Pearl Harbor Attack: What Happened, Why, and the Aftermath

Part 1 

The Japan attack on Pearl Harbor came as a surprise to the Americans. The Japanese attacked the US Naval Base in 1941 on the 7 th of December at 7:55 in the morning. The harbor is located in Hawaii, and the morning attack was carried out using midget submarines and torpedo bombers ("Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941", 1941). One fateful morning, the number of US soldiers on duty was very minimal as most of them were on leave. Most of the base offices were also closed. Although the Americans were using functioning as well as manned new radar technology, the US Navy at the base mistaken Japanese planes for American planes. On the fateful morning, the American Navy at the base noticed attempts to gain access into the Harbor by Japanese Submarine. The submarine was however ignored after being fired upon. 

During the time of the attack, Japan had just unveiled a superficial running torpedo. These torpedoes would be dropped by a low flying aircraft and could skim the water surface in the harbor. The Japanese targeted the US battleships as well as aircraft carriers. They had sent their spies at Maui and Oahu and thus, had critical data and information important for the attack such as the number of vessels as well as their location in the harbor. The Japanese were however concerned of the locations of American aircraft carriers Lexington and Enterprise as they were missing in the harbor because they had been dispatched previously to Midway and Wake Islands. The dawn attack was launched by about 360 Japanese attack planes. The force used in attacking the harbor comprised about 33 ships under the command of Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. Japanese force used in the attack had steamed to about 200 to 275 miles north of Oahu and under cover of darkness. Upon sighting the Island, the Japanese bombers split into two groups. The first group hovered around the island waters so that it could launch the attack from the south. The other group flew at low altitude overland across the island. At 7:55 a.m., the first torpedoes, as well as bombs, were dropped, and after two hours 18 US ships had been severely damaged or sunk by the Japanese. The U.S also sustained about 3,700 casualties, and about 170 aircraft were destroyed. Later in the day, the Japanese attacked American ships between Honolulu and San Francisco. At the mainland, bases were the Japanese bombers which attacked Midway Island, Wake Island, Philippine, Guam, Hong Kong, and Malaya Islands. In the remaining weeks of the month, the Japanese conducted many successive attacks on the U.S, and this made them believe their invincibility. Even though the Japanese suffered some casualties, the number of their casualties was minimal. 

Following the attack, the U.S conducted several investigations of the surprise dawn attack. The U.S Congress imposed the weight of attack responsibility on General Short and Admiral Kimmel. The harbor defense preparations at the base were based upon unclear directives as well as veiled warnings from the Pentagon as well as White House. Pearl Harbor had dispatched scouting planes out for patrol across the ocean span around the Island Chain, but unfortunately, the planes did not detect the Japanese fleet moving towards Hawaiian Island. The radar sighting during the morning about the incoming attack force was also misinterpreted at the harbor. The months and weeks that followed after the Japanese attack on the harbor saw a lot of repairs done by the ships’ crewmen in collaboration with tenders and the Pearl Harbor Navy. Their efforts lasted into February 1942, and through these efforts, the Americans were able to salvage all the ships, but two of the ships could not be rescued. The two target ships, Arizona and Utah, were not returned to service. The hulls of the two ships remain in Pearl Harbor to date. The whole work of restoration required that the civilian divers as well as the navy to spend about 5,000 dives in about 20,000 hours underwater. Recovering ammunition, documents, human remains, as well as other materials from the interiors of the oil-fouled of ships required long as well as exhausting efforts as these ships had been under water for long. Countless hours were used to clean the ships as well as preparing the ships for shipyard repair. The repair work was carried out in gas masks for protection from toxic gases. The submerged remains of USS Arizona are until today resting on the silt of the harbor. 

The Pearl Harbor attack caused shock, surprise as well as anger. Consequently, on December 8, President Roosevelt held a Congress joint session in the Capitol and his address, he requested Congress to declare war against Japan ("Pearl Harbor," 1941). The Congress heeded to the presidents’ request, and on 8 th December 1994, America declared war against Japan. After three days, Japan’s allies Germany and Italy responded by declaring war against the U.S. The Congress responded the same day, and all the domestic opposition that existed previously to US entry into the war ceased. The result of this was the immersion of the United States in a war that the nation would conduct in both Pacific and Europe simultaneously. According to Record (2009), Japan launched an attack on Pearl Harbor following the decision of the U.S to cut off its exports to Japan in 1941 summer. 80 % of Japan oil came from the United States, and the decision of the Americans to cut off oil export to Japan meant that Japan would lack oil for its navy. By attacking Pearl Harbor, Japan hoped to destroy or cripple the Pacific fleet. By doing this, the Japanese thought that they would reign freely in the Pacific. The attack was also motivated by the idea of establishing an Asian co-prosperity sphere. In this case, Japan hoped to dominate and take possession of the Asian colonial holdings of the U.S and Europe. Japan thought that Europe would not have the capacity to defend their colonial holdings because the Dutch, French, and British were caught up in the European war. Eight hours after Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor; she also attacked US territorial possessions of the Wake, Guam, and Philippines islands as well as the British-held Malaya, Hong Kong and Singapore. Although the U.S had known of imminent attack somewhere in the Pacific from Japanese, the U.S government, as well as the military, thought that in the event of an attack from Japan, the most likely target points would be South Pacific, Philippines or anywhere near Japanese territory. Since Pearl Harbor was very far away from Japan (3,500 miles), the U.S did not think of the harbor as a potential target, and this is the reason why the attack came as a surprise to the U.S. 

