Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor happened on December 7,1941. The Japanese wanted to bomb Pearl Harbor because they didn't want the US Pacific Fleet to interrupt the war they were planning on Southeast Asia, Netherlands and Britain, and on the US in the Philippines. Japan and the United States both had been developing contingency plans for war on each other in the 1920's, but the war tension between them didn't really arise until Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931. Japan continued to push into China and war was declared in 1937. After a couple of years Japan started their unsuccesful campaign to take over the rest of China. The Japanese government joined the axis powers and with the help of Nazi Germany they took most of Indochina but only had it secured for a couple of years. The US was alarmed when they received word that Japan was invading China. I thought it was ironic that Japan and the US were allies in WW1 because they were on completely different sides during the Pearl Harbor attack and throughout WW2. Japan invaded French Indochina in 1940 to stop resources from coming into China and to continue pushing for resources in Southeast Asia. The Americans then seized oil exports to Japan which really ticked off Japan, so in return they started their plan to seize the oil production in the Dutch East Indies. United States pacific fleet then moved from their position in San Diego to a new position in Pearl Harbor. The Japanese military thought of this as a preparation for the United States to get ready for some sort of possible conflict. The planning for the attack on Pearl Harbor by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto wasnt 100% in effect until the spring of 1941 and did not get approval from Emperor Hirohito until December 1, 1941.
There were many disadvantages in store for Japan if they were to attack. Such as: targeted ships would be in really shallow water so if they got bombed it would be easy to maintain the ships and fix them. The three US carrier fleet ships such as the Saratoga, Enterprise, and the Lexington were not yet transferred to the Pearl Harbor base. Knowing of these disadvantages Yamamoto still attacked Pearl Harbor. Japanese forces consisting of 6 aircraft carriers and 408 aircraft left Japan for Northwest Hawaii on November 26, 1941. 360 of the aircraft were used for the two waves of attack and the other 48 were used for CAP(combat air patrol).
Sixteen Medals of Honor, fifty-one Navy Crosses, fifty-three Silver Crosses, four Navy and Marine Corps Medals, one Distinguished Flying Cross, four Distinguished Service Crosses, one Distinguished Service Medal, and three Bronze Stars were awarded to the Americans who served during the Pearl Harbor attack. 2,402 US people killed, 1,282 wounded, and 188 US aircraft got destroyed. Japan's sufferings were not even comparant to the United States'. They only loss 65 men, 1 sailor was captured, and 29 aircraft and 5 submarines were destroyed. The attack on Pearl Harbor is what brought the United States into WW2, as President Roosevelt declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941. President Roosevelt once said, "December 7, 1941, a day which will live in infamy".
I think Pearl Harbor was a very interesting topic to research. I was going to watch it as a movie but thats okay. I knew a little bit of the stuff that happened at the Pearl Harbor attack but doing a research blog on it really expanded my knowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack. I think Japan was very idiotic to attack Pearl Harbor, did they really think they could defeat us in a war? I don't think Japan weighed in all the pros and cons of attacking Pearl Harbor and really didn't think it through.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor
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