Pearl Harbor Raid 7 December 1941

Disputes With Japan Beginning in 1940, Japan was allied with Germany & Italy as one of the Axis powers By 1940 U.S. relations with Japan were becoming increasingly strained Reason: Japan’s invasion of China & territorial ambitions to extend its conquests to Southeast Asia

Disputes With Japan Hitler’s success in Europe provided an opportunity for Japanese expansion into the Southeast Asia (British Burma, French Indochina) Territories held as colonies by European nations now available Europe was too busy with Hitler to worry about Japan

U.S. Economic Action When Japan joined the Axis in September 1940, FDR responded by prohibiting the export of steel and scrap iron to all countries except Britain and nations of the Western Hemisphere By 1941, FDR stopped Japanese access to U.S. oil (embargo)

Negotiations If the U.S. embargo on oil did not end, Japan would be forced to extend its conquests by taking oil resources in the Dutch East Indies US wanted Japan pull its troops out of China, which Japan refused to do Violation of Open Door Policy

Negotiations Several negotiation attempts were made, but a resolution was not found FDR’s military advisers hoped that an armed confrontation with Japan could be delayed until U.S. armed forces in the Pacific were sufficiently strong

Why did Japan Attack America? Japan was trying to become the dominant power in East Asia and the Pacific They had invaded China in 1933 & were preparing to conquer Indochina, Malaysia & the Pacific Islands for access to raw materials U.S. had been growing steadily more opposed to the Japanese expansion Japan knew if they attacked those other countries the U.S. might go to war to stop them Japan decided to attack first They hoped they could cripple us so we could not oppose them while they grabbed as much territory as they could

Attack on Pearl Harbor Carefully-planned & well-executed attack removed the U.S. Navy’s battleship force The US Navy was a possible threat to the Japanese Empire’s southward expansion The Pacific Fleet of the U.S. Navy was anchored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Attack at Pearl Harbor America was unprepared & considerably weakened Attack caused the U.S. to formally enter WWII Memory of “sneak attack” fueled a U.S. determination to fight

Attack at Pearl Harbor On December 7, 1941, while most American sailors were still asleep in their bunks, Japanese planes from aircraft carriers flew over Pearl Harbor and began bombing

Attack at Pearl Harbor Lasted less than 2 hours 2,403 Americans were killed (including over 1,100 when the battleship Arizona sank) 68 civilians were killed Almost 1,200 were wounded Approximately 150 airplanes were destroyed 20 warships were sunk