O japanese attack against the naval base of pearl harbor, located in Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, led to the entry of the United States into the Second World War. This episode started the confrontation between Americans and Japanese that, over the course of nearly four years, almost completely destroyed Japan.
background
Japan's escalation to war began after the Meiji Restoration, which took place in 1868. This political change was responsible for the fall of the shogunate (form of government imposed by the military leaders) and for the restoration of the monarchic power of the imperial family. Furthermore, during the Meiji Restoration a strong process of modernization of the economy and industry was initiated.
This process brought about strong economic growth and turned Japan into a power in Asia. From this, an imperialist interest in regions of neighboring countries emerged in Japan with the aim of guaranteeing sources of raw material and consumer markets for Japanese production.
The main target of Japanese ambition was China, where Japan's interests led that country to fight two wars at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. Between 1894 and 1895, the
First Sino-Japanese War, in which the domain of the korea peninsula. Later, in 1904 and 1905, the russian-japanese war, in which the Japanese disputed control of the Liaotung Peninsula it's from Port Arthur (Manchurian regions) with Russia.The victories obtained in these two wars contributed to the growth of Japanese imperialist ambitions. During the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s, a strong right-wing political group emerged in the country, which fomented war against neighboring nations and against the western powers present on the continent Asian.
The rivalry between the United States and Japan emerged between the 1910s and 1920s, from diplomatic friction between the two countries over Japanese actions against China. This friction intensified in the 1930s, when the Japan invaded Manchuria and started the war against China in 1937. In addition, the American decision to limit the entry of Japanese into the US, in 1924, had a negative effect on diplomacy between the two nations.
Preparing for Pearl Harbor
In 1937, after the disagreement between Chinese and Japanese soldiers in Beijing known as Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japan started to Second Sino-Japanese War and invaded countless regions of China, promoting great massacres. Later, in 1940, the Japanese carried out the invasion of Indochina to prevent Chinese troops from Chiang Kai-shek from receiving supplies and weapons from the Americans. In response, the United States imposed an embargo on the vital import of oil into Japan.
The American embargo on oil imports to Japan has alarmed that country, because, according to the historian Antony Beevor, there was only enough fuel to supply Japanese ships for one year|1|. Thus, it became vital for this nation to gain control of the existing oil sources in the Dutch East Indies.
At the same time, it was important for Japan to expel the United States from the Asian continent so that Japanese territorial ambitions could be guaranteed. The war against the United States was strongly defended by much of the Japanese military leadership. However, some personalities, such as the Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, defended a diplomatic resolution between the two nations.
Yamamoto defended the idea that the Japan did not have the means to guarantee victory over the United States long-term. This is because the Americans' war capacity was proportional to their industrial capacity, therefore, both were far superior to Japan's capacity. As a parameter, historian Max Hastings pointed out that Japanese industrial capacity was equivalent to only 10% of that existing in the US at the time of the war.|2|.
Despite these facts, those who advocated a diplomatic resolution with the United States were a minority at the Japanese military leadership. Thus, once given the mission to attack the United States, Yamamoto proposed an intense and withering attack, which would cause great destruction to the enemy.
Yamamoto's idea was to force the United States to accept the terms imposed by Japan through a war of great intensity. That's because he predicted that a long-term war would be utterly disastrous for Japan. So from that, Yamamoto planned the attack, which was carried out by the Admiral Chuichu Nagumo.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
US seal commemorates the attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor *
Shortly before the Japanese attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, US intelligence had intercepted information that signaled a future Japanese offensive. Because of this, on November 27, 1941, all American bases in the Pacific were alerted to the imminence of the Japanese attack.
However, when this attack took place, US forces at Pearl Harbor were completely unprepared, which increased the potency of destruction and the deaths resulting from the Japanese aggression. The attack began on the morning of December 7, 1941 (local time) with 183 planes.
After two attack charges on the naval base at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese forces withdrew and, according to historian Antony Beevor, left the following balance of destruction:
In addition to the Oklahoma and Arizona battleships, the US Navy at Pearl Harbor lost two destroyers. Another three battleships were sunk or ran aground and were later recovered and repaired, and three more were damaged. The Army and Navy Air Corps lost 188 planes destroyed and 159 damaged. In total, 2,335 American soldiers were killed and 1,143 wounded.|3|.
Despite this destruction, the attack on Pearl Harbor was seen by historians as a real strategic disaster, as it only postponed the reaction capacity of the United States and ended up mobilizing the American population for the country's entry into the war. However, this attack was seen by the Axle (Germany, Italy and Japan) as a great victory and, immediately after Pearl Harbor, Japan began the attack on Southeast Asia.
On December 8, 1941, the United States, in response, declared war on Japan. For nearly four years, the two countries fought fierce battles, which resulted in the near total destruction of Japan, including with the launching two atomic bombs, which forced the country to surrender in August 1945.
|1| BEEVOR, Antony. The Second World War. Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2015, p. 282.
|2| HASTINGS, Max. The world at war 1939-1945. Rio de Janeiro: Intrinsic, 2012, p. 209.
|3| BEEVOR, Antony. The Second World War. Rio de Janeiro: Record, 2015, p. 286.
* Image credits: catwalker and Shutterstock
by Daniel Neves
Graduated in History
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/ataque-japones-base-naval-pearl-harbor.htm