Pearl Harbor attack and its historical significance

Pearl Harbor attack had a number of significant implications for the course of the Second World War. The attack was initiated by the Japanese, who had imperial ambitions for the entire Pacific. The U.S. had enacted an embargo on Japanese goods in response to Japanese aggression in Indochina and by 1941 it was evident that Japan was anticipating the possibility of war with either Britain or the U.S. The U.S. was still a non-participant in World War Two at the time. Japan saw war as a likely event because the embargo cut off oil supplies, forcing Japan to take Indochina. Their war plan left little doubt that the Allies would become engaged, if not the U.S. However, Japan rightly felt that the U.S. was its biggest threat in the region. For its part, the U.S. had moved the headquarters of its naval fleet from San Diego to Oahu, a reflection of its perception of the rising tensions (PearHarbor.org, 2015). America had interests in Southeast Asia as well, including the Philippines, and the Japanese move against French Indochina was viewed as a precursor to attacks on British, Dutch and American colonies and interests.

Isoruko Yamamoto was the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, and determined that Japan needed to neutralize the American presence in the Pacific if it wanted to take control of Southeast Asia. The Dutch and British was largely engaged in the European conflict, but the U.S. was not, making it the biggest threat. Yamamoto believed that a surprise attack would secure the Pacific (NPS.gov, 2015). With the move of the Pacific fleet to Oahu, the key ships, the aircraft carriers, were stationed there, and Yamamoto felt that if the Japanese could sink these, that they would demoralize the Americans and cow them into standing down in Southeast Asia.

The Japanese were able to move their fleet across the Pacific on a journey that took four days. They went undetected. Radar was a new technology at the time, and there was a radar installation on Oahu, but the incoming aircraft that were detected were believed to be ones that were expected from California that morning. As a result, no advanced warning was issued -- the radar crew did not know that the aircraft were Japanese until they were flying over Oahu. The aircraft began their bombing raid on Pearl Harbor. They targeted aircraft that were parked at different airfields around the island, disabling the ability of the Americans to mount a defense. The Japanese bombers were able to destroy many of the ships that were anchored at Pearl Harbor. However, several ships, including aircraft carriers, were out on manoeuvers that day -- including any of Yamamoto's most desired targets. The attack also occurred on a Sunday, normally a quiet time on Oahu, with many sailors having been on leave in Honolulu the night before. This also delayed the response somewhat.

The attack caused significant damage to the American fleet. The Japanese had hoped to scuttle a vessel as it left the harbor, created a block that would trap the other vessels in Pearl Harbor, but this did not occur. There was tremendous death toll, and several vessels were completely destroyed. However, the aircraft carriers were at sea, and thus not harmed in the attack. Most of the Pacific fleet's best infrastructure was spared by circumstance -- the Japanese had no way of knowing that the day they chose for the attack was a day when their best targets would not be present. Thus, the loss of men and infrastructure was not critical to America's ability to respond to the attack.

The response from America would not surprise any American, but was definitely not what Yamamoto had planned or expected. President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the nation regarding the attack, declaring war on Japan, and rallying the nation to not only join the war but to win, no longer how long it was going to take (Roosevelt, 1941). Behind this leadership, Pearl Harbor galvanized America, instead of cowing it. This was a substantial misreading of the American character by the Japanese commander, and one that brought his country to catastrophic defeat. The two nations were, as Roosevelt rightly points out, still on good terms and negotiating on their issues at the time of the attack. Yamamoto might have seen that America was not the strongest country at the time -- an interesting reading, but one that might have been made on the basis of the Civil War, the Great Depression and the attempted neutrality. Not showing up in support of its allies was probably taken by the Japanese as a sign of weakness more than it should have been. Thus, when challenged by direct attack, the Americans responded as any American would have predicted -- by entering the war and wholeheartedly dedicating all resources to defeating the Japanese.

At the time of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had a non-aggression pact with the U.S.S.R., an Allied nation, but otherwise was aligned with the Axis powers. When Japan brought the U.S. into the war, the U.S. not only joined with intent to defeat the Japanese, but also committed to defeating all of the Axis powers. This was an extension of its policies in Southeast Asia, which were aligned with Britain and the Netherlands, and it was also aligned with the historic ties between Britain, Canada and the other Allies including fighting Germany in World War I. The U.S. committed soldiers to Europe as well as to the Pacific, a move that would definitively alter the course of the war.

The war in Europe was an intense, bloody war of attrition. The Allies were holding Great Britain but there were frequent German bombing raids and the omnipresent threat of German invasion. On the eastern front, the Soviets were doing the heaviest lifting, and their brutal battle at Stalingrad cut the Germans off from the Caspian oilfields. The British cut the Germans off from the Middle East by holding Palestine and Egypt. Germany was sufficiently weakened by these actions that it was utterly unable to resist an American-boosted invasion force, and in 1944 the war in Europe was being brought to its end.