Causes Leading to the Bombing at Pearl Harbor - Research Paper Example

Logic and Programming Order No. 542254 Introduction During the early part of the 20th century, the troops of the U.S Navy had occupied Pearl Harbor that was situated on the island of Oahu. The U.S troops had been commissioned at Pearl Harbor in April, 1940 to deter Japan’s aggressive moves in the Pacific. However, the catastrophe that took place there had many causes which will be discussed in this paper. One of the chief causes of the attack on Pearl Harbor was the signing of the German- Japanese Pact in September, 1940 which served to increase tensions all around.

This alliance was clearly directed towards the United States to deter them from entering into war. The alliance demonstrated to them that if they entered the war, they would have to deal with the three great powers. Therefore, in January 1941, the Japanese Combined Fleet Commander Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto planned for a surprise attack against the U.S Navy at Pearl Harbor. The main reason why Admiral Yamamoto took such a decision was because he was well aware that the Japanese did not have sufficient resources to carry on a long war against the United States and hence 1 advocated a surprise and sudden attack on the US Fleet to destroy it with a single crushing blow.

Vice- Admiral Nagumo was in charge of the Japanese strike force that set sail on 26th November, 1941 from Kurile Islands. On 7th December, 1941, Nagumo’s fleet attacked the U.S Fleet at Pearl Harbor. There was great damage to both life and property as a result of the attack. A second attack followed which led to further damage. In retaliation to the attack on U.S, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United US Congress waged war against Japan. Another of the chief causes of the Pearl Harbor bombing was the careless attitude of different people in responsibility towards the important information they came across but did not take necessary action immediately.

For example, a German journalist named Richard Sorge who worked as a Soviet agent in Tokyo, had come upon details of the plan of the Pearl Harbor attack, but this important information was not handed over to the U.S Army intelligence. Secondly, the Military intelligence intercepted two vital messages from Tokyo to Kichisaburo Normura who was the Japanese ambassador to the United States, stating an imminent attack. However, Richmond Turner who was the individual in charge of evaluating and dissemination of information received, 2 did not inform about the warnings to Admiral Kimmel.

Thirdly, when Admiral Nagumo’s aircraft targeting the U.S at Pearl Harbor had approached quite near, it was detected at the new radar station at Opana Point. This very crucial signal was misunderstood and misinterpreted for a flight the B- 17 bomber which was arriving from the U.S and hence did not send out a warning signal to them. The U.S specific fleets Hawaiian base was the Pearl Harbor. One of main causes for the U.S.A to have such a large naval fleet was because they felt directly threatened by Japan’s aggressive expansionist policy.

Another main reason for Japan attacking Pearl Harbor was because the United States had placed an embargo on Japan’s supply of oil, steel, scrap metal etc. which proved to be a threat to Japan’s survival, thus sparking the need to strike back and take revenge. Conclusion The above given factors of the different causes leading to the bombing at Pearl Harbor have been laid out with examples to prove my point. I believe that among all the above causes leading to the Pearl Harbor bombing, Japan’s aggressiveness towards the United States was the chief factor that triggered them to take drastic steps towards them.

3 References Causes of World War II www.militaryhistory.about.com/od/./a/wwiipaccauses_2.htm Pearl Harbor www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWpearl.htm What were the cause and effects of Pearl Harbor? www.enotes.com Conclusion