Japans Attack on Pearl Harbor Essay -- History Pearl Harbor

Japan's Attack on Pearl Harbor On the dawn of the 7th of December 1941, the unfolding of the strategic surprise attack on Pearl Harbor which had been planned in secrecy several months in advance by the empire of Japan took place and was known and remembered by many as the day of infamy (Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 7th 1941). The surprise attack executed by the Japanese military code named Kido Butai on Pearl Harbor resulted in many casualties to both the Japanese and American forces. Most importantly the accomplishment of Japans main goal of destroying the possible threat of the United States pacific fleet. Although the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was extremely successful, it also consequently for the Japanese resulted in the awakening of the sleeping giant (Isoroku Yamamoto, December 7th 1941). Pearl Harbor is a simple bay located on the island of Hawaii west of Honolulu. The majority of the Harbor and surrounding land belongs to the United States deep water naval base and also home of the United States Pacific fleet. Many months before the attack on Pearl Harbor the Japanese empire began a southward expansion invading China and much of south East Asia hoping to acquire the rich resources of Asia. The United States strongly opposed this aggression and demanded that Japan stop its actions but the Japanese empire ignored the demands. In December 1937 the dispute between Japan and America was only fuelled when Japanese planes sank the United States river gunboat "Panay", fortunately this crisis was only temporarily resolved by Japanese apologies and reparations. As further tension grew between the two nations, the United States enacted an embargo... ...en as a possible threat to the empire of Japan and also because the United States Pacific fleet had the power and strength to foil Japans plans of invading and taking territory from China and much of south East Asia in search of the natural resources. The Embargo enacted on the Japanese empire by the United States froze all exports of steel, scrap iron, aviation fuel and petroleum, also initially resulted in the attack on Pearl Harbor by the empire of Japan. As the attack on Pearl Harbor proved to be extremely successful for the Japanese, it also consequently resulted in the Awakening of the Sleeping Giant (Isoroku Yamamoto, December 7th 1941). The official involvement of the United States in World War II and also the most consequential obstacle faced by the Japanese empire, the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed hundreds of thousands of people.