Possible Reasons For Japan's Attack On Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was something that America will never forget. It was so big that it led America to declaring war on Japan. Why was it so big? On that day, Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor, the U.S. naval base and ended up killing 2,403 people and injured another 1,178, while destroying eight ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and 347 aircraft (TCI). However, there is still a mystery about this attack. What was the motive of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor? There is some evidence of possible reasons that may have led to Japan bombing Pearl Harbor. There are three evident reasons as seen from evidence in multiple documents from multiple sources: Japan wanted a new world order, Japan and America had dwindling
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The expansion of the fleet was mentioned in the timeline from Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War, where the timeline stated that the U.S. said that the fleet size would triple by 1944, and Hideki Tojo also mentioned the U.S. fleet expansion while expressing the worries of the United States being a dangerous threat while also making Japan suffer. Japan could have specifically attacked Pearl Harbor because the U.S. had moved their naval base to Pearl Harbor in 1940, as seen in the timeline. Next, knowing that the U.S. wanted to triple the size of the fleet, and Japan may have felt that America would get too strong if the fleet actually was able to expand that greatly, so they needed a way to weaken America’s navy. This fear is expressed by Hideki Tojo, where he states, “When I think about the strengthening of American defenses in the Southwest Pacific, the expansion of the American fleet, … I see no end to difficulties…” (Iriye, 1999). Bombing would wreak havoc and cause damages to the fleet, and catching the United States by surprise would give a smaller chance of the planes being shot down, meaning that bombing Pearl Harbor would not only weaken the expanding U.S. navy, but the Japanese could get away with the attack unharmed. This probably made Japan feel that attacking Pearl Harbor would be beneficial and necessary, therefore giving the possibility of Japan bombing Pearl Harbor for the reason of the U.S. expanding their
The expansion of the fleet was mentioned in the timeline from Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War, where the timeline stated that the U.S. said that the fleet size would triple by 1944, and Hideki Tojo also mentioned the U.S. fleet expansion while expressing the worries of the United States being a dangerous threat while also making Japan suffer. Japan could have specifically attacked Pearl Harbor because the U.S. had moved their naval base to Pearl Harbor in 1940, as seen in the timeline. Next, knowing that the U.S. wanted to triple the size of the fleet, and Japan may have felt that America would get too strong if the fleet actually was able to expand that greatly, so they needed a way to weaken America’s navy. This fear is expressed by Hideki Tojo, where he states, “When I think about the strengthening of American defenses in the Southwest Pacific, the expansion of the American fleet, … I see no end to difficulties…” (Iriye, 1999). Bombing would wreak havoc and cause damages to the fleet, and catching the United States by surprise would give a smaller chance of the planes being shot down, meaning that bombing Pearl Harbor would not only weaken the expanding U.S. navy, but the Japanese could get away with the attack unharmed. This probably made Japan feel that attacking Pearl Harbor would be beneficial and necessary, therefore giving the possibility of Japan bombing Pearl Harbor for the reason of the U.S. expanding their