What were the events that led to the japense attack on Pearl Harbor?
What were the events that led to the japense attack on Pearl Harbor?
Japan is not a resource-rich country and so to sustain itself, it needed oil and food resources. Japan's expansionist policies would eventually lead to Japan's hegemony in Asia and the Pacific. In 1939, Japan had already controlled Manchuria and was at war with China.
Explanation
After forming the Tripartite pact with Germany and Italy, Japan was standing formally against the Allied powers. Japan had two plans the Northern and the Southern Plan. According to the Northern Plan, the army would attack communist Russia, its biggest enemy in Asia via Manchuria. This attack would give them land and resources in Siberia along with important cities of China. The Southern plan would allow the navy to control the colonies in south-east Asia and secure abundant resources. The border skirmishes with Ussr did not go well with the Japanese army, and the Northern Plan failed. Hostilities escalated when in 1941, the US placed oil embargo against Japan and would remove only when Japan surrendered its Asian possessions.
The Japanese navy considered the US as its arch-enemy and went ahead with its southern plan, which could not be accomplished without dragging the USA. The war between Japan and the USA became inevitable, Japan was sure it could not last long against the USA, so to wanted to strike them down with a single decisive strike. With the US navy down the Japanese thought, they would be able to attack south-east and secure its oil, mineral and steel resources. Though many in the Japanese Government were against this attack, the navy went ahead and shot the pearl harbour, killing more than 2,403 US personnel and bringing the USA directly into the war.
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