Pearl Harbor; The Deciding Factor of World War II On December 7, 1941 Japan launched the biggest attack ever on U.S. soil at the Un ited States Naval Base in Pearl Harbor. This attack not only killed thousands of our American Troops, sunk our ships, broke our planes, and destroyed our Pearl Harbor Military Base, but also caused the U.S. to enter WWII. This attack brought Americans together as one, as men left to fight the war, and women took over male jobs. Unquestionably, Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor triggered the United States of America to enter World War II, and ultimately cost them the war. First and foremost, the U.S and Japan had been going back and forth for years, so an attack was inevitable. In 1937, four years prior …show more content…
Military personnel were substantially closed from preventing this attack minutes before, “At 7:02 a.m., two radar operators spotted large groups of aircraft in flight toward the island from the north, but, with a flight of B-17s expected from the United States at the time, they were told to sound no alarm” (“Pearl”). Unfortunately, this backfired. At 7:55 AM Oahu local time, a Japanese dive bomber with the red rising sun flags on its wings appeared above the Pearl Harbor Naval Base. As 360 other Japanese fighter jets followed, these planes descended on the base dropping bombs. This attack rendered much of our pacific fleet useless. The Japanese sunk five of our eight battleships, all three of our destroyer ships, destroyed 200 of our aircrafts, and killed 2,400 of our brave American Troops. On the other side of things, the Japanese suffered little damage, “Japan’s losses were some 30 planes, five midget submarines, and fewer than 100 men” (“Pearl”). This quote proves how one-sided this attack was. Fortunately for the U.S, we were able to revive the USS Oklahoma, USS California, USS West Virginia, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania, USS Tennessee and USS Nevada, but these ships still sustained significant damage. Finally, it is clearly evident that Japan’s plan to destroy America's pacific fleet was successful, due to the damage that it did to our ships and …show more content…
Three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan. Although this war declaration was expected, Japan expected our military to be impaired and weakened after this attack do to our loss of fleet. But fortunately for the U.S, we were able to restore our fleet timely, and refurbish our ships. Three days after our war declaration on Japan, due to the Tripartite Pact, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor is often credited for “awakening the sleeping giant” of the United States. Additionally, Japan’s attack is credited for deciding the winner of World War II, “Historically significant not just for the United States but also for the world, the attack on Pearl Harbor is said to have sealed the Allied victory as it provided the other partners with badly-needed assistance” (LoProto). Arguably the most consequential impact of the attack was the U.S dropping two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombing was proven to be overpowering from the significant amount of fatalities. “The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure” (“Bombing”). This bombing ultimately led to the Japanese surrendering to the United States and their allies. In addition to the military