The Reasons Why Japan Attack The Pearl Harbor

On December 7th 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor,in Honolulu Hawaii a US naval base at the time, for resources and territory, the US at the time were a neutral country but this would be the end of that. World War II had been going on in Europe and Asia for two years, but the United States had not yet entered the war. The Empire of Japan was trying to take over much of Asia and was worried about the US Navy in Hawaii. They decided to strike in order to prevent the United States from attacking them. The Japanese thought that if they took out the war ships in Pearl Harbor, then the United States Navy would be crippled and would never attack. As stated by historian Ken Nelson “They were mistaken and the attack on Pearl Harbor had just the opposite result. The US declared war the next day.” Two months later, on 19 February 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This was the response from the United States government to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The order allowed for the internment of Japanese Americans in various camps located throughout the United States. What is this attack, why, and what else would come of it?

The ambush was quite not so good looking for the US, it showed that they can be caught off guard, it made them look weak, which caused the executive order that was quite obviously racist yet somehow the government allowed it. As we know by now the US loves to make an entrance, preferably late, so keeping up their track record they entered the war, late again. Hirohito wanted to “unify” Asia under one flag and the US was not making that an easy job, but one of the main reasons they attacked Pearl Harbor was because Japan joined the allies back in 1940, so the US embargoed them, given that they were one of Japan’s main steel and oil suppliers, Japan was left crippled. The only way for the emperor to imperialize the south eastern islands was to get rid of the United States Navy which was stationed in Hawaii. Leading up to the attack, mild negotiations were going on between japan and the US, they were talking about Japan invading Vietnam. This negotiation was a setup of sorts, Japan had planned to end negotiating 30 minutes before the attack. This plan failed, as the US intercepted a message that told the Japanese embassy to end the negotiations, and as soon as the president got the decoded message he sent alerts to all military bases but due to technological difficulties, Pearl Harbor base didn’t receive that warning and the US was caught off guard because of that technical issue. Another reason would be that the US had no idea when and where the attack would be. But, I do, it started at 6:00am, which is relatively early, so they weren’t big on numbers. Japan just went to town bombing like there is no tomorrow, till there was immense, noticeable damage and they realized this isn’t a drill and saw the red circle on the plane. By the end of the attack 2,403 Americans died, including 68 civilians and 1178 service men wounded. In addition, 21 ships of the United States’ Pacific Fleet were sunk or heavily damaged, and more than 180 aircraft were destroyed. All this embarrassment is what would eventually lead to the executive order signing.

'Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.' Said by Roosevelt in a speech on the day after the attack,now known as the infamy speech, He went on to say, “No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.” the congress really felt the embarrassment and for the first time during years of discussion and debate, the American people were united in their determination to go to war. While this is going on Japan takes an offensive extending throughout the pacific area. Since the embarrassment made the citizens want war and they supported it and it had been declared, Roosevelt can now deal with the Japanese Americans, they believed them to be spies, there were many things he could’ve done like maybe deporting them but he ended up allowing the internment of Japanese Americans in camps. This suspicion was of no evidence just racism. Inevitably, this would not stand, and the order eventually would get abolished, many of the Japanese Americans just went back to their day to day lives, while some went back to Japan. This release of the Japanese Americans shows that America was confident, strong, and ready at this point of time in the war. When people would see Japanese Americans they’d look at them like they were better than them, a sense of extreme racism and prejudice was born in them. The results of this attack within the US were obvious, they were mad and it showed.

The US declared war against Japan, so what does this mean? Obviously Japan’s allies would come into this, because of the Tripartite Pact signed by the Axis and Japan, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States. Japan obviously expected the war declaration from the US, but they thought they had crippled them, to their surprise it was quite the contrary, they weren’t as affected and they were supposed to be, and most of the damaged ships from the attack were repaired.

This attack had huge significance in the war, it would be a crucial turning point, it practically sealed the allied victory, they got a much needed assistance the sleeping giant had been awakened. Japan made an enemy of the wrong people, this would lead to their ultimate and inevitable defeat in 1945. Personally I think the biggest outcome of this was that it eventually lead to the dropping of two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Estimates vary widely, but at least 100,000 people were killed immediately, and a number at least as large died in the following months because of the effects of the bomb. To this day that ground is infertile and people are born with deformation in that area. Who knew that the outcomes of a simple attack would be as ghastly as they were. Japan just wanted to ensure the pacific coast for themselves but ended up unleashing an unbeatable beast.