Japan's Attack on Pearl Harbor: Causes and Context
This paper examines why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, arguing that the decision was driven by resource scarcity, American economic sanctions, and the logic of imperial expansion. Beginning with Japan's dependence on U.S. oil imports and the consequences of Roosevelt's embargo, the paper traces Japan's imperialist trajectory from the Sino-Japanese War through the occupation of Manchuria and the push into Southeast Asia. It explains how Japanese leaders viewed war with the United States as unavoidable yet necessary, and why Pearl Harbor was selected as a strategic target intended to cripple American naval power in the Pacific before Japan could secure oil fields in the Dutch East Indies.
- Introduction: An Unwinnable but Unavoidable War: Japan's oil dependency made war with America unavoidable
- Japan's Imperial Expansion and the Road to Conflict: Japan's imperial history and refusal to withdraw from China
- Oil Embargoes and the Decision for War: Dutch and U.S. embargoes forced Japan toward Southeast Asia
- The Strategic Logic Behind the Pearl Harbor Attack: Pearl Harbor targeted to cripple U.S. Pacific naval power
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What makes this paper effective
- Anchors Japan's military decisions in concrete economic realities — specifically the 80% oil dependency on the United States — giving the argument a clear material logic.
- Uses direct quotations strategically to let primary and secondary sources carry the weight of key claims without over-summarizing.
- Connects discrete historical events (Sino-Japanese War, Manchuria, the Dutch embargo, Pearl Harbor) into a coherent causal chain rather than treating them as isolated incidents.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates causal historical argumentation: it identifies a sequence of interrelated factors — resource dependence, sanctions, imperial honor, and strategic timing — and shows how each step made the next more likely. This moves the analysis beyond simple narrative and toward an explanation of why events unfolded as they did.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by establishing the paradox that Japanese leaders knew the war was unwinnable yet felt compelled to fight. It then traces Japan's expansionist history to explain why withdrawal from China was politically impossible. A third section shows how the Dutch embargo closed off Japan's last alternative oil source, making conflict inevitable. The paper closes by explaining the specific strategic reasoning that made Pearl Harbor — rather than a Southeast Asian target alone — the chosen point of attack.
Introduction: An Unwinnable but Unavoidable War
Given Japan's lack of natural resources and its less-developed military capability relative to the United States, Japan knew that the war it began against America was, in all likelihood, unwinnable. Even many Japanese government leaders recognized this at the time. However, it was also a war they felt compelled to fight once the United States imposed sanctions on Japan following its invasion of China (Arima 2003). Japan was utterly dependent upon trade — particularly trade with the United States. As Arima explains, "Oil was a lifeline for power, but unlike the U.S., Japan could produce only a little amount of oil domestically… Japan had become a member of the imperial powers and one of the most advanced nations in the world of the time. However, such accomplishment and power was impossible to achieve and maintain without oil, which Japan had totally depended upon the U.S. for the supply" (Arima 2003).
The United States supplied approximately 80% of Japan's oil at the time. In 1941, President Roosevelt also imposed embargoes on scrap metal and other commodities essential to waging an air-based war. The U.S. demanded that Japan withdraw from its alliance with Germany and Italy, as well as from the Chinese territories it occupied.
Japan's Imperial Expansion and the Road to Conflict
Although Japan had been an ally of the United States during World War I, its appetite for imperialist expansion had been whetted as early as 1894, when Japan defeated China in the Sino-Japanese War and gained control of Taiwan. Japan subsequently defeated the Russian Empire in 1904, established control over Korea in 1910, and, after its invasion of China, created the state of Manchuria in 1932.
The Japanese refused to comply with U.S. demands partly out of a sense of national honor: capitulating to a Western power would mean a serious loss of face and could destabilize the Emperor's regime. Japan had already suffered heavy financial and military losses to establish its presence in China (Arima 2003). Manchuria was considered of essential strategic importance — without it, there was fear that either China or Russia might establish dominance over Korea. Nevertheless, the United States demanded that Japan withdraw from both China and Manchuria in exchange for a restoration of oil trade.
Oil Embargoes and the Decision for War
Japan's other major source of oil had been the Netherlands, but the Dutch followed the American oil embargo in August 1941. With both sources now cut off, Japan resolved to seize control of the oil fields in the Dutch East Indies. If it did so, it understood that war with America was inevitable. As Arima notes, "The oil stock Japan had was only for a year and a half, and time was running out… if the war was unavoidable and they chose to fight, the longer they would wait the lesser the chance for victory would be because of the limited oil stock, which would be spent even during peacetime" (Arima 2003).
To accelerate the course of the war and preserve its dwindling oil supply, Japan concluded that a decisive early blow against American military power was necessary. The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was the result of that calculation.
References
Arima, Yuichi. "The Way to Pearl Harbor: U.S. Vs. Japan." ICE Case Studies. Number 118, December 2003.
"Pearl Harbor Raid, 7 December 1941." Naval History. April 14, 2010.
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