Words: 1917
The Naval Base in pearl Harbor was attacked by the military forces of Japan. This attack essentially led to the United States’ involvement in the Second World War. During this time, Japanese aggression was consuming different parts of Asia and the Japanese military wanted to continue to grow.
The United States, however, wanted to prevent further Japanese expansion by placing embargos that crippled their forces. The Japanese did not agree with the actions taken by the United States and decided to make some counter actions to end the United States’ involvement in foreign affairs. Soon, the Japanese planned a surprise attack against the united States’ Navy. In order to properly surprise the United States, Japan had to prepare for a long time, knowing that the United States’ government was on constant alert. In late November, Japanese military force began their journey across the
Pacific Ocean, towards the Naval Base on the island of AAU, Hawaii. The strike force consisted of six aircraft carriers, nine destroyers, two battleships, one light/two heavy cruisers, and three submarines which had to be secretly transported across the Pacific without being detected. On the morning of the seventh of December, the Japanese reached their location a few miles north of the island and at around six in the morning, the military released the aircrafts striking the Naval Base at about eight. Commander Mitosis Fuchsia would soon notify the rest that the attack was a success; the enemy was impolitely caught by surprise.
The aircraft carriers soon began to release bombs upon the base and gunned down anything visible. Soon after the attack began, those on the base realized that they were not going through a drill. Acting quickly, the gunners manned their stations and proceeded to shoot down the many Japanese aircrafts and Admiral Husband Kismet notified the base of the air raid. The Japanese’s initial mission was to destroy the American aircraft carriers in order to completely weaken them however, with a stroke of luck, the aircraft carriers were out to sea that day and the Japanese improvised by targeting he battleships.
There were eight battleships on base that day, seven docked on Battleship Row and one on the dry dock for repairs. Having the element of surprise, a large amount of the bombs and torpedoes that were initially released had hit their targets and caused a vast amount of damage. Many of the sailors worked towards keeping the battleships afloat, however, their actions were essentially futile. Of all the battleships that were attacked that day, the US Arizona was struck the most, being hit by a number of bombs and torpedoes, and suffering over 1, 100 military casualties.
The Japanese also used five midget submarines to aid in the attack on Battleship Row which all sank that day. The Japanese’s goal was to take out the American’s air power in order to prevent a counter attack so the Japanese airplanes made their way towards the airfields near Pearl Harbor. The Japanese airmen found American’s planes and began bombing and destroying them. The American pilots soon realized what was going on and did what they could to take out the Japanese pilots but to no avail. Some American pilots were able to get off the ground to shoot down some of the Japanese airmen, however, they were greatly outnumbered.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was officially over between 9:40-9:50 in the morning, lasting almost two hours long, when the Japanese airplanes made their way towards the carriers then back to Japan. Of the eight battleships on base, four battleships were sunk (US Arizona, LEIS California, ISIS Oklahoma, and US West Virginia), one was grounded (US Nevada), and three were very damaged (US Maryland (not as damaged like the others) , US Pennsylvania (which was in the repair dock), and ISIS Tennessee).
The Japanese also managed to destroy or damage some cruisers, destroyers, a target ship, auxiliaries, and over 1 80 airplanes destroyed along with over 1 50 damaged. The human loss was considerably high in which over 2,300 servicemen were killed, over 1, 100 were wounded. Civilians also suffered in which sixty-eight civilian lives were lost and 35 civilians were wounded. The Japanese did not suffer an immense loss like the Americans in which about sixty-four Japanese were killed and they lost about thirty airplanes and about five submarines.
News of the attack on pearl Harbor reached the many ends of the nation; sparking anger in the hearts of the masses. Many people wanted to retaliate ND soon, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a speech in which he declared the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor a “date that will live in infamy. ” President Roosevelt then appealed to Congress, asking them to declare war upon Japan. Congress then voted on the declaration of war and this marked the United States entering World War II the day following the attacks. The President took many actions to commit the entire United States to the war cause.
