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)

This choice ultimately led the U.S. to that finally decision to drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan. After many hours of consideration with many other idea’s of different ways to stop the Japanese without the use of the Atomic Bomb happened the finally decision was to drop it. This decision was made by President Truman who would always be known for the one who dropped the bomb. Since the war with Germany had ended and there was no fear of needed to counter attack with the U.S.’ own Atomic Bomb so they did not necessarily need to keep it any more. (Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Paragraph 1)

This was considered to be the right thing to do because if the U.S. continued in this war more lives would be saved. Even if they just evaded the Japanese homeland to achieve and unconditional surrendered the amount of lives lost here would be far greater than if the U.S. just dropped the bomb now. (Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Paragraph 1)

The first bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945 in the city Hiroshima and the second bomb was dropped in the city Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. These bombs were used after six months of harsh firebombing on 67 other cities. The first bomb killed as many as 140,000 and the second bomb killed as many as 80,000 people. Ever since the bomb was used there have been arguments on weightier it was the just thing to do. (Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Paragraph 2)

I conclude that the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was a cowardly move because no one attacks someone who they aren’t at war with, without warning. The attack on Pearl Harbor also helped the U.S. to get cranked into high gear to begin its attack on Japan. Lastly the attack on Pearl Harbor lead to the depletion of Japan’s forces because the U.S. had gained a massive army of ships. In the end the attack on Pearl Harbor wasn’t a smart move by the Japanese.

Bibliography:

“Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 21 Feb 2009, 07:28 UTC. 4 Mar 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki&oldid=272223546>.

“Attack on Pearl Harbor.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 17 Feb 2009, 14:30 UTC. 18 Feb 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor&oldid=271343756>.

“Battle of Iwo Jima.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 3 Mar 2009, 18:04 UTC. 4 Mar 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Iwo_Jima&oldid=274729666>.

“Battle of Okinawa.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 3 Mar 2009, 02:41 UTC. 4 Mar 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Okinawa&oldid=274597628>.

Desjourney, . 2002 interview with bill leu on the attack of Pearl Harbor. 7 May 2002. 21 Feb. 2009 <http://www.delsjourney.com/uss_neosho/pearl_harbor/pearl_harbor_interview.htm

Krensky, Stephen. Pearl Harbor. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2001.

Mintz, S. (2007). Pearl Harbor. Digital History.17 Feb 2009, <http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=542>

Mintz, S. (2007). Digital History. Retrieved (insert the date your retrieved the information here without parentheses) from
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu

Mintz, S. (2007). Digital History. Retrieved (insert the date your retrieved the information here without parentheses) from
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu