Causes Of Pearl Harbor

The brutal surprise of the attack on the Naval base at Hawaii left a big imprint on American history. The attack resulted in an unwanted entry into the Second World War. Although the Americans tried their best to avoid involvement into the war, one devastating attack woke the United States from their neutrality. The attack on Pearl Harbor was only part of Japan 's big plan to take over island nations in the Pacific Ocean. The attack instilled an array of emotions into the American people. Japanese forces only took a short amount of time to conduct the attack, but they were still able to create mass destruction among the harbor. The infamous waves of terror obliterated almost everything in its path. Some key targets were missed, but the whole …show more content…
The plan was very carefully thought out, and was the result of many years of tension between the nations. The attack was part of Japan 's big plan to conduct attacks on the Philippines islands, the East Indies, and indochina(Wallin 83). The United States got tied into the plan because of their Naval base being stationed in the Pacific Ocean. For this reason, the Japanese wanted to demolish the Pacific fleet, so they would not intervene with their future invasions.The attack was also made out to scare the Americans into not wanting to wage war("Attack on Pearl Harbor").The plan to attack the harbor on the island did not begin until the U.S. began putting economic sanctions on Japan for not retreating from China. Oil was one of the biggest concerns for the Japanese, and was the main reason for an attack on Pearl Harbor. By July 1940, Congress granted power to restrict the sale of strategic materials to Japan. The most important export from the United States to Japan was eighty percent of Japan 's oil, but the United States also restricted iron and steel(Appleby, et al 477-78). It was early 1941 when planning for the attack began, but by the spring of 1941 a full-scale plan was in the making("Attack on Pearl Harbor"). Yomamoto 's strategy and plan for Pearl Harbor …show more content…
The tragedy unified the American people, and also encouraged many people to join the United States armed forces. Japan escaped Pearl Harbor with minimal losses, but it was the opposite for the United States in this battle. Post Pearl Harbor was anything but good. Many of the aircraft and boats at Pearl Harbor were damaged beyond repair or had to have a lot of repairs. Someone once said, "all of the aircraft at the Ewa airport base were destroyed." Luckily when the Japanese attacked, some of the biggest ships were out of the harbor along with some other smaller ships(Arroyo 21). This helped scatter out the attacks so that all of the targets were not clustered up together and more easily to hit. Other targets that were missed by the Japanese First Air Fleet were oil tanks and the Submarine yard. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought the hammer down on the United States. The casualties that came from the American side were outrageous. The death toll reached up to over 2,402 people, and many more were injured. The attack was so devastating that a counterattack on the Japanese was almost impossible with the forces at Pearl Harbor("Attack on Pearl Harbor"). After the word of the attack spread to the United States, shock and sorrow were prominent among most American people. Japan hoped for a quick truce by America, but they were wrong. After the attack, Roosevelt met on the night of the attack with his cabinet