The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was part of war plans to seize
control of resources throughout the Pacific for that country.
Simultaneous to the surprise bombing of the American fleet at Pearl
Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, attacks were launched in the Philippines and
Southeast Asia.
Thanks to takeover of the Japanese government in the mid-1930s by a
militaristic government, the national policy was to acquire access to
natural resources through military force. Japan had already been at
war in China for several years as part of a plan to give the country
access to oil, rubber and other natural resources. Because of its war
in China, the U.S. had tried diplomatic and economic sanctions against
Japan, including barring the sale of American oil and steel to Japan.
From a military standpoint, Japanese Adm. Yamamoto Isoroku hoped to
achieve a strategic coup by catching at least two of three American
aircraft carriers in Pearl Harbor. The Japanese navy had 7 aircraft
carriers and a substantial fleet of battleships as well, so
destruction of the American fleet would open the Pacific to military
action. Isoroku had spent time studying in the U.S., so he knew that
an early decisive blow was necessary to overcome the long-term
American advantage in the ability to produce war material.
The plan was to sweep the American military from the Phillipines,
Midway, and Wake Island after a pre-emptive strike at Pearl Harbor.
The attack was a success in achieving surprise, sinking a number of
battleships and cruisers – but the aircraft carriers were not in port.
The response was a declaration of war by the United States against
Japan. Germany also declared war on the U.S., putting the United
States in a two-ocean war. The response of the population was a mix
of activity and fear, not too dissimilar from what happened after
Sept. 11, 2002 in the United States.
Enlistment in the military was overwhelming. So too, was the fear of
Japanese Americans.
"Farewell to Manzanar" refers to one of the 10 internment camps set up
in remote areas of the American west to house 120,000
Japanese-Americans from California, Oregon, Washington. The National
Park Service has an excellent site with pictures and background,
"The War Relocation Camps of World War II: When Fear was Stronger than
Justice" (Oct. 10, 2002):
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/89manzanar/89manzanar.htm
Though Hawaii was the point of attack, there was no mass internment
there, as this Hawaii School Reports site notes, "Internment in Hawaii
and the Mainland" (undated):
http://www.hawaiischoolreports.com/history/internment.htm
Some additional resources:
Blue Hill Public School
"Why Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor?" (undated)
http://www.esu9.k12.ne.us/%7Ebluehill/DP/Pearl_Harbor/Pearl_harbor_home.html
or
http://www.esu9.org/~bluehill/DP/Pearl_Harbor/Why.html
"Pearl Harbor Attack," Sarah Dufort, Dominic Fatore, Josh Mattingly,
Ray Zedler (undated):
http://www.pitt.edu/~jcm11/NavalResearch/pearlharbor.html
I.E.
"Sins of Omission" (undated)
http://www.ieteen.org/extra/extra0701b.html
"What If? The World's Foremost Historians Imagine What Might Have
Been," Robert Cowley, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1999.
"No End Save Victory," Robert Cowley, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2001.
Google search strategy:
Japan + "Pearl Harbor" + "United States"
U.S. + Japan + internment + Hawaii
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA |
