The Japanese Reasoning for the Attack on Pearl Harbor - Report Example

The Japanese Reasoning for the Attack on Pearl Harbor The incident of Pearl Harbor has been and will forever remain in the minds of the people for the years to come. This took place on the seventh of December, in the year 1941. The Japanese fleet attacked the American navy stationed at the Harbor in Hawaii due to a multitude of reasons; factors that they believed gave them the right to react in such a way. The attack was expected yet the Americans there were caught unawares, which led to more casualties on their side even though the Japanese lost some men, too. However, the losses were very less comparatively but the attack did result in America entering the World War II officially. The Empire of Japan and the United States of America started going separate ways in the 1930s due to differences over China. Japan began this by sending its men to Manchuria which was then a part of China. This land was conquered and taken over by the Japanese in the year 1931. It was in response to this that the United States formed the Stimson Doctrine named after Henry L. Stimson who was the Secretary of State of America in the Hoover Administration. This Doctrine stated that America did not recognize any changes made internationally regarding the addition and/or exclusion of territories that were carried out by force. This was mostly to warn Japan that it was not counting Manchuria as part of the Japanese Empire because they had taken over the land by conquering it. Thus, in their eyes, Manchuria was still a part of the Chinese land. Six years in the future i.e. in 1937, Japan started a long but also a mostly unfruitful campaign to take over the whole of China. By 1940, the government had joined the Axis Alliance and become an ally of the Nazi Germany. By 1941, Japan had managed to conquer Indochina. Watching these steps taken by Japan alarmed the United States as it had its own economic as well as political interests in the East of Asia1. To bring a halt to its plans of conquering China, America raised the total amount of the military and even the financial aid that it was providing to China so that it could protect itself even more properly against the attacks. The States also started a program, including Dutch East Indies and Burma, which was at that time controlled by the British, to strengthen its military power in the Pacific. Together, they hit Japan where it would hurt the most; they “froze Japanese assets in the United States, thus bringing commercial relations between the nations to an effective end. One week later Roosevelt embargoed the export of such grades of oil as still were in commercial flow to Japan”2. They stopped exporting oil, steel, scrap iron and the other necessary raw materials that Japan required to produce goods for its own people. The country was very short of natural resources and had been buying them from other lands, including the States. Once America placed this embargo, particularly on the export of oil which they most certainly needed for military uses, the Japanese government saw these actions to be threatening towards the nation’s growth3. America, on the other hand, was making quite a dent in the economy of the country so that the Japanese would stop using their few precious resources to invade China, and would move out instead4. However, Japan refused to give in and kneel to America’s indirect demands and did not withdraw from China. To fulfill their needs, the Japanese leaders came up with a plan to take over those lands in the South east of Asia, which were rich in natural resources, so that they could continue with their production of the required goods5. They did, however, realize that this move would lead to them going against the United States and unofficially declaring war. That being said, Japan still thought that it could convince the United States to remove the sanctions so that they could go back to importing the resources that they required. They did need a greater oil supply especially since they were at war so the total quantity would be diminishing sooner. The Japanese set out to America on some peace missions to reconcile and start trading again. The then Prime Minister of Japan called Konoye talked to Ambassador Joseph Grew and suggested meeting the American President somewhere in secret. The terms that the Prime Minister presented were that the Japanese were willing to give up Indochina and withdraw from almost all of China except a piece of land in the north to keep her safe from Stalin. In return, the United States of America had to negotiate a peaceful relationship with China and allow the Japanese to buy oil from them. The Emperor had agreed to such terms and was prepared to give the order of retreat to the Japanese soldiers stationed in China. America, on the other hand, was still vary of the Japanese and rightly so. Thus, they came up with their own terms for the other side to agree on. It was then when the Prime Minister was replaced, a man called Tojo took over his job. The American diplomats had their own set of rules to offer. They wanted the Japanese men to remove themselves from the southern part of Indochina and that would encourage the Americans to partially remove the trading sanctions and allow oil to be imported. The new Prime Minister did not find these agreeable and ended up aborting the plan. The American President at that time was Franklin D. Roosevelt who did not remove the embargoes but still wanted the two countries to be on good terms. Thus, negotiations carried on, they were trying to settle all the differences between them, trying to come