Attack on Pearl Harbor

Image: great battles of history

The December 7, 1941 there would be an event that would change the course of the Second World War. This occurred when the Nippon Empire ordered an offensive on one of the United States naval bases because there was a plan of intervention by the Americans to stop the Japanese attacks on the overseas possessions of the countries allies. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will offer you a summary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a US naval base located on one of the Hawaiian islands.

Index

1. Background to the attack on Pearl Harbor
2. Who created the plan to attack Pearl Harbor?
3. Pre-war movements and the declaration of war
4. The result of losses after the attack
5. The aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor

We start this summary of the attack on Pearl Harbor talking about the antecedents to understand why this historical event occurred. As we have already mentioned previously, the United States had sent the Pacific Fleet to try to intimidate the Japanese Empire in attempting to take overseas possessions of Great Britain, France or the Netherlands because the Japanese needed natural resources such as oil and Rubber.

So we will find the invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and throughout that decade we will find that the Japanese were expanding on the part of China, causing a war in 1937 with it. Then we will find the occupation of French Indochina in 1940 to prevent supplies from being sent to China.

It was at that moment that the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, would order the transfer of the Pacific fleet to Hawaii. From there we will find a series of tensions, such as the cutting of oil supplies to Japan by the United States, which would result in the attack on the US naval base.

Image: The White House

We continue with this summary of the attack on Pearl Harbor to learn about the ringleaders who devised this attack. The top leader whom we can review as the undisputed creator of the plan was Isoroku yamamoto, Chief Admiral of the Combined Fleet.

This same character is paradoxical that he warned his high command that Japan would not have any possibility against the United States, but still conducted a study to deal a severe blow to said power. In this way, since the Tripartite pact in September 1940, we will find a series of studies on the Pacific to find the Achilles heel of the United States.

In this way, the second character that we must mention will be Minoru Genda, who was a member of the staff of the First Air Division, in addition to being the best pilot in the Japanese empire. It was for this reason that he was urged to study the feasibility of an attack on the island of Hawaii. For this reason, it was decided to carry out war simulations on Kinko Bay, due to its similarity to the Hawaiian Islands, having concluded the attack plan at the end of September, setting the attack for december 8 (for Hawaii and the United States on December 7) providing the Japanese empire with a favorable light for the flight of its planes.

But this was not a simple attack, but it was part of the southern campaign, in which they would also be attacked the archipelago of the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Burma, Hong Kong, the Wake Islands and Guam. After this the plan would be to attack the Dutch East Indies.

Once the plan of attack is accepted, the Japanese fleet left the Kuriles on November 26, 1941 408 aircraft were deployed (of which 360 would be divided into two attack waves and 48 would be in charge of defense and air patrol).

During the course of the displacement, the pilots were instructed in their objectives, being the most important are battleships and aircraft carriers and, secondly, cruisers and destroyers. For the fighters, the objectives would be to destroy American aircraft and other important buildings.

As an anecdote, we have to say that the inexperience of the Japanese ambassador to the United States caused the Japanese declaration of war to arrive late to the attack. The declaration of war appeared in Japanese newspapers on December 8, while it reached the United States on December 9.

Therefore, the rest of the countries of the world accused Japan of not declaring war on the United States, leaving the Japanese government and politics very discredited.

Image: Taringa!

We continue with this summary of the attack on Pearl Harbor speaking now of the consequences that this battle had. As we have said, the United States had mobilized part of its fleet to said naval base, therefore there were many material losses that occurred during the two Japanese waves:

• Battleships: 8 battleships were damaged and only the USS Arizona was totally destroyed. The death toll in this type of boat reached 1890 people.
• Cruise ships: 3 damaged although all would remain active and the number of deaths was 20 people.
• We will also find some destroyers and other auxiliary ships damaged, although all remained active.

Following the completion of the attack on the United States military base, the following attacks occurred within the southern campaign that we mentioned earlier. While this was happening, the United States Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan on December 8 declaring, in addition, that the Japanese were infamous for not having warned of the declaration of war.

On the other hand, the attack on the naval base produced a great union in America, an element that greatly benefited the government and It strengthened it, since many were those who welcomed entering the war (due to the interests that were in it). This fact was very important to be crowned as the defender of freedoms and thus we will find a large number of propaganda making themselves see as the true victims of all that.

In this other lesson from a PROFESSOR we will discover the development and end of World War II because this attack was one of the reasons why this battle was finished.

If you want to read more articles similar to Attack on Pearl Harbor - Summary, we recommend that you enter our category of Story.