Pearl Harbor

Chicago Research Paper

Introduction

Hypothesis: The United States knew that Japan would attack them, but that attack as it suited them to enter the war, did nothing to stop it.

This report will show that the attack on the U.S. in the hands of the Japanese air force could have been avoided. In other words, that the U.S. knew that there could be an attack by Nipponese forces and could have prevented, but it was not because it was the perfect excuse to enter World War II.

U.S. and Japan, some years ago, had some problems between them. It all started in the 20's when Japan faced the crisis in which European countries, after the First World War began to dominate the market in East Asia; region that the U.S. wanted to dominate. U.S, through a series of treaties limited the influence of country of the rising sun on China and also reduced its navy. In addition, together with the U.S., some Western European countries put an embargo on Japan and introduced taxes on their products.

I chose this topic and this hypothesis because I want to discover what really happened, since it was never fully clarified.

Discussion

December 7, 1941

On Sunday 7 December 1941, Japanese aircraft attacked the Hawaiian Islands unexpectedly, surprising the Pearl Harbor naval base. Six aircraft carriers accompanied by battleships, cruisers and submarines launched 353 aircraft from its platforms in two successive attacks on the U.S. naval base caused extensive damage and more than three thousand dead soldiers and civilians. The first attack occurred shortly after 7 am followed by another raid two hours later. The islands seemed wrapped in fire and had it not been the reaction of heroic soldiers who gave their lives trying to defend a military base, the tragedy could be even higher. The fire and smoke created a nightmarish scenario, however, served to the Japanese made a misreading of the true scope of the airstrike. Just a couple of American battleships were sunk and three aircraft carriers that were absent the day of the attack. Although losses were significant in light aircraft and ships, the Japanese failed in their primary objective of sinking three enemy aircraft carriers that later would be key allies in the victories from the Battle of Midway. Nagumo's refusal to repeat a new raid on the islands despite the insistent demands of his men in that sense prevented the destruction of the American military arsenal remained intact as fuel reserves. If the Japanese have done with oil reserves and the military arsenal, the attack on Pearl Harbor would have been successful despite the unexpected absence of the carriers. The incredible failure of the Japanese Americans allowed recovering in a short time much of the damaged fleet and maintaining fuel reserves in the Pacific without having to rely on expensive trips from the American continent.

With its action, the Japanese military committed probably the most serious mistake of the war, even higher than the German attack on Russia because the consequences of this treacherous attack ...