Pearl Harbor in the World War II Term Paper

Pearl Harbor is located at Hawaii. This is a lagoon that was used as the main base by the US army. It forms one of the strongest US military bases. Pearl Harbor is very significant in the history of the World War II because it is the place where the war started. This was back in 1941. The attack came as a surprise since it was not predicted. Soon after the attack of the Pearl Parlor, the Americans declared a war against Japan. This marked the beginning of the World War II.

Before the Pearl Harbor was attacked, everything went well in the harbor after the US government agreements with the Hawaii leaders. However, something terrible took place in the year 1941. This was the year when Pearl Harbor was bombed killing a very huge number of people. This took place on 7th December, 1941 (Merriam 49).

Early during the attack, a submarine had been spotted by the men who were on patrol. Later, two torpedo planes approached Pearl Harbor over Southeast Loch where it made fierce blows to the harbor (Iserbyt 2). This led to destruction of two ships, which were bombed.

Although the approaching Japanese planes were earlier detected by the radar, they were mistaken for the American planes. Therefore, there was no preparation made to counter the attacks. This reveals that the US government was not expecting any attack by the Japanese government.

As the world’s highest power, America did not expect any attack by foreign countries. Therefore, there were no adequate preparations done to counter the attack. According to the Japanese attack arrangements, the attack was to be executed in two waves. The first wave attack was expected to be the main one where most of the tasks were to be fulfilled. The second wave was then to follow where all the remaining tasks were to be completed.

Influences

Long before the Japanese attack on the U.S. at the Pearl Harbor, the two had been in continuous rivalry. A few years before the attack, their relationships had worsened. The major cause of this rivalry was the Japanese action of aggressively expanding Manchuria and China (Merriam 59). Japan was also increasingly becoming more powerful and influential. Therefore, U.S. saw it as a great threat to its status. As a result, America was ready to abort any effort made by Japan to expand its territory.

The attack of the Pearl Parlor could be anticipated sometime before the attack was executed. The main reason for the Pearl Parlor attack was to neutralize the U.S. pacific fleet. This was intended to advance Japanese mission to advance into Dutch East Indies and Malaya (WW II Archives 2000).

The Japanese wanted to venture in these regions in order to get access to the natural resources which included rubber and oil. In 1930s, Japan was already expanding into Manchuria, the fact which led to intensification of tensions. Being the world’s largest power, America posed a major threat barrier to the Japanese in their efforts. In 1930s, the tension between these two countries intensified during 1930s, this tension led to Pearl Parlor attach which marked the begging of the World War II (WW II Archives 2000).

In the year 1940, the Japanese invasion of French Indochina led the American government to impose strict sanctions against Japan. For instance, the American government stopped the shipment of airplanes, machine tools, parts as well as the aviation gasoline (WW II Archives 2000).

Later, the American government also threatens to impose more restrictions by prohibiting the sale of scrap metal. Through their ambassador to US, the Japan reacted to these restriction on the ground that they were unfriendly. However, after Japanese expansion to Indochina, U.S. stopped oil exports to Japan on July 1941 (WW II Archives 2000).

After the World War I, there were many issues that were left unresolved. This was another factor that contributed to the World War II, which began with the attack of the Pearl Harbor. These led to increased nationalistic tensions that led to the World War II.

The Pearl Harbor led the United States to enter into the World War II. This attack had a significant impact on the people especially from the political perspective. For instance, it changed the minds of the people who were opposed to war and who were not supporting the war.

From this discussion, it is clear that the main reason for the parlor attack was to protect the move to the Southern Resource Area. As a result of these tensions the Japanese government started planning for their attacks early in 1941 (WW II Archives 2000). The main objective for the Japanese attack on American Navy base at Pearl Harbor was to destroy the American fleet in order to prevent any interference in their attacks.

For instance, the Pacific Fleet posed a great threat on the Japanese conquest of the Dutch Indies. However, the success of its mission could not be guaranteed in presence of stable American navy base. Therefore, the main available option was to destroy the American naval base to prevent them from aborting its mission to conquer Dutch East Indies.

Works Cited

Iserbyt, Charlotte. “What we need to know about Pearl Harbor.” Deliberate dumbing down 2001. Web.

Merriam, Ray. Pearl Harbor: “This Is No Drill!” New York: Merriam Press, 1999.

WW II Archives. “Attack on Pearl Harbor.” WW II Archives, 2000. Web.