Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor and America-Japan relations through the Second World War

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Gusukuma, Change I., Eileen H Tamura, Noren W. Lush and Linda K Menton.

The Rise of Modern Japan. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003.

Robinson, Bruce. “Pearl Harbour: A Rude Awakening.” BBC. November 1, 2001. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/pearl_harbour_02.shtml

On the morning of January 7th, 1941 Japanese forces led a full-blown attack on the United States, strategically striking Pearl Harbor and bases in the Philippines, “to remove America from the Pacific equation for long enough to allow it to secure the resources it needed so desperately,… to crush American morale sufficiently to prompt Roosevelt to sue for peace,”[1] and to demonstrate to America that the Japanese army was a force to be reckoned with. This short-paper will analyze the causes and consequences of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku’s planned attacks on America briefly, focusing on the reasons for the attack, American-Japanese relations and the bombs that ended Japanese supremacy in Asia.

The Japanese invasion of Indochina after Germany invaded France in Europe resulted in an unexpected American embargo on “all exports to Japan” which also “froze Japanese assets within their borders.”[2] Prior to the embargo Japan had entered into a treaty with Germany and Italy and became part of the Axis powers. The embargo left Japan without vital resources, and began their plan to attack America. Initially verbal negotiations began between the two countries with no avail. The plan to completely crush the American navy by attacking in two different waves was successful as the American navy was rendered temporarily destroyed. America on a political and military standstill, shocked by the attacks, gave Japan the advantage it wanted to take over key points in South East Asia. “The Japanese lightning strike in the Pacific was a brilliant tactical victory.”[3]

The relations between...