl Harbor was their plan for a ‘new’ world order, the U.S. oil embargo, and the relocation and expansion of the U.S. naval fleet.

After the world war I allied countries had signed the treaty of Versailles. Japan had felt left out because it wanted to include a part about racial equality. They felt that they weren't being treated equally. So Japan had started to take control and conquer land in southeast Asian countries. They wanted to spread their rule and race. The U.S. didn’t agree with Japan’s action and over the years tension has developed between the two countries. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor because of their nationalist mindset, America’s embargo of oil, and the fear of being attacked by the United States because of its growth.

Prior to WWII, Japan expanded into other countries like China and Manchuria to gain resources because Japan didn’t want to rely on the United States for resources and nearly eighty percent of their oil (Doc D). The invasion of Manchuria made the United States suspicious of Japan’s intent, but when China was invaded, the United States confirmed their skepticism and stopped trading military equipment with Japan. Two years later, in 1941, Japanese-American oil trades embargoed and banking assets froze. The trade cut off prevented the Japanese’s goal of becoming a world power because they couldn’t fuel their military or their industries. Therefore, the action infuriated the leaders of Japan and such anger was expressed during an Imperial Conference when Hideki Tojo stated to his fellow board members that the United States can’t do as she wants and let other countries suffer (Doc E). This conference helped organize the bombing and influenced the spread of Japanese hate toward America. Just as Europe and the United States did when fabricating the Treaty of Versailles, Japan took action in the interest of their country first and bombed Pearl Harbor in the same year as trade flow stopped. The bombing represented revenge against the trade cutoff and for preventing the completion of their

For example, there are many economic issues. Japan's yearning to expand into Eastern Asia, anger and resentment because of the Treaty, and the political side of wanting to ensure the U.S. military's downfall (Document C). Japan attacked the U.S. military by bombing. They did this because they believed it was a good way to destroy their military. This was basically because of how they wanted to rule out their problems.

In fact, most of Japan’s problems were caused by the U.S. regardless of whether or not it was intentional. For example, when referring to the last two paragraphs, it talked about how the U.S. put an embargo on their oil with Japan, along with their aircraft parts which caused Japan to have limited resources. This, in turn, caused some tension which was added onto by more of the acts committed by the U.S. such as the Immigration Act of 1924, and the formation of the League of Nations. Besides the tension and the limited resources, there was also the fact that Japan wanted more land for their imperialistic interests. For instance, Manchuria, and China which Japan invaded with ease due to the U.S. being preoccupied with Adolf Hitler and the other axis powers. In the end, Japan clearly had a reason, if not multiple, for attacking Pearl

In the 1940’s, tension between Japan and America was dramatically increasing.Japan had recently declared that there was to be a new order, and that they were the new world power. The United States did not like Japan’s motives and cut Japan off from their main source of trade and supplies. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor because America put restrictions on trade, America was becoming too strong, and Japan wanted to be the at the top of the world power.

One of the reasons why Japan launched an attack on the United states was because of their worldly view. In (Document A) it states, “ The way of the subject is to be loyal to the Emperor in disregard of self, thereby supporting the Imperial Throne coexistence with the Heaven and the Earth.” The Japanese had the mentality that they were the master race and everyone else must subject. They had motives that they could claim the whole world; everything was in the grasp of their hand. According to them Europe and America was now crumbling, as stated in (Document A), “An old order…(European and American)... is now crumbling.” Japan felt it was their turn to

During this time, Japan believed that they were superior to all other races, and that this allowed them to extend their rule over all other countries (Doc A). This lead them to occupy other neighboring regions, like Manchuria and French Indochina (Doc B). America did not agree with Japan's imperialist behavior, so they began to put embargos in place and froze Japanese assets. Japan was angered by this, as the Americans were willing to do what needed to be done to keep the Japan from becoming an imperialist empire. The Japanese were determined to spread their power throughout the world, so they viewed the bombing of Pearl Harbor as a way to keep the Americans from being able to stop

Japanese-Americans were disliked by the general American public, regardless if they had a reputation of they being diligent workers. As most immigrants had, the Japanese traveled to the United States in order to find a better—a life where they could be free, have equal rights, find jobs. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the fear of another foreign attack caused the United States to worry and panic. This panic caused civilians to not only fear for their safety from another aerial attack but they also began to fear all Japanese people as a result of Japan’s attack.

The United States opposed the expansion of Japan in Asia, so they cut off important exports to Japan. On December 7,1941, Japanese Submarines and Carrier based planes, attacked the U.S pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour. The attack mark the entrance of the United States into the WWII on to Allied side, and Japan in the side of Germany and Italy. The use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is justified in that the war would have dragged on longer killing more civilians and military lives, and to showcase the strength of the United States in order to prevent future attacks.

To top it off, the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor gave the Americans a legitimate reason to join the war and to portray their intervention as a strictly defensive and protective one. Claiming to spread democracy and stunt the spread of fascism, the United States managed to build its reputation as a protector of the weak, despite its subtle plans to build an American empire.

In the early morning on December 7th, 1941, Japan held a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing the death of 2,000 American Soldiers and Sailors. On this morning there was also tremendous amounts of damage to the United States Military, For example: the Japanese destroyed 20 American Naval Vessels, eight battleships, and 300 airplanes. It also caused the United States to enter World War ii along with Germany, Italy, and Japan. The motivation for the bombing of Pearl Harbor was how the Japanese wanted to destroy our oil and fuel facilities, and trap our military. The internment of Japanese Americans after the bombing at Pearl Harbor, was justified because internment camps were constitutional, it was a necessary form of protection to ease the hysteria of the country, and Japanese Americans should have been willing to make the sacrifice to benefit the welfare of the country during the war.

Before Japan had attacked the united states, the U.S. was a neutral state and was trying to

The attack on Pearl Harbor was the product of Japanese anger at the United States and President Roosevelt should have taken immediate action to prevent it.

It all started the morning of December 7, 1941 when Japanese leaders decided to bomb the United States. Families were then broke apart and things became much more complex in the lives of Americans. Pearl Harbor was not “just a bombing,” but in reality it is so much more. This bombing had a great impact on the whole world for World War II. The bombing of Pearl Harbor had many situations before the bombing, during the bombing, and after the bombing.