Pearl Harbor :: essays research papers

Pearl Harbor was one of the most vicious attacks on the Statesn soil. The surprise attack by japan took place on Sunday morning December 7, 1941. Japan wanted to immobilize U.S.s Pacific fleet and destroy any chance of a return key strike in from the Pacific. The United States responded by creating Japanese-American Internment Camps, which uprooted tens of thousands of Japanese-American families. And later America decided to use atomic weapons to end the war with Japan. Tension betwixt Japan and the United States started in 1931. Japan had taken over Manchuria, which was thusly a part of China. In 1937 Japan had started a campaign to flog the rest of China that was long lasting and didnt work. In 1940 Japan signed the Axis Alliance with Germany and occupied all of Indochina the next year. The U.S. was maladjusted by Japans movements because of economic interests that the United States had in vitamin E Asia. The U.S. strengthened military aid to China and increased financial a id. They similarly built up the military in the Pacific. The U.S. also cut glum shipments of oil and raw materials to Japan. Japanese government saw this move as a panic to Japans survival because Japan doesnt wee many inbred resources. Japans next envision was to take control of the territories of South East Asia that have good amounts of natural resources, even though it would start a war with the United States. (Lord,Walter. twenty-four hours of Infamy ) (www.history.navy.mil) (http//campus.northpark.edu)The only thing that stood in the way of this plan was the threat posed by the U.S. Pacific fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. full admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the leader of the Japanese fleet, was the mastermind behind the plan to cripple the U.S. fleet. Yamamoto wanted to disable the U.S. Pacific fleet by destroying enough ships, airfields, runways, planes, support facilities, and 4.5 one million million gallons of fuel so that there was no chance for a return atta ck. As Yamamoto put it he wanted to destroy the dagger pointed at our throat. (Beck, Roger. Black, Linda. Krieger, Larry. Naylor, Phillip. Ibo Shabaka, Dahia. World History pg.827 830)Yamamoto devised a clever plan that would have the attacking Japanese follow a storm front and alimentation strict radio silence to avoid being detected by American radar. The Japanese attack was led by Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo and consisted of 6 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, and 2 cruisers.