When Did The Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor – History » World War II » Pearl Harbor » Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? General analysis
75 years later, the question remains for students of World War II history: Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?
When Did The Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was the most successful military surprise attack in the early naval/air battles. On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service bombed the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In the year The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 marked America’s entry into WW2 and led directly to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the results of which were devastating for the Japanese. The Japanese were able to destroy about 20 American naval vessels, including 8 large battleships, 200 aircraft and more than 2,000 American casualties, but why did the Japanese attack America? And what exactly were they trying to achieve by attacking Pearl Harbor?
What Made The Japanese Attack On Pearl Harbor So Devastating? This Ordnance
The US and Japan had been butting heads for decades and it was inevitable that things would eventually go to war. Japan had imperial ambitions to expand into China to solve some of its demographic and economic problems and to control the Chinese import market. In the year When Japan decided to declare war on China in 1937, the US responded with trade embargoes and economic sanctions against the invasion. In particular, the oil embargo that the United States organized with England and the Dutch was a thorn in the side of Japan’s 90% oil imports. Without oil the Japanese army could not function and all war efforts would cease. After months of negotiations between Washington and Tokyo, Japan decided to attack first.
With war inevitable, Japan’s only option was to destroy the element of surprise and the US Navy as quickly as possible. Japan wanted to move into the Dutch East Indies and Malaya to gain control of territories that could provide valuable natural resources such as oil and rubber. By destroying several American ships, they hoped to conquer the Philippines and Mali while America was still recovering from its own losses – simultaneous attacks on these areas were launched while Pearl Harbor was underway.
Let’s go back to our original question: Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? Ultimately, Japan hoped that America would concede defeat and that Japan would be able to establish a stronghold on the Pacific Rim.
Conspiracy theories that Roosevelt expected to be attacked by the Japanese, but knew Pearl Harbor was about to be hit, have been dismissed by many scholars. The government expected Japan to attack American targets in Thailand or the Dutch East Indies rather than targets closer to home. The Chicago Tribune published the top secret war plan “Rainbow Five” on December 4, 1941, which prepared the War Department for war with Japan.
The Attack On Pearl Harbor: The Second Wave
The day before Sarah Roosevelt’s death, Franklin Roosevelt’s mother, the State Department’s urgent request from Japanese Prime Minister Konoe to speak privately with Roosevelt convinced the Japanese to begin planning an attack.
At a cabinet meeting on September 6, 1941, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was told to attack Konoye unless he somehow negotiated a peace treaty with the United States that did not provoke a domestic revolution, a Korean uprising, or restore Chinese morale. Hirohito was shot twice, once by a Japanese communist, once by a Korean nationalist. The best men of two cabinets have been killed or wounded because of the aliens who want to colonize Japan, or because of reducing a nation that has never lost a war in modern times to a vulnerable third-rate power. Konoye himself was threatened with death if he made too many concessions, and serious attempts were made to overthrow the emperor in favor of his brother or his son. Hirohito knew that his dynasty itself could be destroyed or marginalized like the Romanovs, as the Japanese themselves had done to the Korean monarchs, so he bowed to the request, which the Japanese saw as not only insulting, but madness.
Yamamoto, who spoke English fluently, was educated at Harvard and had clashed across the United States in the heyday, and knew that Japan could not defeat the United States. If war could not be avoided, Japan’s grand strategy was to inflict enough damage and seize enough territory to guarantee Japan’s sovereignty so that the Americans could restore all or most of what Japan had taken outside of Korea.
Theoretical plans for a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor existed for decades. General Billy Mitchell warned in 1924 that the next war would be fought with aircraft carriers. In 1932, US Navy Admiral Harry Yarnell conducted a simulated attack by carrier aircraft in a war game. A naval jury ruled that if the attack had been real, it would have caused significant damage, and the attackers won the war game.
What Happened When The Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor In 1941?
On January 7, 1941, less than a month after the British aerial torpedo attack on Taranto, Yamamoto presented his revised contingency plan for an attack on Pearl Harbor. Japanese planner Minoru Genda called Yamamoto’s original plan “difficult but not impossible.” More information was needed. In the year In the summer of 1941, Korean patriots who listened to the wall at the Japanese consulate in Honolulu were gathering rumors through Korean servants and loyal Japanese-Americans that the Japanese were very interested in the depth of water and the strengths and weaknesses of the port. Military and naval installations in Hawaii.
Roosevelt’s restriction of Japanese oil supplies shifted Japan’s plans into high gear. War was now the only alternative to economic stagnation and political revolution.
In the final months before the attack, the U.S. government issued a memo stating, “The Japanese government does not desire, intend, or expect armed conflict with the United States.” . . . If the betting were a matter of play, the undersigned would give Japan and the United States a five to one chance of not going to ‘war’ on or before March 1st (more than 90 days away, and after the expiration of which our strategists estimated that we would have ‘time’ for further preparation and elimination). “
On December 1, 1941, the Emperor met with the Privy Council. “It is now clear that Japan’s claims cannot be met through diplomatic means,” Tojo said. The emperor – perhaps even more gun-shy than the elder statesmen – demanded a vote. The cabinet unanimously decided on war. Hirohito agreed. The Japanese fleet was told to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7 unless there was a last-minute cancellation due to a sudden change in American attitude. Kurusu and Numura, who were sincere in seeking peace until they received Hull’s memo, were told to hold off for a while. Tojo sums up the situation: Japan, an Asian, African or South American country that modernized rather than colonized, could not reverse the American claim through domestic upheaval, Korean rebellion, Manchuria. “Right now, our state is either glory or oblivion,” he said.
Events Leading To The Attack On Pearl Harbor
This article is part of our larger selection of articles about the Pearl Harbor attack. To learn more, click here for our comprehensive guide to Pearl Harbor.Pearl Harbor is a United States naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, and was the site of a surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. On top of that, just before 8 a.m. Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter jets descended on the station, destroying or damaging nearly 20 US Navy ships, including eight warships and more than 300 aircraft. More than 2,400 Americans, including civilians, were killed in the attack and another 1,000 were injured. The day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
Although the attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, Japan and the United States had been heading for war for decades.
The United States was particularly unhappy with Japan’s aggressive attitude toward China. The Japanese government believed that the only way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand into neighboring countries and control the import market.
For this In 1937, Japan declared war on China, resulting in the Nanking Massacre and other atrocities.
The Malayan Campaign & Japanese Blitzkrieg
US officials responded to this attack with economic sanctions and trade embargoes. They believed that Japan would have to control its expansion if they could not get money and goods, and especially essential supplies like oil.
Instead, the sanctions made the Japanese more determined to stand their ground. Neither side is swayed by months of negotiations between Tokyo and Washington, DC. War seemed inevitable.
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is located near the center.
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