The effects of this attack were uniting to America and caused many key issues shortly after. Before the attack on pearl Harbor the United States agreed not to get involved in any part of the disagreements between the quarrelling countries. While the United States decided not to get entangled into any conflict, World War II was just beginning, this made our neutrality as a country more difficult. However, once the United States saw how Britain and the Soviet Union were suffering from fighting with the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan), America felt compelled to help their allies in some way without physically entering the war.
America decided to aid their allies (Great Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union) by sending weapons, money, and food overseas to help in any way they could. ” During the time that America was aiding their allies, Japanese armies were invading North China and began to advance towards China, intending to take control of Southeast Asia. The United States did not agree with Japan’s attacks, so the United States made the decision to refuse to trade with Japan any further, thereby issuing an embargo act on Japan cutting off oil and other natural raw exports. ‘America refused to lift the embargo act unless Japan deserted certain territories.
Japan then decided November 29 would be the last date they would accept a settlement with America to lift trade embargoes”. Shortly after Admiral Usurious Hampton, commander of the Japanese fleet decided to retaliate by devising a plan to attack on United States. On December 6, 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt made one last appeal to the Emperor pagan for peace. There was no reply, but later that same day U. S code -breaking services began intercepting a Japanese message and deciphered the first 13 parts. ‘These messages made Americans believe he Japanese were planning an attack, Southeast Asia being their prime target. Pearl Harbor is located on the island of AAU, Hawaii with most of the harbor and surrounding areas being United States Navy bases. “It was also newly designated as the United States Pacific Fleet because of concern over Japan’s increasing aggressiveness”. Japanese armed forces realized the significance and the importance of the Pacific Fleet to the American military and understood the devastation an attack on Pearl Harbor would have. Unfortunately Pearl Harbor at this time was not a high alert state, meaning litany Officers and Commanders thought there was no imminent danger or threat of war; therefore the island took no precautions.
The aircrafts were lined up on airfields, guns were UN-manned, loads of ammunition locked away in accordance, and no torpedo nets were set up to protect the fleets in the harbor. Although the President and the military strongly believed there was no imminent danger from the Japanese, prior to the attack serviceman spotted two Japanese submarines and engaged in combat sinking one submarine. “Upon learning that the American forces had engaged two enemy binaries near the harbor, angry Americans wanted to know why the Pacific Fleet was caught by surprise and who was responsible for the lack of preparedness and base security.
Attention focused on Admiral Kismet, U. S Navy commander and his Army counterpart Alt. Short who in hindsight should have taken the precaution and put the entire base on high alert. The two commanders could have ordered their forces to increase patrols and fully man their battle stations. But Kismet did not tell his Army counterpart about the submarines or take any other action to prepare for a possible attack. ” The last part of the Japanese 13-part message was intercepted and decoded on December 7, 1 941 stating that diplomatic relations with the United States were to be severed completely.
This message reached Washington too late, and by the time the president and government knew what the message was Japanese forces were on their way to attack Pearl Harbor. As the Japanese planes approached Pearl Harbor, Japanese officials sent a direct message to the United States formally severing all diplomatic ties between the two countries. The message outlined fourteen points of contention between the united States and Japan concluding with the following statement: “The Japanese government regrets that it is impossible to reach an agreement through further negotiations. Even though the Japanese did not declare war in so many words, Roosevelt understood the underlying meaning. At 7:48 a. M. , the first wave of the Japanese assault occurred with the first wave was targeting the airfields, planes, and the bases. The Japanese knew that the success of the attack strategy depended on their ability to keep control of the air space above Pearl Harbor. In order to hit all of their projected targets they ad to prevent any American warplanes from getting off the ground. “At 7:58 A. M. The officer on duty at the Ford Island command center, Lieutenant Commander Logan Ramsey, managed to inform the outside world that Hawaii was under attack. The shocking message “Air raid Pearl Harbor! This is no drill! ” reached top military officials in Washington, D. C. , a few minutes later. ” Just minutes after the first bombs hit land, Japanese vessels began launching torpedoes at U. S Navy vessels anchored at Pearl Harbor. Japanese pilots concentrated on attacking Battleship row, where seven heavily armored battleships were docked.
The Japanese dropped their torpedoes into the shallow water and watched as the deadly devices streaked towards the underbellies of many vessels. The torpedo strikes on the ships killed and wounded thousands of servicemen. One battleship known as the Arizona was struck and began sinking many men were trapped below deck, killing more than 400 men. The first wave of the air raid lasted only about thirty minutes with a brief time gap between the first and second wave of combat. Military personnel rushed around trying to find and rescue many survivors, treat the injured, and prepare in case of another raid by the Japanese.
By the time the second Japanese raid commenced, American troops and sailors were ready to fight back. Many troops hastily attempted to gather any remaining ammunition and guns. The Air Force managed to launch eleven fighter planes to engage in combat. Shortly after the second wave of attack, Admiral Magnum, Commander and Chief of the Japanese armed forces decided to order his troops to fall back, noting that the Japanese achieved their main objective of monopolizing the Pacific Fleet, so the United States could not intervene with the invasion Japan planned on China and to take power over cost of the Pacific. The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. ” On December 8, the day after the horrendous attack Japan had committed on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked U. S Congress to react to the assault by declaring war on Japan. “Congress granted Roosevelt request for war that same day by a vote of 82-0 in the Senate and 388-1 in the House of Representatives”. Therefore,
Roosevelt and Congress together passed the U. S Declaration of War on Japan. This declaration was the United States’ formal entry into World War II. The surprise attack executed by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor resulted in many casualties to both the Japanese and American forces. Although the assault was successful, it also consent intently for the Japanese resulted in awakening the sleeping giant (Usurious Hampton, December 7th, 1941). After the massive executive attack on Pearl Harbor, many radical changes happened in the United States between the 1st and the 31 SST of that month.
Within a tater of hours after the attack, America was quickly monopolizing for war. On December 6, 1941 Americans were not really thinking about the war in the Pacific-that was the farthest thing from their minds. They were listening to local programming, news and farm reports, and attending the movies on a regular basis. Within a matter of hours, after the attack on pearl Harbor American attitudes changed about the economy viewing the war was not part of the culture; the war is the culture.
