Went over Mr. Bruns' powerpoint again, and studied over slides 62 to the finish, which was over Pearl Harbor and Japan in general.
1940 Election: FDR campaigned agains Wilke, and succeeded in securing his third term as president, which had never happened before.
German U-Boat Warfare: 1939~222 ships sunk (114 by submarine), 1940~1059 ships sunk (471 by submarine), and many more instances where the battle agains U-Boat warfare was progressing
German Invasion of USSR-June, 1941: Final Plan for Operation Barbarossa, which had about 2 million casualties, and it was the biggest invasion in world history in terms of man power and casualties.
Scorched Earth Policy: Stalin demanded this of the Soviet troos as they retreated, which meant burning anything in their path as they retreated such as houses, factories, and crops. Scorch everything that you could so the Germans couldn't use it.
The Soviet Winter Counteroffensive: December 6, 1941-April 30, 1942. The Soviets started to defeat the Germans, but very slowly as Winter set in.
The Atlantic Charter~FDR/Churchill: August 1941, Set up the war goals of the US and Great Britain: No territoral gain, no territorial changes without the peoples' support from those countries. Self-determination, free trade, destruction of the Nazis and then setting up a peaceful government in Germany. Freedom of the seas, abandon the use of force, disarmament and a stronger League of Nations.
Pearl Harbor
In July, 1941, Japan invaded French Indochina
In response, the US stops trading with Japan
Due to embargo, Japan felt it had three options:
- 1. abandon ambitions in South East Asia
- 2. compromise with the US
- 3. attack Dutch and British possessions in the Pacific and US bases in the Pacific
Yamamoto felt that if Japan had any chance of winning a war against the US it must destroy the US Pacific fleet in a surprise attack
A surprise attack would give Japan at least six months to dominate SE Asia unopposed
Japan thought that the US then would face a long, bloody struggle and would settle for a negotiated peace that would allow Japan to do as it pleased in Asia
Tojo replaces Konoye as Premier of Japan. Konoye wanted to negotiate with the US. Tojo didn’t and had a low regard of the US
Tojo wanted war but Emperor Hirohito wanted on last peace attempt.
Japan offered this:
1. Open door policy everywhere and Japan would withdraw from
French Indochina
2. US would stop Lend-Lease Aid to China and start trading with Japan again
3. Japan would start peace talks with China
US refused plan on November 29th
US took a hard line stance with Japan now because we had deciphered their diplomatic code(Magic) and knew that they had some type of attack plan.
Magic Information
“November 29th is the deadline”
“things are automatically going to happen”
Japan felt that the key to success in the Pacific was air and sea power
-especially launching airplanes from aircraft carriers and submarines attacking enemy ships
Japan had ten aircraft carriers to our three in the Pacific(based in Pearl Harbor)
Japanese Pearl Harbor Attack Plan
- 1. destroy three aircraft carriers, eight battleships, seven cruisers and other small ships
- 2. attack Wake Island and Guam
- 3. attack Malay and Hong Kong
- 4. attack Philippines, Dutch East Indies and Burma
Japanese attack force consisted of:
- 1. Six aircraft carriers
- 2. 360 airplanes
-Kate High level bombers
-dive and torpedo bombers
-Zero fighters
- 3. two battleships, three cruisers, eight destroyers
Admiral Nagumo commanded the force
To succeed, Japan had to travel 3,500 miles without being detected. That meant absolute radio silence and travelling through a vast, lonely expanse of the Pacific Ocean. This attack had to be a complete surprise.
“Backdoor to War” Conspiracy
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