The Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Attack on Pearl Harbor inevitably resulted in Japan losing their struggle in WWII because the Japanese cranked the “angry giant” of the U.S. into high war mode, gave U.S. citizens a rallying point for retaliating, and drew Japan into a lopsided struggle with the U.S

This attack cranked the U.S. into high war mode. The U.S. casualties were seven of the eight battleships; the seven ships were sunk or severely damaged. In addition to that 188 of the 400 aircrafts had been destroyed and 159 were severely damaged. The most damage occurred to the Arizona; a thousand of the ship’s sailors drowned or burned to death. In the end, 2,403 Americans died during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and another 1,178 were wounded. Japan only lost 55 men. So at the time the U.S. had very few ships to use to attack Japan. (Pearl Harbor, Paragraph 4)

Over the course of a year, the U.S. made a ton of ships while Japan only made one. This was possible in the U.S. because they had a large workforce and the money to spend on building more ships. All of these ships were sent over to the Pacific Ocean. The struggle between Japan looked like the tides had turned since the U.S. soon outnumbered the Japanese by a lot sending Japan back towards its home land sending Japan on a retreat. (Krensky, Stephen, pg 54.)

The attack on Pearl Harbor gave the U.S. a reason to retaliate. The first reason was that it came without warning. It was just a normal day at Pearl Harbor when the skies were soon flooded with planes, bombs, and explosions. A surprise attack is very common at war with someone but this was different. The U.S. had not declared war on Japan or done anything more than to urge that Japan stop its advances in China. This was a cowardly move however by the Japanese for the U.S. had no idea the Japanese would ever attack them without declaring war. (Pearl Harbor, Paragraph 6)

One thing that makes this an unfair blow to the U.S. by the Japanese was that at the time around 25% of the boats in Pearl Harbor were damaged. This attack further destroyed many helpless ships of the U.S. Thankfully the Japanese weren’t to smart or thorough because they failed to destroy the ship repair facilities, the fuel tanks and the base power plant. Fortunately, three U.S. aircraft carriers were not caught in the attack, they were out on routine maneuvers. (Pearl Harbor, Paragraph 4)

The last reason that really shows that this surprise attack on Pearl Harbor a unjustly move was the fact that the real objective was the Philippians. The attack also happened because of disagreement about what the Japanese invading China. Japan’s objective was to mobilize its army so that the U.S. couldn’t intervene with what Japan was doing to China. This invasion would also hopefully give them enough time to finish capturing the land in China that so that it would make Japan an unstoppable force if the U.S. didn’t retaliate. (Wikipedia, pg. 2)

Shortly before the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor they had targeted other naval bases in the Pacific Ocean and had taken over a few islands. After the attack the Japanese slowly began to take over many more islands carefully building their web of an unstoppable nation. The U.S. had made tiny efforts to stop Japan from growing but few had been able to counter the Japanese. (Collision Course in the Pacific, Paragraph 1).

Finally the U.S. was able to gain a foot hold and began to counter Japan’s resent growth. While this is going on the U.S. is cranking its gears and starts to produce lots of ships, aircraft’s, tanks and other war machines. During this time there were many job opportunities to help support the war by making the weapons and ships needed. (The War in the Pacific, Paragraph 1)

With all these people working to make guns and other warfare items the U.S. was able to begin its counter attack on Japan and little by little the U.S. began to push its web of war in the Pacific back towards its mainland. Over a period of 18 months the U.S. with its now massive fleet of battle ships, aircraft carriers, air planes and submarines captured each of Japan’s small islands in the pacific. This included two gory battles known as the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa. Between these two battles, Japan lost over 140,000 soldiers and more than 100,000 civilians. While the U.S. lost over 88,000 men fighting, this lead the U.S. to quickly deplete Japan’s once numerous forces. (Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa, Paragraph 5)