Pearl Harbor

Just before 8 on the day of December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours.

The Japanese managed to destry 20 American naval vessels, includin eight enormous battleships and 200 airplanes.

Pearl Harbor

More than 2,000 soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded.

The day after the assualt, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked congress to declare war on Japan. Congress approved his decision with just one dissenting vote. Three days later, Japanese allies Germany and Italy declared war on the United states, and again congress reciprocated. More than two years into the conflict and the United States joined World War ll.

Japan and the United States had been edging toward war for decades. The United States were unhappy with the increasingly belligerent attitude toward China. No one believed the Japanese would start the war with an attack on American Territory. Hawaii was 4,000 miles from Japan. American intelligence officials were confident that any Japanese attack would take place in the (relatively) nearby European colonies in the South Pacific. Since the military leaders were not expecting an attack so close to home, the naval facilities at Pearl Harbor were relatively undefended. Alsmot the entire South Pacific Fleet was moored around Ford Island.

Tinka Tucker

Primary source: www.history.com/topics/pearl-harbor