Business paper
chrrot
pearlharborroughdraft_comments.docxRunning head: PEARL HARBOR 1
PEARL HARBOR 10
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Christina Rothstein
HIST 465
UMUC
November 23, 2015
Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Avoid headings such as this in a paper so short. Comment by Christy Rothstein:
Introduction
December 7, 1941, a memorable date in the history of America and Japan, a date marking a major attack on American soil and a date of the brilliant attack tactic by the Japanese. This was the date when the Pearl Harbor attack took place. This attack was a surprise attack carried by the Empire of Japan on America’s military harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: This introduction needs further development, what is your thesis?
Causes of the attack
The Attack on Pearl Harbor, which was carried out through planes, took place on December 7, 1941, taking place in two waves through planes. The first plane hit its target at exactly 7:53 AM, while the second wave successfully striking struck at 8:55 AM. By 9:55 AM, the attack had been accomplished. The attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor was instigated by numerous reasons. These reasons are as follows: Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Paragraph needs further development
The first reason was the escalating tension between the two countries. This tension was brought about as a result of the U.S.American placed sanctions on the Japanese supply of oil, steel and metal due to their refusal to stop taking over more territories. This resulted in a cut of supplies of important commodities to Japan. This made Japan run short on options and the only option they had was to go to war with the U.S.United States in order to lift the embargo and protect its survival/ and be self-sufficient. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: citations needed Comment by Dan Ballentyne: always write out
The second reason was based on the Japanese assumption that the port at Pearl Harbor would hinder their conquering plans and “\expansionist policy”. . Their plan was to conquer Asia-Pacific regions like Malaya, Philippines, Burma among others. In order to go on with their plans and policies, the Japanese decided to launch an attack on Pearl Harbor as a precautionary measure. This attack was also meant to destroy the U.S.United States Pacific Fleet so they could not fight the Japanese, keeping them from the invasion in Asia-Pacific territory.
The attack was also meant to give the Japanese enough time to build up their army and fight off the U.S., inAmerican attempts of hindering their plans on the Asian region. It was also aimed at giving the Japanese empire a better strategic position that would enable them to fight the U.S.’sAmerican invasion attempts (Gailey, 1995). Comment by Dan Ballentyne: This paragraph needs further development, also, you need to make it clear how this is different from the previous paragraph, because that is not clear.
Another cause was the battle for supremacy in Asia and the Pacific. Here, the Japanese wanted to show that they had superiority of Asia-Pacific region. The U.S.’sAmeircan presence in the region was seen as a threat to their superiority and a catalyst to the involvement in Asia-Pacific affairs. The only option they had was to fight and destroy the naval base at Pearl Harbor. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Needs expansion and citation...Why attack Hawaii and not the Philippines under these circumstances?
Sour diplomatic relations between the two countries was also another potential cause of the attack. The U.S.United STates was worried about Japans military growth rate and its declaration of war against China. Japan's military was growing at a high rate and the country was become a threat to global peace. The U.S.’sAmerican attempts to hold talks with Japan were futile as Japan went ahead and called off diplomatic relations with the U.S.United States. This sour relation later led to the attack at Pearl Harbor since the two countries were no longer diplomatic partners (Richardson, 2005). Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Relations continued until the attack.
The attack
The Pearl Harbor attack was a surprise attack that took place on Sunday, December 7, 1941 just before 8 a.m. It was carried out by a fleet of 700 seven hundred Japanese planes, numerous bombers and use of torpedostorpedoes; it lasted for nearly two hours but was really destructive. It was aimed on the United States naval base in Hawaii. The fleet arrived at Pearl Harbor without the knowledge of U.S.the American naval commanders based in the Harbor. The attack saw the sinking of nearly 8 eight American battleships, and 20 twenty naval vessels, as well as destroying nearly 300 three hundred aircrafts, killed more than 2000 two thousand American soldiers and 400 four hundred sailors, and wounded 1000 one thousand others (Hilary Conroy, 1990). Comment by Dan Ballentyne: For a paper on the attack, this makes it seem more like an afterthought, consider adding more about the attack itself. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: check this, those numbers sound inverted
Aftermath of the attack
The attack led to the declaration of war against Japan by the U.S.United States Congress just a day after the attack. The then U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed in the declaration of war on Japan passed by the congress Congress with only one neigh nay vote. The signing of this declaration led to the formation of a coalition between the USA United States and the Allied side. America The United States had now joined World War II. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Needs expansion
On the other hand, Germany and Italy came together in support of Japan (December 11, 1941). The three countries joined hands and formed the Axis powers coalition. Through their dictator rulers, Italy and Germany officially declared war on Americathe United States. The three countries (Germany, Italy, and Japan) believed that all the other nations were inferior and that they were the dominant states in their regions/spheres. Germany's reason to joined this pact and support Japan was based on the fact that it also wanted Japan's support against the Soviet union Union in Eurasia. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: This does not make sense in this context. For there to be another hand, there must be a first hand. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Citations needed Comment by Dan Ballentyne: The Axis Alliance already existed
Why was the attack successful?
