Pearl Harbour By Courtney

Japan is Forced to Open to the World
•In 1853 Matthew Perry arrived at Edo with a fleet of naval ships. With the locals being unfamiliar with western technology they were terrified. Perry demanded that Japan opened there country to the western trade. This they did and Japan forged close ties both with United States and Japan. Within half a century Japan had become a modern, industrialised country. The modernisation also bought power. Japans military strength was displayed to the world when it soundly beat Russian fleet off the Tsuhima island during the Russio-Japanese war of 1904-05. The victory resulted in great humiliation for Russia. This led to the Japanese taking control of the disputed territory of Manchuria.

Japan's Rise to a World Power
•During the first world war Japan fought on the same side as Britain France and the united states. But after the war Japan was not treated as the great power she now believed she was. The Japanese were displeased by the treaty of Versaiie signed by the allies and Germany at the end of the war, this refused to recognise the concept of racial equality. In 1929 the United States economy almost collapsed. All over the world business failed and people were thrown out of work. The effects of the economic crashed cause a world wide depression. Japans military leaders took control of the country. Many leaders rejected the liberal western Ideas and turned to the old Japanese traditions. Japans foreign policy's became more nationalist and aggressive. In military terms Japan surrounded the weaker countries eg they took over Korea in 1910. Japan had an increasing influence in Manchuria. Other nearby countries were controlled by declining colonial powers such as France and Britain. Japan had a vision of their country emerging as a new leader of post colonial Asia.

US Concerns Over Japan
•The US started to watch Japan with increasing suspicions. She was now a huge power with control of most of the Philippines. The US also saw China emerging into a political giant and believed that they could use there influence in china to become the worlds largest democracy. Though in 1937 Japan invaded china. This act was so resented by the United States that economic retaliation followed. Us exports of oil and rubber were cut of and Japanese assets in US banks were frozen.

Japan Plans the Attack
•By the summer of 1941 Japan was in a very difficult position. Her army was bogged down in a war with the Chinese forces. In response to japans war with China Britain had joined the United States in imposing trade sanctions against Japan. The Nazi's allowed the Japanese to take over the French colonies which made raw materials all more accessible. The United States colony on the Philippines was also now within in easy reach.

Japanese Hopes for Expansion
•It was a very tempting prospect for the Japanese. If they stuck fast and sure the pacific colonies would be theirs. Then if all went well to plan other fronts of the Japanese army could invade Britain's greatest colonies India. Then the middle east could link up with Japanese forces somewhere around Afghanistan. They would control the oil supplies (which were taken away previously by the US) and would ensure that their armed forces had sufficient fuel and more expansion would take place.

The Significance of Pearl Harbour
•Pearl Harbor is a massive naval base on Oahu island in Hawaii. In 1941 it was the headquarters of the US principle fleet and very crucial for the naval fleet. Pearl harbor has hundreds of anchorages for ships, repair shops and vast fuel stores. On the day of the Japanese attack more than 80 ships were floating in the harbor. Laying amongst that were 7 of the US most powerful battle ships.

Japanese Preparations for War
•The proposed attack on Pearl Harbor concluded that the operation was possible but would be dangerous. It would require the demolition of all six fleet aircraft carriers to be successful. Approximately 400 high-level, dive and torpedo bombers and fighters would be needed. The American carriers would be the primary target. Under the orders of Admiral Yamagato, the 32 ships that would make up the first aircraft carrier strike force began to assemble in the chilly waters of Hitkappu bay, north of Japans main island. After 4 days the fleet was ready. On November 26 under the command of Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, the fleet including six air craft carriers began its 5500 kilometer journey to Hawaii. The date 7th of December would be crucial for the attack. It was well known that the us navy would be at its least prepared on Sunday morning.

The Attack
•The attack on Pearl Harbor began at 07:53 on December 7th Hawaiian time, which was 03:23 AM December 8 Japanese standard time. The Japanese planes attacked in two waves, in which a total of 353 planes reached Oahu. Vulnerable torpedo bombers led the first wave of 183 planes, exploiting the first moments of surprise by attacking the (hoped for) aircraft carriers and battleships while dive bombers attacked the U.S. air bases across Oahu, starting with Hickam firld the largest Air Field, the principal fighter base. The 170 planes of the second wave attacked Bellows field and Ford island, a marine and naval air base in the middle of Pearl Harbor. Without he essential element of surprise the second attack was nowhere near as successful as the first. Much less damage was done at a much greater price. This time 20 of the 167 Japanese planes involved in the attack were lost and 65 were damaged more than half the planes that took part.