up with terms that would be agreeable to both the sides. Even during these negotiations, the Japanese had decided that they would conquer the lands which were ladened with natural resources if they did not end up on agreeable terms with the Americans. In fact, the talks were still being carried on when they ended up attacking the Pearl Harbor due to all the other reasons combined6. The Empire of Japan had joined sides with the Nazi Germany amongst other countries, which were called the Axis Powers. It had signed a defensive treaty – called the Tripartite Pact – with Italy and even Germany in September in the year 1940. The United States, on the other hand, had not joined the World War II officially just of yet even though it had signed the Lend Lease Act with the Allies in March 1941. It had, however, been providing help to those countries who had turned against Hitler such as England, like lending supplies and aid. America had also started to get pressurized by other countries to choose sides openly. It was only a matter of time when America would officially join the war and fight against Germany and the Axis Powers, one of which was Japan itself. The Japanese knew that it was only inevitable for America to bring its navy in for the fighting. They were aware of the fact that America’s Pacific Fleet was the best and would lead to lots of destruction for their side. Thus, attacking Pearl Harbor would be ideal to minimize the damage that the fleets could cause in the future. They also thought that this would result in the Americans feeling demoralized and not wanting to fight. Also, the attack on the Pacific Fleet would leave their navy wanting, they would have to take time to build back their ships and get the proper ammunition for a fight, to rebuild their navy. In the meantime, the other side could get a chance to strengthen their own men, the navy, and the army. There are some small scale considerations which are thought to be true as well. One being that Japan had the best naval force after the Americans. If they would destroy their fleet, so they would be the only super powers, owning the strongest fleets. This could also enable them in helping Germany to win the war. However, they did not realize that going against America would only result “in a reckless war it could not possibly win”7. The main problem with the idea was the United States Pacific Fleet that was based at Pearl Harbor. America was known to have a highly effective and trained navy with just the right amount of ships and weapons. If they attacked back, Japan would be in danger. It was here that the commander of the Japanese fleet called Admiral Yamamoto came up with the plan to attack the American fleet, which would result in leaving them vulnerable as their navy would not be there. It was in the spring of the year 1941 that the Japanese people started training for the special tactics to be used for the attack at Pearl Harbor8. Yamamoto focused on keeping the attack a surprise for the Americans even though it is rumored that some of them had already received a warning about the attack earlier on and yet nothing had been done to stop it9. He also decided to use naval carriers as well as naval aviation and that, too, on never before heard of scale. It was in the month of October in 1941 when the plan was given a final approval by the naval general10. The Japanese had their own set of reasons for planning and actually carrying out the attack on Pearl Harbor. The base was attacked at early in the morning by a total of 353 fighters. The Japanese also had bombers and even torpedo waves, which they launched from their aircraft carriers of which they had six in total11. They damaged eight of the American battleships while four others sank in the Pacific. Three more cruisers as well as destroyers, one anti-crafting training ship and a minelayer were also destroyed and/or sunk in the sea. Also, 188 aircrafts were demolished and 2402 Americans became casualties of the attack while 1282 men were wounded. The Japanese, on the other hand, only lost 29 aircrafts and five of the midget submarines. In way of lives, 65 of the total men were either killed or wounded with just one sailor being held captive by the Americans. The overall destruction may have been for the Americans at that time, but this attack did lead to the Americans stepping up and actually entering the World War II for real. They got a chance to take their revenge in great measures when they dropped bombs on the Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki resulting in loss of life, infrastructure being destroyed, etc. and leaving a great impact on the world. End Notes 1. Fuchid M, Stillwell P. (1981) “I Led the Air Attack on Pearl Harbor” in Air Raid: Pearl Harbor!: Recollections of a Day of Infamy, Naval Institute Press 1. 2. Gruhl W. (2007). “Imperial Japans World War Two, 1931–1945,” Transaction Publishers. 39. 3. Higgs R. (2006) “How U.S. Economic Warfare Provoked Japans Attack on Pearl Harbor,” The Freeman 56: 36-37. 4. Morgenstern G, "The Actual Road to Pearl Harbor," in Barnes, ed., Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, 322-23, 327-28. 5. Parillo, M. (2006) "The United States in the Pacific", in Higham, Robin; Harris, Stephen, Why Air Forces Fail: the Anatomy of Defeat, The University Press of Kentucky. 288. 6. Prange GW. (1991) “At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor,” Penguin Books. 275. 7. Theobald RA, Flynn JT, Kimmel. “Final Secret of Pearl Harbor,” Health Research Books. 5. 8. Wohlstetter R. (1962) “Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision,” Stanford University Press. Read More