On December 7, 1941, World War II had come to a change. The Japanese’s attack on Pearl Harbor had marked the official entrance of the United States into World War II. The United States was caught completely off guard. The first sign of the Japanese fleet dashing towards Pearl Harbor came about at 7:00 A.M. on December 7, 1941. Two United States Army privates on the island of Oahu were about to shut down a mobile radar station that they had manned since 4:00 that morning. A sudden disturbance on the screen made the two men put a pause to their actions. A large but distinguished patch of light appeared to the men to come from 50 planes looked to be heading straight towards the island. One of the privates called the information center across …show more content…
Their aircraft had to travel in complete radio silence in order to catch the Americans completely off guard. (Attack on Pearl Harbor). The Japanese had an ambitious war plan. Their plan consisted of to seize the oil-rich Netherlands East Indies, and to break the Allied oil embargo. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto designed the Pearl Harbor Attack. He was a brilliant, fifty-seven year old commander of the Combined Fleet who believed a decisive attack against the United States Fleet at Pearl Harbor could change the strategic balance in Japan’s favor and protect the flank of their Southern Operation. Once the Japanese Empire built a strong defensive perimeter around its vanquishment, the U.S. was faced with a peace settlement or a hopeless war of attrition. Yamamoto began to plan the Pearl Harbor attack in January 1941. By the end of August, his staff presented an outline which needed six aircraft carriers to sail from the Kurile Islands all the way through the northern part of the Pacific in late November …show more content…
The raid of the first wave launched a devastating attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet. It came with no warnings, and no declaration of war. It destroyed eight battleships, and 188 U.S. aircrafts. Only 100 Japanese perished in the first wave. More than 2,400 Americans were killed, and over 1,200 injured. Japan was seen as a serious threat to the U.S. economic and influence of the U.S. and European powers in Asia. In June 1937, Japan was in an all out war with China. This caused relations to plunge to new lows. The United States president, Franklin Roosevelt, inflicted economic sanctions, and Japan turned to Axis powers, signing the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in September