The attack on Pearl Harbor was successful because of a number of reasons. some of which are explained below: To begin with First, the success of the attack is attributed to the inability/lateness of the U.S. state State department Department to decode a message sent to the Japanese Ambassador to the U.S.United States The intercepted message took a long time to be decoded thus giving the Japanese the upper-hand in the attack since the Americans had no knowledge of the impending danger awaiting them. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Citations and evidence needed here.
The second reason is linked to the belief that Japan would never start a war with the United States. It was impossible to believe that war would breakout between America United States and Japan on American soil. Intelligence officials were convinced that if an attack was to take place it had to be in one of the American bases in South Pacific. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Expansion/citations needed
The attack was also a success since the Japanese had one goal/aim linked to the attack; this goal was the total destruction of the naval base at Pearl Harbor. They had the whole base surrounded by their soldiers and aircrafts. This had the soldiers at the Harbor defenseless, prone to attack and prepared a relative environment for the Japanese to launch their attack. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: citation/expansion needed. You must also deal with the fact that the primary targets of the attack and the major shore facilities were not destroyed.
America’s response after the attack
Despite the fact that the attack was a major blow to the United States government and citizens as a whole, the country rapidly responded to the attack. Citizens were outraged and mourned for the loss of their loved ones. They wanted justice to be served and revenge to be carried out. The public outcry led to a nations address by the then American President Roosevelt. Roosevelt addressed the congress and went ahead to declare December 7th 7 as a “date that will leave in infamy.” This address led to the declaration of war against Japan.
Another response was based on the lost trust on Japanese-Americans during that period. The government authorized search warrants for Japanese resident areas and confiscation of any material that looked suspicious or dangerous. This saw the confiscation of numerous household items that could be used to investigate or link some people to the attack at Pearl Harbor.
President Roosevelt also went ahead and signed “Executive Order 9066” which had terms that required all Japanese living in America to be kept in internment camps. This order declared selective areas of the country to be out of bounds to people of certain ethnicities for the purposes of national security. It was meant to prevent spies from conducting their activities. This order increased American discrimination against their Japanese-American counterparts. This order also prompted a few Japanese-American citizens to launch cases in courts in retaliation to the order. Some won the cases while others did not and had no other option than to live in the internment camps. This resulted to the confinement of around 110,000 Japanese-Americans in the camps during the duration of the war (Satterfield, 1992).
Another speculation of the U.S.’sAmerican response to the Pearl Harbor attack is that of the dropping of two atomic bombs at Hiroshima & Nagasaki in Japan. Although this speculation maybe incorrect it may also have a strong attachment and some aspects of truth. This is because even if the attack was some years after the attack at Pearl Harbor, it came after the Pearl Harbor attack and was considered as a revenge on Japan for the lives lost at Pearl. Allied forces decided to use atomic weapons on Japan as a strategy to them it down. They used the weapons on account that it would help them avoid carrying massive invasion on innocent people. Troop invasion was also seen as a tactic that would require massive funding and maintenance, they therefore opted to use the atomic weapons to save on expenses and loss of millions of lives. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Do not speculation. If you cannot prove it, don't make the argument.
The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing had a great impact and hurt Japan's strength and functionality as a nation. This is because these two towns were the main centers and backbones of Japan’s ports and arms supplies to their military. As military bases, it meant that there were few civilians in these two locations, who were only acting as suppliers and service providers to the military camps. Therefore if the towns were to be attacked, many of those who would lose their lives would be soldiers and not civilians. This was in accordance with the war laws which rejected attack on innocent civilians or unarmed communities during war period. Therefore the attack was not an act of terror to the Japanese empire but a retaliatory attack on its army bases and naval ports. During those two attacks, many lives were lost but many more were that would have surely been lost had the U.S. and its allies invaded the mainland.
