Attack on Pearl Harbor Free Essay Example

On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese military fleet surprise - attacked the USA’s military base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack had lasting and devastating effects on America and many lives and resources were lost.

Japan was bitter and embargo's:

During WW1 Japan fought on the side of France, Britian, and the USA, but shifted sides, dissatisfied with the amount of additional territory they possessed. Japan was expanding and changing sides was the first step.

On September 18, 1931, Japanese forces invaded Manchuria looking for resources for their growing economy. After the Manchuria Incident, the USA slowly ceased connections and imports from Japan to the US and back and sent a small fleet of ships to Manchuria along with supplies.

As a result, Japan's oil and metal imports were fully embargoed by the 40s. This was a major problem for Japan since the empire relied predominantly on their imports. Now, with Japan blocking off the USA’s supplies and the USA blocking off Japan's supplies, things eventually became embargoed in both countries. Some faster then others.

In the 1940s items like rubber, metal, oil, and fuel were officially embargoed in the USA and food rationed. Families were only allowed to own a total of five tires, which was another big problem, considering that America had just fully embraced the use of automobiles in the early twentieth century. In the 40s the majority of factories started producing war vehicles, but since fuel and rubber were low, almost all tires and equipment were lasting half of the life they used to, making vehicles vulnerable and hard to build.

The way embargos affected Japan was much the same. 80% of Japan's oil supply came from the USA, as well as iron and other commodities needed by the Japanese military. Slowly the USA started to increase government credits China received for and from purchasing war supplies and embargoing any war items for Japan. During this time, the Japanese made several decisions that continued to make the situation worse, and made it clear they were not planning to move out of China. The USA responded by halting negotiations with Japan. This led to major shortages and the full embargo on trade.

America's missed warning signs

The Japanese meticulously planned the attack on Pearl Harbor. They took great measure to avoid detection, eliminating radar technology in an effort to not be tracked or detected and planning each fighter plane’s maneuvers carefully as well as creating many backup plans and it paid off.

The first missed sign was when the USA received a message from Japan asking about positions at Pearl Harbor. The message was received on December 6, the day before the attack. On the morning of the attack there was a radar sighting of a large fleet of planes as well as another coded message. When the forces at Pearl Harbor contacted D.C. about the fleet, they passed it off as merely a fleet of U.S. B-17 planes that were scheduled for arrival that same day.

Japan's only mistake was during the attack. Japanese Captain Mitsuo Fuchida fired two flares instead of one. One flare meant the Japanese had caught the U.S. by surprise, and two meant to be more careful as they had not surprised them, thus the Japanese inflicted less overall damage then they could.

Effects on America

Though the attack only lasted about an hour, the US still suffered over 3,400 casualties and severe damage or loss of: 8 battle ships, 3 light cruisers 144 planes, and 4 miscellaneous vessels. The attack caused the US to declare war, on December 8th, the day after the attack. As well as damage and loss to important war weapons and many casualties, many dry docks and airfields were also destroyed. After the attack Americas economy changed, taxes were raised to help pay for war supplies and America began selling bonds to support the war. Billions of dollars' worth of bonds were sold with over 80 million Americans holding them. As Amarica became a wartime economy, things became rationed. Only a few weeks after the attack, tires became rationed with sugar and coffee following. Then meats, canned food, and cheese. People were encouraged to grow “victory gardens” and can their own food. Good tires and Automobiles were so rare they were sometimes even stolen. Many people even kept track of the serial numbers on their tires, j7st in case. Only doctors, police, nurses, fire personnel, and select types of bus driving companies, were allowed to buy fresh tires. Rations were finally lifted in 1945 when the war ended. Even tough Manufacturing companies were short on goods, they cusght up quickly and by 1947 the food system was back to normal.