The Damage
•Ninety minutes after the attacking began, it was all over. 2,403 Americans had lost their lives (of whom 68 were civilians, many were killed by American anti-aircraft shells falling back to ground in civilian areas, including Honolulu). A further 1,178 were wounded. Eighteen ships were sunk, including five battleships. Nearly half of the American fatalities—1,102 men—were killed or injured by the explosion and sinking of the Arizona It was destroyed when a modified 40 cm naval gun shell, dropped from a bomber, smashed through its two armored decks and detonated the forward main gun magazine.

United States Reaction
•The United States was outraged by the attack The American President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, described 7 December 1941 as "a date which will live in infamy". Because the Japanese aircraft had bombed Pearl Harbour before a note breaking off diplomatic relations was delivered in Washington he told Congress the following day, "always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us [as an] unprovoked and dastardly attack". A massive sense of shock and outrage at this "sneak" attack swept the United States which ensured that the war against Japan would be fought with great anger and desire for revenge. Roosevelt signed the declaration of war the same day.

The US Movement into World War II
•The attack immediately started a divided nation into action. Public opinion had been moving towards support for entering the War during 1941, but considerable opposition remained until the Pearl Harbor attack. Overnight, Americans united against Japan, and that response probably made possible the unconditional surrender position later taken by the Allied powers Some historians believe that the attack on Pearl Harbor doomed Japan to defeat simply because it awakened the "sleeping U.S. behemoth", regardless of whether the fuel depots or machine shops had been destroyed or even if the carriers had been caught in port and sunk. U.S. industrial and military capacity, once mobilized, was able to pour overwhelming resources into both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters.

Effect on the US People
•The most immediate effect was that the US citizens found themselves at war with Japan. Once they had recovered from the initial shock many Americans felt a cold anger at the attack. Surveying the damage at Pearl harbor, US navy vice admiral William f Hasley said:” before were through with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell!" but this anger could be indiscriminate (not making a good choice) there were many people of Japanese extraction in the untied states. Most had been there for many years and were loyal Americans. But around 100 00 of them were rounded up and put in detention camps and had there businesses and property confiscated
•The main reason for this was that the US government feared that some Japanese Americans might aid the enemy in the event of an invasion or spy for their country of origin. Towards the end of the war some Japanese Americans men were even conscripted to fight for the allies and were sent from their camps to the war in Europe.

Long Term Effects
•In the long term, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a strategic blunder( a stupid mistake for Japan). Indeed, Admiral Yamamoto, who devised the Pearl Harbor attack in the first place, had predicted that even a successful attack on the U.S. Fleet could not win a war with the United States, because American productive capacity was too large. One of the main Japanese objectives was to destroy the three American aircraft carriers stationed in the Pacific, but they were not present at the time of the attack: Had Japan destroyed the American carriers, the U.S. might have sustained significant damage to its Pacific Fleet for a year or so. As it was, the elimination of the battleships left the U.S. Navy with no choice but to put its faith in aircraft carriers and submarines—and these were the tools with which the U.S. Navy would halt and eventually reverse the Japanese advance.

Consequences for Japan
•For Japan, Pearl Harbor was at the same time its greatest victory and the root cause of its utter defeat. To many Japanese, regardless of its consequences, the attack was a glorious revenge for ninety years of humiliation heaped upon their country by the western nations, but particularly America, ever since Commodore Perry had sailed imperiously (bossy,determined) into Tokyo Bay in 1853. For America, it was the catalyst which united and got the nation into sudden activity. No longer doubtful about involvement in a distant, largely European, conflict, Americans now had a cause for which to fight. America's entry, coupled with Germany's declaration of war upon the US, was the turning point of the war, changing it from a series of regionalized conflicts to a true world struggle.

Conclusion
•Japan felt that within itself it had made its own victory. They had got revenged on America after the 90 years of being bossed around and humiliated. No matter what the cost was Japan felt a great sense of victory. Though the surprise attack was not fair on America and could be describe as a coward act. The people who suffered most from the attack were the innocent civilians who were among the majority of those killed on the tragic morning on December 7th 1941.