Following a series of shocking events of the second World War, the immense world power known as the “Home of the Brave” was inevitably forced to join in the war effort, by a drastic and detestable movement of war on their country by Japan. Japan at the time, was a somewhat struggling empire, looking to expand their influence and make its mark among a world of larger, more threatening nations. The road to war between Japan and the United States began in the 1930s, when differences over the country of China drove the two nations in opposing directions. Japan was on its march, further expanding its empire into China, and the United States was going to do all in its power to prevent it. 1

The struggle began in 1931, following the conquering of Manchuria, which until then had been a part of China. Succeeding this somewhat easy victory for Japan, the Japanese government decided in 1937, to begin a long and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to conquer the remaining regions of China. By 1938, Japan occupied much of China and had taken Nanking, longtime capital of China, where Japanese troops killed more than 42,000 civilians. The Chinese government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, h

In June of 1940, Germany conquered France, and British troops that had been in France retreated across the English Channel. Then German bombers began to pound Britain. That same month, the United States started supplying Britain with “all aid short of war” to help the British defend themselves against Germany. President Roosevelt asked Congress for more funds for national defense. Congress complied and began the first American peacetime military draft, the Selective Training and Service Act, under which more than 16 million men were registered. After the 1940 election, Roosevelt urged that the United States become “the great arsenal of democracy.” In 1941 he and British prime minister Winston Churchill announced the Atlantic Charter, which set forth Allied goals for World War II and the postwar period. These two nations pledged to respect “the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live” and promised a free world without war “after the final destruction of Nazi tyranny.” In that same year, the Japanese government allied their country with Nazi Germany in the Axis Alliance. The fact that the U.S. was assisting nations which Japan was allied against, only made their aggression grow stronger towards America. 4

Tojo and other Japanese military leaders realized that only the United States Navy was powerful enough to block Japan’s expansion in Asia. Tojo had already decided that Japan’s only solution to was to go to war against America. The problem with Japan’s plan of overtaking areas of Asia, was the danger posed by the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which was based at Pearl Harbor. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese fleet, began to devise a plan to immobilize the U.S. fleet at the outset of the war with a surprise attack. 9

The majority of people in the United States thought that their country should stay out of World War II, yet most Americans hoped for an Allied victory. Roosevelt and other interventionists urged all aid "short of war" to nations fighting the allied Axis. They argued that an Axis victory would endanger democracies everywhere. Isolationists, on the other hand, opposed U.S. aid to warring nations. They accused Roosevelt of steering the nation into a war it was not prepared to fight by getting involved in foreign affairs. 8

Some topics in this essay:
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