The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States. A total of 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack was later judged in the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime. The attack led to the United states’ formal entry into World War II the next day.
About Attack on Pearl Harbor in brief
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States. The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese aircraft in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. A total of 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Of the eight U. S. Navy battleships present, all were damaged, with four sunk. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack was later judged in the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime. Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the. United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against overseas. territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United. States. On December 11, Germany and Italy each declared war on the U. S., which responded with a declaration. of war against Germany andItaly. The following day, December 8, Congress declared war. on Japan. The attack led to the United states’ formal entry into World War II the next day. It was a possibility that each nation had been aware of, and planned for, since the 1920s. The relationship between the two countries was cordial enough that they remained trading partners. Tensions did not seriously grow until Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Over the next decade, Japan expanded into China, leading to the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.
Starting in December 1937, events such as the Japanese attack on USS Panay and the Nanking Massacre swung Western public opinion sharply against Japan. In 1940, Japan invaded French Indochina, attempting to stymie the flow of supplies reaching China. The United States halted shipments of airplanes, airplane parts, machine tools, and aviation gasoline to Japan, which the latter perceived an unfriendly nation. In mid-1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the Pacific Fleet from San Diego to Hawaii. He also ordered a military buildup in the Philippines, taking both in the hope of discouraging Japanese aggression in the Far East. An Orange War Plan was also considered necessary by Japanese planners to prevent American naval interference by the Japanese. The U.K. and the Netherlands had also considered an invasion of the Philippines as a necessary way to prevent the Japanese invasion of Singapore, including the Singapore invasion of Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The Southern Operation was designed to assist these efforts. It would bring certain action to a halt in certain Asian colonies, including Singapore and Malaya. It also would bring an end to certain actions that would bring about the end of the Second World War in the Middle East, including a possible invasion of Indonesia. The Northern Operation was intended to stop the Japanese attempt to take control of the Solomon Islands, the Philippines and the Philippines.
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This page is based on the article Attack on Pearl Harbor published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
