Excerpt
Pearl Harbor
“To the Congress of the United States: Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)
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Image 1: F. D. Roosevelt
The state of Hawaii is the 50th of the United States of America and maybe one of the most popular places in the world. On O’ahu, the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands, many well-known tourist attractions like Hanauma Bay or Waikiki Beach, can be found. Furthermore there is a place on O’ahu which owns a great piece of the American and also the world’s history. Pearl Harbor is a harbor located at the south coast of O’ahu and is generally regarded as an extraordinary event in American history, remembered as the first time since the War of 1812 America has been attacked on its home soil by another country. The attack on Pearl Harbor was an unexpected and surprising attack of Japan to the United State naval base at Pearl Harbor. It took place on the morning of Sunday, December the 7th in 1941. The result of the war was a decisive victory for Japan and a war declaration of war of the USA on the Empire of Japan. Thus the USA entered World War II on the side of the Allies.
The tension between the USA and Japan had been growing for a long time so the attack was foreseeable. In 1937, Japan escalated its long-simmering conflict with mainland China by starting the Second Sino-Japanese War. Of course these attacks were condemned by several nations, especially the USA, who had been supporting China with sending supplies for several years. Only 3 years later, in 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy forming the Axis Powers. These actions made the USA to embargo metal and gasoline shipments to Japan and to close the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping. After Japans move into Indochina, the US freezed Japan’s assets in the US and began a complete oil embargo. Around 1941, the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumimaro Konoe, wanted to set up a summit in Hawaii with US President Roosevelt for settling the differences between the two nations before the war, but it was refused from the US side. The American government was very concerned about the behavior of Japan, especially towards China. They feared that Japan was trying to get a preferential position in the Pacific Ocean and conquer the countries in this area.
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