Connection of Pearl Harbor attack to World War II
The U.S.United States had done everything it could to lure the Japanese into attacking them. The U.S. United Statesmight have used the Pearl Harbor attack as a catalyst to join World War II, since it was already supporting the allies through funding, meaning that it was looking for a ways of getting fully into the war. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: You definitely need to prove this. That is quite a claim to have no support
The Pearl Harbor attack is not seen as the reason for the emergence of World War II, but as the game changer of the war. This is because this attack led to the involvement of the U.S.United States in the war. Before the attack, the U.S.United States was not directly involved in the war but was a side-ally funding the allied states and supplying them with machinery. The attack was what caused the U.S.United Staets to officially join the war. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Much of this is redundant to what you have discussed before. Consolidate them. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: by whom?
With America’s involvement, the war continued for another four years and ended on a high note with victory over Japan and later Germany (Hilary Conroy, 1990). Comment by Dan Ballentyne: A sentence is not a paragraph Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Germany surrendered first.
Lessons learned
The attack provided a base for America to come up with numerous solutions and methods of preventing such an attack to happen again. These solutions and methods include: Comment by Dan Ballentyne: This should all be in paragraph form.
· Improved strategic intelligence
· After the attack at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. made efforts and put in place plans to improve the system of strategic intelligence. This move was meant to increase levels of preparedness and alert when there is an impending attack or information about the same (Morella, 2012).
· Assessing enemy’s capabilities
· The intelligence of the world as a whole was also improved and technique of ranging the capabilities of enemies introduced. The attack at Pearl Harbor contributed to intelligence improvement in the world especially throughout the period of Cold War (1947-1991) (Progress, 2015).
· These improvements included the ability of a nation to estimate an enemy’s threat and provide warnings early enough to prevent the impacts/effects of an attack.
Conclusion
This paper clearly explains the historic events associated with the Pearl Harbor attack. It gives accounts on how the events unfolded and the results of the attack. In an attempt to justify the details of the attack the paper gives reasons why the attack was successful. It also airs out the U.S.’sAmerican reaction after the attack by providing numerous evidences of the steps taken by the U.SAmerican government then. The link between the Pearl Harbor attack and World War II is also highlighted in this paper though various evidences of how one led to the other. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: As a conclusion, this does not work. Do not say what the paper did, sum up your case.
The reason for the escalation of the World War II and its end are also outlined in this paper. This helps prove that indeed the Pearl Harbor attack was the catalytic reason for United States of America to officially join World War II. Comment by Dan Ballentyne: Needs expansion
It also touches on the details of World War II by giving information about the Allied forces and the Axis powers and how these coalitions came into existence. Information of declaration of war by German, Italy, America and others is also outlined. In its final stages, this paper gives examples of a few measures put in place by the U.S. and other countries in the world as precautions for attacks from enemies. The point proven throughout this paper is that it’s of great importance for a country to have attack-prevention techniques/plans for its territories. Intelligence reports should also be taken with great precaution and acted upon accordingly.
The paper also shows the importance of cordial relationships between countries even during hard times. Peace talks between countries and in attempts to settle disputes and misunderstanding is advocated for as its seen as the best option in conflict prevention and resolution as compared to war.
References
Gailey, H. A. (1995). The War in The Pacific. In From Pearl Harbor To Tokyo Bay (pp. 54-98). Presidio Press. Hilary Conroy, H. W. (1990). Pearl Harbor Examined: Prologue to The Pacific War. University of Hawaii Press. Morella, M. (2012, January 6). How AmericaChanged After Pearl Harbor. pp. 5-12. Progress, T. D. (2015, November 9). 70 Years Later. Has U.S Learned Lessons From Pearl Harbour? Richardson, K. (2005, December 7). Reflection On Pearl Harbor. An Oral History of December 7th 1941 . Satterfield, A. (1992). The Day The War Began. Praeger. Prange, G.(1981). Donald M. Goldstein, and Katherine V. Dillon. At dawn we slept: The untold story of Pearl Harbor. New York: McGraw-Hill. Wallin, Homer N. "PEARL HARBOR: Why, How, Fleet Salvage, Final Appraisal." Naval Engineers Journal 80.6 (1968): 897-900. Collins, T. (2014). Surprise Attack!: Nickolas Flux and the Attack on Pearl Harbor. London, UK: Capstone,.
