Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor was a tragic event in the United States history. Pearl Harbor was when Japanese fighter planes attacked the American Naval Base by Honolulu, Hawaii. The attack killed around 2,000 United States soldiers and sailors. The attack lasted about 2 hours but it led Roosevelt to tell Congress to declare war on Japan. A couple of days after Roosevelt declared war, Japanese allies, Germany, and Italy declared war on the United States.
Before Japan attacked at Pearl Harbor, the United States put an embargo stopping the exports because of Japan's takeover of French Indochina. In April 1941 Japan signed a neutrality treaty with the Soviet Union to help prevent from an attack from that direction. In June and July of 1941 the Netherlands stopped Japan's assets which prevented Japan from buying oil that put a stop to the Navy and Air Force. Japan expected the U.S. to declare war but not to be willing to fight long or hard enough to win. The United States had broken the Japanese diplomatic code and knew an attack was imminent.
Although the aerial attack was very successful, the submarines failed to finish off any wounded ship inside the harbor. The attack's success surprised the Japanese as much as the Americans. The Japanese attack force was under the command of Admiral Nagumo. All of the planes on the Japanese ships were fully feuled and armed. The attack brought the United States into World War II.
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