Pearl Harbor Research Paper Outline

Introduction

1. Introduction

I. Did Japan have any strategic alternatives rather than starting a full-fledged war with the United States when it bombed Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941? Was Japan forced to go to war with the United States, in essence? Japan may have had strategic possibilities open to it in the decades prior to 1941, especially if we trace the nation's development back as far as the late nineteenth century. However, by 1941, Japan's only viable strategic alternative was to go to war with the United States. What many fail to realize is that Pearl Harbor was simply the climax of more than fifty years of hostility and rivalry between the United States and Japan (Gailey)

2. The Review of Literature Section

II. U.S. support of the Allies before Pearl Harbor

1. Roosevelt sold and then "loaned" arms and war material to the British

2. Later supplied the Soviets and the Chinese

i. Japanese expansion continued into southeast Asia: Indochina, 1940-1941

3. United States responded by freezing Japanese assets, implementing oil embargo

4. Demanded withdrawal from China and southeast Asia

5. Prime minister Tojo Hikedi developed plan of attack

ii. 7 December 1941: U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor attacked by Japanese pilots

6. U.S. naval power in Pacific devastated

7. United States declared war on Japan; Germany and Italy declared war on United States

iii. Japanese victories after Pearl Harbor

8. Japan advanced swiftly in the Pacific and southeast Asia

9. Conquered Philippines, Dutch East Indies, Indochina, Burma, Singapore

10. Slogan "Asia for Asia" masked Japanese imperialism against fellow Asians

III.

History

1600’s

* Was first called wah-na-be zee translated to swan island to the Chippewa and Ottawa Native Americans.

* In 1620 tribes in the local...