Dbq 11 Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941 will forever be a date people remember. People will remember the event that caused terror throughout the country and ultimately resulted in the U.S. entrance into World War II. This date signifies the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Pearl Harbor is located on the southern end of Oahu, and it held a 22,000 acre naval base. This attack was meant to be a surprise. The attack on Pearl Harbor was known to be “influenced by the successful British attack that used carrier aircraft against the Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy the previous year, was essentially a last best-hope for Japanese success in the Pacific” (historynet.com). Early in the morning on the seventh of December, more than 350 Japanese planes attacked around

In other words, “unless a new source of oil was opened, the Imperial Japanese Navy would be in dry dock within a year and Japanese industries would grind to a halt in 12 to 18 months” (historynet.com). These sanctions and other penalties didn’t discourage the Japanese, however; they actually convinced Japan to stand its ground and stirred up the anger of its people against continued Western interference in Asian affairs. Because of this, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, “the two fascist regimes then at war with the Allies” (Pruitt). Although Tokyo and Washington D.C. negotiated for months leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, there was no success. According to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech, “one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war of armed attack.” From Japan’s point of view, war with the United States had become to seem inevitable if the

Although the U.S. had indeed placed an embargo on goods they knew Japan needed, the U.S. thought they were at peace with Japan and, “at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific” (Roosevelt). The intention for making the embargos was to halt Japan’s expansionism (Pruitt). At Pearl Harbor before the attack, Admiral Husband E. Kimmel of the Navy and Lieutenant General Walter C. Short of the Army were in command of the fleet and troops on the ground. According to historynet.com, “the majority of the Pacific area’s military commands were headquartered there because of growing apprehensions regarding an aggressive Japanese presence.” However, the U.S. believed that if the Japanese were to attack, they expected it to be on the Philippines. Any attack on Pearl Harbor was expected to be low key, like sabotage or a submarine attack. On the morning of the attack, around one-third of the ship’s officers were on shore leave, no anti aircraft batteries were manned, and ammunition for these vital air defense weapons was locked up in stores away from the guns. As one can see, no one at Pearl Harbor was prepared whatsoever. In fact, approaching Japanese planes that were detected by radar at approximately 7:02 A.M. were thought to be an incoming flight of U.S. bombers (Dowswell 30-31). By the end of the attack, America