The path to problems between Japan and America started many years before the attack, in the 1930's when Japan tried to conquer all of China. This was partially successful, with Manchuria and all of Indochina falling to Japanese rule (Infamy). At the same time, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto felt it necessary to develop a powerful naval air force to combat its enemies since joining Nazi Germany and the Axis Alliance (Infamy). America, alarmed by the imperialistic moves that Japan was making, decided to support China financially and militarily. America developed a p

On November 26, 1941, the large Japanese fleet left the Kurile Islands near Japan for Hawaii (The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor). To achieve a complete element of surprise, the fleet sailed under radio silence and took a northerly route to avoid coming in contact with any civil or merchant ships. By dawn of December 7th, 1941, the entire Japanese fleet reached their destination of a point 200 miles from Oahu undetected. Many people claim to have had a bad feeling on that fateful morning. That might have stemmed from the previous day when U.S. officials intercepted a message sent from Japan to various embassies around the world ordering them to destroy all decoders and secret documents. While the Japanese fleet was silently waiting for dawn off the coast of Oahu, some American officials played any the chance of an attack on Pearl Harbor, which had been rumored. Officials said it would be impossible to torpedo the fleet because the water was too shallow. Officials also said that the new, untested radar system that had just been installed would easily pick up an oncoming threat miles before it reached the island. There had been such rigorous training and preparation for the attack that the Japanese had already taken care of the problems. Japanese engineers invented an attachable wooden fin device that made it possible for torpedoes to be effective in shallow water. They had connections and intelligence from Oahu that contained detailed maps and diagrams of the harbor and its contents. Unfortunately, America was always one step behind the Japanese.

As said by F.D.R., the day that will live in infamy forever remains a bitter reminder of the destructive machine called war. America would never be the same after that day, and there wasn’t a happy ending to the story. Only more violence, death, and destruction took place. With Germany and Italy declaring war on America, the United States was in store for a long, bloody war that the whole world was tangled up in. Had it not been for this single attack, the course that the war would have taken might have been completely different, and the status of superpower could have been achieved by different nations than ones that did.

In October of 1941, Commander Minotu Genda gave the final go ahead to Yamamoto’s plan, which was to be commanded by Admiral Chuichi Naguro. Six Imperial Japanese Navy carriers were to be used: The Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiru, Zuikaku, and the Shokaku. Twenty-four other vessels were to be present for support. A separate fleet of submarines was to destroy any American ships that managed to escape the harbor.

Some topics in this essay:
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