The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour of 1941 served as a turning point for the Americans’ involvement in the Second World War. The outlook for the war changed because the United States was abruptly awoken from its neutral standpoint; it resulted in a rise of anti-Japanese sentiment across the country; and provided some of the motivation behind the attack on Hiroshima a few years later. Up until the day of the surprise attack, the United States had taken position as a neutral nation in regards to the war, but after the attack, which resulted in over 3,000 deaths, the country could no longer maintain this stance.
Until the attack on Pearl Harbour, the United States had held a mostly neutral stance when it came to World War Two. Between the …show more content…
The only way the country had involved itself in the war at all was by occasionally supplying the Allies with money and war materials. For the most part, the public, despite general hostile feelings towards Hitler, was content to sit back, take an isolationist standpoint, and let the war play itself out whatever its outcome. After all, this war posed no direct threat to the United States itself. (u-s-history.com). The attack on Pearl Harbour changed that. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese, who ironically saw the United States as their greatest threat despite the country’s official neutral stance, launched an attack on Pearl Harbour. The bombing lasted a full two hours, and its outcome was devastating to the United States. 18 US ships and 188 aerocrafts had been destroyed; and over 3,000 people, including at least 65 civilians, were killed. After this attack it became clear that the country could no longer remain neutral. Franklin D Roosevelt, President of the United States at the time, described the attack as “a date which will …show more content…
Many battles between these two opposing countries, including the Pacific War and the attack on Iwo Jima, took place throughout World War Two. The contributions of the United States, of which there were many, aided the Allies tremendously. Nazi Germany formally surrendered on the 8th of May 1945, marking what is known as Victory in Europe Day, or simply V-E Day. Germany’s surrender made it clear that total victory in the war would belong to the Allies: Japan’s military forces might have been strong, but not powerful enough to defeat the Allies without Germany’s support. Despite this, Japan refused to surrender, even when their military forces began to collapse. Japan’s resoluteness deeply frustrated President Truman, especially seeing as over the past few years, the United States had been building festering anger towards Japan. This resulted in the world’s first atomic bombing. On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The results were beyond devastating. 70,000 civilians were killed instantly, and over the next few months the number swelled to over 140,000. (bombingofhiroshima.com). Such figures are over fifty times that of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941. Despite this massacre, Japan still refused to surrender, resulting in one more American atomic bombing, this time on the city of Nagasaki. This
Until the attack on Pearl Harbour, the United States had held a mostly neutral stance when it came to World War Two. Between the …show more content…
The only way the country had involved itself in the war at all was by occasionally supplying the Allies with money and war materials. For the most part, the public, despite general hostile feelings towards Hitler, was content to sit back, take an isolationist standpoint, and let the war play itself out whatever its outcome. After all, this war posed no direct threat to the United States itself. (u-s-history.com). The attack on Pearl Harbour changed that. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese, who ironically saw the United States as their greatest threat despite the country’s official neutral stance, launched an attack on Pearl Harbour. The bombing lasted a full two hours, and its outcome was devastating to the United States. 18 US ships and 188 aerocrafts had been destroyed; and over 3,000 people, including at least 65 civilians, were killed. After this attack it became clear that the country could no longer remain neutral. Franklin D Roosevelt, President of the United States at the time, described the attack as “a date which will …show more content…
Many battles between these two opposing countries, including the Pacific War and the attack on Iwo Jima, took place throughout World War Two. The contributions of the United States, of which there were many, aided the Allies tremendously. Nazi Germany formally surrendered on the 8th of May 1945, marking what is known as Victory in Europe Day, or simply V-E Day. Germany’s surrender made it clear that total victory in the war would belong to the Allies: Japan’s military forces might have been strong, but not powerful enough to defeat the Allies without Germany’s support. Despite this, Japan refused to surrender, even when their military forces began to collapse. Japan’s resoluteness deeply frustrated President Truman, especially seeing as over the past few years, the United States had been building festering anger towards Japan. This resulted in the world’s first atomic bombing. On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb, nicknamed “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The results were beyond devastating. 70,000 civilians were killed instantly, and over the next few months the number swelled to over 140,000. (bombingofhiroshima.com). Such figures are over fifty times that of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941. Despite this massacre, Japan still refused to surrender, resulting in one more American atomic bombing, this time on the city of Nagasaki. This