Why Japan Introduced the U.S Into the Pacific War

Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941 is a wartime event that will not soon be forgotten. As President Roosevelt stated, it is a “date that will live in infamy.” The Pearl Harbor attack shocked the U.S and killed 3,000 U.S soldiers, and crippled a number of U.S battleships; however, the Japanese failed to hit U.S aircraft carriers that were absent from the base on the 7th of December.

Yet, missing these U.S powerhouses wasn’t the only flaw that the Japanese mens ralph lauren polo shirts government made in their decision to go to war. Japan from the start had only a miniscule chance of successfully combating the U.S in a full on war. Japan even relied on the U.S heavily for resources such as petroleum and oil; resources that the Netherlands wouldn’t fully grant despite U.S resistance to supply Japan with it during their war with China in the 1930s. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident Japan launched into conflict with China; a conflict that didn’t soon end. On the contrary, the war went on and on, draining Japan of manpower and resources.

However, the U.S, Japan’s greatest supplier of oil and other wartime resources was able to (without violating agreements with ot ralph lauren sweatshirts her Western nations) to put an embargo on oil, aviation fuel, and petroleum. The U.S disapproved of the war with China and the further expansion of Japanese control Asia. Not only had Japan worked its way through a significant portion of China, it had begun looking to the Dutch East Indies and Hong Kong, among other near locations.

This continued expansion angered the U.S, and despite several diplomatic meetings the Japanese and Americans were unable to come to any sort of mutual agreement. Simply put, Japan and America had completely different ideological standpoints and they were completely incompatible. After a final attempt, and not reaching the goal of a December 1st agreement (Lu, 1997, pg 426), the Japanese launched into war. Nevertheless, diplomatic differences cannot entirely be credited for the initiation of war with the U.S, there are a number of other reasons as well. As previously mentioned, oil was a huge reason. Japan knew the power of oil, and that their need for it was great.

Furt hermore, since Japan is an island nation, oil isn’t the only resource that has to be imported. The U.S was also able to deprive Japan of metals, engines, airplanes, and the previously mentioned aviation fuel. U.S embargos created an atmosphere of desperation as levels of oil and other resources dwindled. Japan could either go to war with the U.S, or burn out though lack of resources and no action taken to get them back. Japan, along with the U.S and their infamous Pearl Harbor debacle, was also guilty of miscalculating their actions, and misunderstanding their opponents. Upon making their move deeper into Indo-China Japan assumed that the oil they so desperately needed would become readily available. Additionally, the Japanese never took into account that they would be at odds with the Russians. It was assumed that the Russians had their own issues and would stay out of the war with Japan.

Neither of these assumptions proved true, and thus both caused significant problems for Japan. These misguided assumptions, in addition to the fact that Japanese pride and intense nationalism fueled war efforts even when Japan was visibly against the odds, caused Japan to suffer in the wartime arena. This overconfidence came from previous ralph lauren outlet storeJapanese victories in Russia and their numerous successes in China. It also caused the Japanese to view their position as more powerful than it actually was. More specifically, Japan anticipated more favorable circumstances for themselves. For one, Commander Yamamoto (Commander of the attack on Pearl Harbor) assumed that a quick strike on the Pearl Harbor, Hawaii naval base would cripple the Pacific U.S naval fleet leaving Japan in an advantageous position within the area. Additionally, it deemed the U.S too militarily weak, due to depression and lack of unity to, fight Germany on one front and Japan on another.

In reality, the U.S had military force to spare and could easily fight on both fronts. In reality, Japan only wanted to create a ‘sphere’ of security for themselves. Since they lacked the resources that other countries could provide for themselves, they sought to expand their holdings to lands that could provide these things for them. Successfully creating this ‘sphere’ would finally put an end to the inequality that had been faced since the day Commodore Perry’s brought his warships to Japan. However, Japan’s goals were torn apart with WWII. The bombing of Pearl Harbor brought an angry and united America into the war. Not only that, but Japan had failed to hit U.S Pacific Fleet Aircraft carriers and U.S Navy oil stores at the Pearl Harbor base. Ultimately, Japan’s haste in creating a wide scale war was its downfall.