United States enters to WWII!

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, on December of. 1941. This attack was planned as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions. The Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, Netherlands and the United States.

On November 26, 1941, the Japanese attack force, led by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, left Etorofu Island in the Kurils and began its 3,000-mile journey across the Pacific Ocean. Sneaking six aircraft carriers, nine destroyers, two battleships, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and three submarines across the Pacific Ocean was not an easy task.

The base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. Eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged and four of them sunk. The loud booms, pillars of smoke, and low-flying enemy aircraft shocked many into the realization that this was not a training exercise; Pearl Harbor was really under attack. The Japanese battleships also sank or were damaged, like for example three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. On the other hand, 188 U.S. aircraft were damaged; 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 injured. The power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building, were not attacked. Japanese losses were light, only 29 aircrafts, five midget submarines and 65 servicemen killed or injured. One Japanese sailor was captured.

The attack at Pearl Harbor damaged so much the Americans that the U.S. abandoned its policy of isolationism and declared war on Japan the following day. It brought officially the United States into World War II. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been strong, disappeared. Clandestine support of Britain was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. encouraged Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.

The lack of any formal warning led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy".

In order to completely understand the reason for the Pearl Harbor attack it is necessary to know that it had several major aims. For example, the Japanese were tired of negotiations with the United States. They wanted to continue their expansion within Asia but the United States had placed an extremely restrictive embargo on Japan in the hopes of curbing Japan's aggression. Negotiations to solve their differences hadn't been going well.

Rather than giving in to U.S. demands, the Japanese decided to launch a surprise attack against the United States in an attempt to destroy the United States' naval power even before an official announcement of war was give. Pearl Harbor is the Japanese attack that made the United States enter to WWII, and the one that killed many American people.

Made by: Daniela Sanguineti