December 7,1941 Essay, Research Paper
On December 7,1941 the U.S. troops stationed on the Island of Pearl Harbor were woken up by the sound of gunfire and explosions.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the worst surprise attacks in American history. For every Japanese soldier killed almost thirty-eight Americans were killed.
Japan was at war with China. The American government tried many times with Japans leaders to withdraw troops from china and put an end to the war. After World War II started Japan grew angry with the United States of America because they were helping China by sending them war supplies. Japan didn t like this because China was the main target of Japanese attacks. Japan decided to take a peace trip to the United States of America. This trip took place in November of 1941. During this peace trip Japan made three proposals to the government. These proposals were, to stop helping china, to stay out of Asian affairs, and to begin shipping oil to Japan right away or Japan would attack the United States of America. The president Franklin D. Roosevelt and the government didn t do what the Japanese asked. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor because the United States ignored their requests. The attack began at 7:55 A.M. Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo led the Japanese forces. The reason they attacked so early was because admiral Nagumo knew most of the troops would be sleeping.
The chief targets were 8 battleships among the 180 American vessels anchored in the harbor. The attacked killed 2,388 people at Pearl Harbor and wounded about 2,000. It destroyed or damaged 21 American ships and more than 300 planes. The Japanese lost 29 aircraft. Some of the ships attacked were the U.S.S. Arizona, The Pennsylvania, The Maryland, and The West Virginia. The wreckage of The Arizona still holds the remains of all the soldiers who died in the explosion.The Japanese lost twenty-nine airplanes in the attack nine fighters, fifteen dive-bombers, and five torpedo planes. They also lost one large submarine, five midget subs, fifty-five airmen, nine crewmen, and an unknown number of people on the large sub. Today the resting spot of The Arizona is a war memorial.
The major results of the bombing of Pearl Harbor were the involvement of the United States in World War II.
The second major result was the dropping of the Atom Bomb at Hiroshima in Japan.