Throughout the 1930s, as a result from the Great Depression, the United States and many European nations enacted high protective tariffs. These tariffs greatly affected and hindered Japanese exports thus heightening the effects of Japan’s own economic depression. These poor economic conditions were reasons for strong anti-Western sentiments and were also a strong factor in Japan’s reasoning for invading China. In July, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to not renew the 1911 U.S.-Japan Treaty of Commerce and Navigation and on July 2, 1940, the Export Control Act was passed, an act that eliminated Japan’s primary source of oil, scrap metal and other material resources needed for war. Without these resources Japan would have to abandon its war against China, thus humiliating Japan’s leaders. This resulted in diplomatic manoeuvres between the U.S. and Japan, however Japan knew it did not have time as their oil sources would run out in months if the U.S. did not drop its trade sanctions. Therefore, Japan’s leaders decided that there would be war if no settlement is reached by November and that they would start the war with attacking Pearl Harbour through air, an attack that would be most devastating for the U.S..
ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOUR
Pearl Harbor on October 30, 1941, looking southwest
Dates: December 7, 1941 Location: Pearl Harbour, Hawaii Generals/Commanders: United States: Husband Kimmel and Walter Short Japanese: Chuichi Nagumo and Isoroku Yamamoto Result: Japanese Victory
The USS Arizona burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
The Japanese launched a surprise air attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941. After just two hours of bombing, Americans suffered approximately 3000 casualties and lost many of its ships and aircrafts. The attack enraged the U.S. and the following day the U.S. declared war on Japan; officially bringing the U.S. into WWII.
As neither the U.S. or Japan will settle during the trade negotiations, war soon seemed to be inevitable. However, no one believed that the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbour, one reason being that Hawaii and Japan is a long distance apart and the attack would be very inconvenient. The American intelligence officials were also confident that the Japanese would attack nearby European colonies and would not place an attack on American territory. Due to this the naval facilities on Pearl Harbour were undefended, and almost the entire Pacific Fleet was moored in the harbour and hundreds of airplanes were in adjacent airfields.
The Japanese planned to destroy the Pacific Fleet moored on Pearl Harbour, thus disabling the Americans from fighting back Japanese forces. After months of practice and planning the Japanese launched their attack on December 7, 1941. At 6am, 183 Japanese aircrafts were launched in the air as a part of the first wave of the attack on Pearl Harbour, at 7.14am a second wave of 167 planes were launched and by 8am the Japanese planes had filled the sky over Pearl Harbour with bombs and bullets raining onto the ships moored in the harbour. An 800kg bomb was dropped onto the battleship USS Arizona at 8.10, sinking the ship with more than 1,000 men trapped inside. Torpedoes then destroyed the battleship USS Oklahoma, drowning the 400 sailors that were aboard. A portion of the first wave of planes also targeted the surrounding airfields in order to a counter-attack against the Japanese attack force, these Japanese planes successfully bombed the planes, hangers, and other buildings located near the airfields, including dormitories and mess halls. By 9.45am the attack ended and the Japanese planes returned to their aircraft carriers by 12.14pm.
The attack on Pearl Harbour destroyed or damaged nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes, the Japanese lost 29 aircrafts and 5 midget subs. A total of 2,335 American servicemen were killed and 1,143 were wounded. Among American civilians 68 were killed and 35 were wounded. 130 Japanese service personnel died, all but one killed in action.
However the Japanese had failed to immobilise the Pacific Fleet as battleships were no longer the most important naval vessel by the 1940s. Aircrafts carriers were at the time more important and as the attack happened all of the Pacific Fleet’s carriers were not at Pearl Harbour. The attack also left vital onshore facilities such as oil storage depots, repair shops, shipyards and submarine docks unharmed. Due to this the U.S. navy was able to overcome the effects of the attack quickly.
As the news of the attack spread throughout the United States, the people of America were shocked and outraged and wanted to strike back. The next day, December 8, at 12.30pm President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the Congress, declaring war. Votes were collected and the Congress declared war thus bringing the U.S. into World War II two years after the start of the conflict. Three days later Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States.
There is a lot of debate over if Pearl Harbour is a war crime or not. You can read more about war crimes here to learn more.
BATTLE OF MIDWAY
Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryu maneuvering as U.S. Air Force B-17 Bomber attack
Date: June 4-7, 1942 Location: Midway Atoll 2,100km northwest of Oahu Generals/Commanders: United States: Chester W. Nimitz, Frank Jack Fletcher, and Raymond Spruance Japan: Isoroku Yamamoto, Nobutake Kondō, and Chūichi Nagumo Result: United States Victory
Yorktown at the moment of impact of a torpedo
Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, in one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II, the United States defeated Japan. The victory was greatly aided by major advances in code breaking, enabling the United States to pre-empt and counter Japan’s planned ambush. The Battle of Midway is an important turning point in the Pacific campaign, allowing the United States and its allies to be in an offensive position.
The fleet engagement between the U.S. and Japanese in the north-central Pacific Ocean was a plan the Japanese used in order destroy the remaining aircraft carriers that had escaped destruction at Pearl Harbour. The Japanese fleet commander, Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, chose to invade a target that was close to Pearl Harbour in order to draw out the American Fleet and when the U.S. began their counterattack, the Japanese would be prepared to defeat them. However, this plan was intercepted as American intelligence solved the Japanese naval code. The Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Chester W. Nimitz then placed three heavy aircraft carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in position to surprise the Japanese moving up for their preparatory air strikes on Midway Island itself.
In the early morning of June 4, 1942 the battle began when Midway based planes ineffectively attacked the Japanese carrier strike, however the American carrier-based planes soon turned the tide. At 9:20 am, U.S. torpedo bombers were nearly completely destroyed by the Japanese carriers yet this enabled the U.S. dive-bombers to arrive while the Japanese had diverted their defenses. The Japanese were caught while refueling and rearming their planes, making them very vulnerable. The American forces successfully sank the entire strength of the task force which included four fleet carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu with 322 aircrafts and over 5000 sailors, and the heavy cruiser Mikuma. The Americans lost 147 aircrafts and more than 300 seamen.
The victory of this battle was critical to the United States and marked a turning point in the military conflicts between the two nations and the Pacific Campaign.