This included redirecting government spending towards military defense and enacting an executive order to protect the people within the nation. The main cause of the attack on Pearl Harbor was the American intervention on Japanese expansion throughout Asia. During the time of war, Japan wanted to be a powerful empire and in order to do that, Japan fought to seize control of other Asian nations and the American government wanted to stop this. The American government placed embargos and tried to engage in negotiations with Japan, however, Japan did not want to take part in such negotiations.
The attack was meant to prevent the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering in Japanese affairs. Japan also wanted to attack many other actions in Europe like the united Kingdom, however, the united States seemed to be hindering their plans. The Japanese military then did everything to prepare for the imminent attack. During this time, Japan was allied with Germany and Italy. If Japan were ever attacked, Germany and Italy had to come to Japan’s aid, however, because Japan did the first strike against the United States, Germany and Italy did not have to go to Japan’s aid if they did not want to.
To the rest of the world, the actions taken by Japan against the united States were considered acts of war. As a result of these actions, the United States entered the Second World War. After the attack, President Roosevelt did everything that he could to keep the nation at ease while preparing for the next course of action, having Congress declare war on Japan. A few days after this, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States and the United States did the same. Many other nations sided with the Lignite States during World War II, some of which included: Great Britain, France, the USSR, Australia, and more.
The United States was trying to determine its course action, which included determining which nation should be attacked first, Japan or Germany (due to Nazi aggression and their actions being the cause of the Second World War). The united States and the other Allies determined a course of action and it was decided that both nations (Japan and Germany) at the same time. Near the end of the war, the united States wanted “strike fear” into the heart of the Japanese government; to show that the United States government was a powerful one.
The United States developed a new type of weaponry: the atomic bomb. Soon, the United States would drop the bombs on two Japanese locations: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The results were immensely vegetating and the united States swore to never use such weaponry. Many viewed the actions taken by the United States as justifiable; Japan did attack first. Others, however, felt as though war had caused the United States to become a “dark entity. ” The attack on Pearl Harbor, to most, was a senseless one which led do disastrous repercussions.
Many innocent people died due to the selfish actions taken by Japan; many of their people. Despite having weakened a part of the United States, Japan ultimately, along with others in the Axis powers, suffered the most out of the attack on the Naval Base. If the United States had not been attacked that fateful day in December 1941, there could have been a good likelihood that it would have not entered the Second World War and the results of the war may have been much more different than it was, many speculate.
Japan, however, viewed the attack on Pearl Harbor an empowering course of action in which their aggression was able to expand much further into Asia without quick American intervention. These feelings of immense nationalism soon began to dissolve as the war reached its end. There were many different consequences, both positive and negative, that exulted from the attack on Pearl Harbor. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States was suffering in the Great Depression. Many people were suffering financially as was the nation as a whole.
When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, the President urged Congress to declare war on Japan, ultimately entering the World War; Congress agreed. As a result, the financial state of the United States dramatically improved, being a positive result of the attack on Pearl Harbor. By entering the Second World War, the United States, along with the other Allied powers, was able to prevent Japan from engaging seductive activities in other nations in Asia, as well as preventing other members of the Axis powers from destroying parts of Europe.
The attack on Pearl Harbor, while devastating, allowed for the prevention of further expansion of “poisonous” powers. The attack on Pearl Harbor did have some negative consequences, to the United States and to other nations around the world. Most of the devastation was evident when the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The attacks on Pearl Harbor had a casualty count that reached up to over 2,500 people dead. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki together had casualty count that reached over 250,000 people dead.
The atomic bombs struck both Hiroshima and Nagasaki with such ferocity that the results if the droppings were far more devastating than initially calculated. As a result of the droppings of the atom bombs, countless of innocent lives were lost, either from the blast of the bombs themselves or the aftermath of them. Due to the results of the atom bombs, the United States swore off on the use of nuclear weaponry again. The attack on Pearl Harbor was one of sheer heartache that led to even ore destruction in the following months.
The actions taken by Japan were selfish; their actions, while costing some American lives, cost them thousands of Japanese lives on their own soil. The lives of Japanese Americans were not happy ones during the time of war either due to their relocations to various internment camps. Although the Japanese felt as though they were doing their nation justice by attacking the Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, they, essentially, sealed their fate away. The attack on Pearl Harbor was far more detrimental than it was beneficial to the Japanese and many other nations round the world.