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As you look out the window you see your future coming to an end. Hundreds of planes are flying toward you dropping bombs everywhere. This is what the troops woke up to on December 7, 1941 , at Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor is the most difficult for me to understand. To try and understand the attack we must first look examine the reason that Japan attacked, the casualties that it caused the United States of America, and what the outcome of the attack was.
Japan was taking advantage of World War II, and trying to expand its rower in the Pacific Ocean. In 1 940, Japan signed a treaty with Germany and tally. So, Roosevelt terminated commercial treaty With the Tokyo government. This upset Japan and hurt them commercially. Still, this does not seem like good enough reason for Japan to bomb the United States, but it was. Japan wanted control in the Pacific, and the US had decoded messages from Japan that stated the war was unavoidable. At 7:AAA. M. He first wave of Japanese bombers attacked, and a second wave came an hour later. This attack was disastrous for America. It destroyed the control that the US had in the Pacific ND completely wiped out Pearl Harbor. The Japanese did not have much causality at all, but in a two hour time frame they had completely destroyed the fort in Pearl Harbor. A total of 1 5 ships were destroyed, eight battleships, three cruiser, and four other vessels. The Japanese destroyed 1 88 planes. The Ignited States was not prepared for this in any way. ,000 United States troops were killed and another 1 ,OHO were injured. With all of this disaster, something good did come out of it. This horrible attack finally united America. “American forces were now greatly diminished in the Pacific (although by a ordinate accident, none of the American aircraft carriers??the heart of the Pacific fleet??had been at Pearl Harbor on December 7). Nevertheless, the raid on pearl Harbor did virtually overnight what more than two years of effort by Roosevelt and other had been able to do” (724).
It only took the senate four hours to declare war on Japan. Only three days after that Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States. This was the second time that the US would be a part off world war. One attack, by Japan, turned the Ignited States opinion on the war completely around. Japan had no al reason to attack Pearl Harbor, kill so many soldiers, or give the US a reason to enter the war. That’s why this attack made no since.
It was the hardest to comprehend. Japan did not really think this trough, it changed the war. Their major reason for the attack was because they wanted control in the Pacific. Little did they know, this would turn the war around. America may have never entered the war, and Germany, Italy, and Japan may have been successful, but one act out of greed cost them the war.