The Japanese spent many careful months planning the people, date, time and outline for the attack on Pearl Harbor. On September 6th Japan made the decision to go to war with America “as needed” at the Imperial Conference in Tokyo (Rice Attack 19). Yamamoto, the Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet, was reluctant to launch an attack on America. He had gone to Harvard and served as a naval attaché in Washington D.C. and liked America. He had a great respect of the American industry and believed in its potential.
They expected the U.S. to declare war but not to be willing to fight long or hard enough to win. Their greatest concern was that the U.S. Pacific Fleet, based in Pearl Harbour could cut off their plans. As insurance, the Japanese navy undertook to cripple the Pacific Fleet by a surprise air attack. The U.S. had broken the Japanese diplomatic code and knew an attack was imminent. A warning had been sent from Washington, but it arrived too late.
Along with these treatments of Allied prisoners, the bombing of Pearl Harbor was also a huge factor in Truman’s decision. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a complete surprise to Americans, and it caused great damage on our naval and air forces. We received warnings of a possible attack on US soil, but weren’t prepared for it. If we were to warn the Japanese of our plan to drop a bomb if they did not surrender, there was the fear that they might move American prisoners into that area or even try to shoot down US bomber. We didn’t want any more horrendous causalities of Americans so our warning was very
Their mission ordered from the people of America was to bomb Tokyo, the capital of Japan. This was a bold attack, but payback for Pearl Harbor. Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle personally volunteered to lead the raid himself, knowing it was possible to not come back. America had success in taking Japan by surprise; the thirteen bombers had dropped bombs on Tokyo’s industrial center. The plan after was to land in China because they barely had enough fuel.
Truman’s military advisors also predicted an alarming casualty rate of between 500,000 to 1,000,000 American soldiers if they were to directly invade the Japanese mainland. On July 26, 1945, the Allied leaders proposed the Potsdam Declaration as an ultimatum, which issued the terms for Japan’s full and unconditional surrender, and if Japan were to refuse, the Allies threatened Japan with “prompt and utter destruction”. But unfortunately, despite their threat of destruction, Japan took their chances and once again refused to surrender, vowing to fight to the bitter end, despite that their chances of winning were clearly
The Potsdam Declaration was presented as an Ultimatum that stated that if Japan did not want to surrender, the Allies would attack Japan resulting in “the inevitable and complete destruction of Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter devastation of the Japanese homeland.” On the 28th of July, the U.S. received papers saying that the declaration had been rejected by the Japanese Government. The U.S. then decided to go forth with the bombing on Hiroshima. After the first bombing on Hiroshima Japan was then warned again, but still refused to surrender. This act showed that the Japanese were ruthless and were in no way ready to surrender, no matter what cost. They were fighting for their country and power and they were not going to stop for
Most of American society before the Pearl Harbor bombing believed in the idea of isolationism. Franklin D. Roosevelt knew this, and knew the only way in which United States countrymen would take arms and fight in Europe’s War was to be an overt action against the United States by a member of the Axis Power. Roosevelt also believed Hitler would not declare war on the United States unless he knew they were beatable. There are numerous accounts of actions by Roosevelt and his top armed forces advisors, which reveal they were not only aware of an attack by Japan, but also they were planning on it, and instigating that
These were Japan needed oil, and they were trying to take over the world. The first reason for the attack was because Japan needed oil. Document E states Japan only ha enough oil to last for three years. Document B states the U.S was blocking Japan from the Netherland East Indies where they could get oil. Document C states the U.S placed an embargo on Japan (stopped trading Japan oil).
Until then, the conflict was primarily concentrated in the European Theater. However, the attack prompted the United States to declare war on Japan the following day. The Japanese, satisfied with their victory, could not have devised a better way to rally the American citizens to fully support Roosevelt and his administration’s plan of involvement in the war. A previous promise between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt was fulfilled when Britain declared war upon Japan two hours after the American
Attack on Pearl Harbor In order to understand the importance of Pearl Harbor it is neccessary to look at what lead up to the attack, why the attack happened, what happened during the attack, and what happened after the attack. This attack happened on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in the Pacific. This single attack changed Americans view point on the World War II. This attack made the United States of America join the war. The people of Ameirca decided that we had to join in this war because they brought the fight to us.