Part 2 (interpretive analysis) 

Japanese had complete knowledge of America’s power when they attacked Pearl Harbor. Before the coming of Mathew C. Perry (American Commodore) to Japan’s shore in 1853, Japanese did not have lots of contact with the outside world as the country had restricted trade activities as well other interactions for 250 years. The coming of Perry marked the beginning of contact between Japan and the outside world. He ordered an open trade between Japan and the West. The arrival of Perry made Japan realize that they lagged behind the Western world (America and Europe) in terms of development. The onset of the Meiji Era in 1868 saw Japan begin sending people to America and Europe to learn everything that Japan would need to catch up with the west. Japan had limited resources at the time, and because of this fact, the Japanese needed natural resources and energy sources to industrialize so that it could catch up with the West. Europe had massive empires at this time, and Japan could view Europe’s power through these empires. 

In an attempt to establish their massive empires, the Japanese invaded and conquered Asian countries. The efforts to expand the Japanese empire were, however, threatened by the Americans after America cut off its oil export to Japan. Although Japan made diplomatic efforts to get the trade embargo imposed by the U.S lifted, they were prepared for war. At the time of embargo, Japan was in the race to take over desired territories, and oil was critical in this practice. By attacking Pearl Harbor, the Japanese thought that they would reign freely in the Pacific. The occupation of the U.S on the Philippines during the American-Spanish war as well as the act of U.S refusing to acknowledge the authority of Japan in China fueled resentment from the Japanese. Japan had imperial interest in the Pacific, especially the far western region but the Americans were threatening these interests through their infiltrations into the Pacific and especially at the same time when Japanese were vying to dominate the region. 

Most Americans thought that Japanese wanted to blow American planes and ships in an attempt to delay an attack from Americans, but this was not the truth because even if Japan did not bomb the American planes and ships, they would not leave the axis powers. The attack was heavily fueled by pressure from Germany and the Soviet Union. If the U.S had not fought Russia, Italy, and Germans, they would have probably won against the Japanese. Other people wondered how Japan managed to wage war with different countries, yet the country had limited resources. They even argue that Japan would have concentrated on growing its industries. Japan managed the war because the Japanese usually captured resources after invading other nations. This strategy worked for the Japanese at first as Japan occupied nearby countries. However, the U.S began recapturing the countries making Japan weaker. The oil embargo by the Americans made the Japanese realize that the U.S was capable of militarily opposing their much-anticipated expansion in the Pacific. Since the Japanese wanted to reign freely in the Pacific, they tried to catch the Americans sleeping. Pearl Harbor had been considered as very shallow to sustain an attack from torpedoes as the harbor had an average depth of 45 feet and hence, it was impossible for a torpedo attack since the airplane dropped torpedoes required an average depth of 75 feet. Although Pearl Harbor was considered by both Americans and Japanese as improbable to sustain an attack, Hawaiian Chief of Naval Operations had different thoughts. According to him, no harbor should be considered completely safe from an attack. These sentiments were true because Japan had developed the attack strategy and skill as well as technology to accomplish the impossible. The Japanese had conceived the idea of launching an attack on Pearl Harbor six months before the attack was launched. Since the Japanese perceived the American fleet as the deterrent for the Japanese to access the oil fields in Java, attacking Pearl Harbor was meant to destroy the American fleet in the Pacific. Americans were surprised by the attack as it was not expected since there was no formal declaration of the war. At the time of the attack, successful cryptanalysis, as well as effective cryptography, was at their infancy. Instead of focusing on the naval messages, cryptanalysts were focusing on the Japanese diplomatic traffic as they had been ordered. The cryptanalysts were also under-equipped, under-manned as well as under-funded. Americans should have gained an insight into an impending attack following the Japanese military accrual as well as the warning on radar messages to prevent the disaster that occurred on the Harbor. 

Before the attack, the U.S had no business to engage in WWII as it was not technically involved in any diplomatic conflict. America was also not ready to sacrifice the lives of its soldiers, especially remembering the atrocities from WWI. Americans thought that the war between Asia and Europe did not concern them, and thus, they had no business with it. Since war is a costly affair, Americans did not want to lose their resources by waging a war that does not concern them. The American Congress would not be willing to declare war unless Germans had complete dominance in Europe or a direct attack on the American spheres from Japan. The attack on Pearl Harbor resulted from oil embargos from the U.S, and thus, the war might not have ensued between the two nations hadn’t America imposed the embargo. However, there was an escalation of tension between the U.S and Japan throughout 1941. The tension was fueled by Japan occupying Indochina as well as the war with China bearing in mind that China was a close American ally. The Japanese government was totalitarian and had intentions of imposing its will on all East Asian people. This would not go well with the Americans and since Roosevelt did not want to engage in war with Japan, cutting off the supply of oil to Japan was the best move since much of Japanese crude oil, as well as refined oil products, came from the U.S. This meant that by cutting their oil supply, Americans would create a “bullet-proof freeze” on the Japanese. If the U.S had kept on sending oil to Japan, Japan would have continued expanding their empire in the Pacific. Eventually, it would be easy for them to attack American possessions in the Pacific since Japan would perceive America as an enemy empire. 

References 

"Blitz Chronology: Swift Stroke by Japanese Caught U.S. Forces Unawares."  Newsweek , vol. 18, no. 24, December 15, 1941, pp. 19-21. An early description of the first days of the Pacific war 

Gantenbein, James W., 1975, comp. And ed.  Documentary Background of World War II . New York: Octagon, D735.G25 

Hale, William Harlan. "After Pearl Harbor."  New Republic , vol. 105, no. 24, December 15, 1941, pp. 816-817. 

Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. (1941). Retrieved from https://www.historynet.com/pearl- harbor 

Pearl Harbor. (1941). Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise- to-world-power/us-wwii/a/pearl-harbor 

Record, J. (2009). Japan's decision for war in 1941 . Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute.