What was Japan's motivation for attacking Pearl Harbor?
2007-04-12 15:37:49 · 6 answers · asked by Hi 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
I answered a similar question about a week ago :
"Wh's responsible for pearl harbor?" : http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuhUsH9S.bsAe2KBbiR2kEQjzKIX?qid=20070402162414AAelsYT
And a quick search turn up *47* Pearl Harbor questions in the last month!
In short : the US economic sanctions were hurting, and the imperial navy was in danger of losing her source for fuel.
2007-04-12 15:50:33 · answer #1 · answered by Erik Van Thienen 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The "they retaliated over oil" answer is too simplistic.
Yes, the US had enacted a trade embargo regarding oil. But the US was hardly the only source of oil in the world. The Japanese had been trying to expand their empire. One of the reason for this expansion was to secure their own resources. Japan is not a particularly resource rich nation, and they were heavily dependent on outside trade.
They had decided to take territories to eliminate this outside dependency. One of the regions they wanted to take the the Phillipines. But since this was a US territory at the time, they knew they'd have to go to war with the US to take it.
The plan was to attack Pearl Harbor and crush the US fleet before could interfere in the Japanese plans. It was hoped that if they hit them hard enough, the US would simply stay home and leave the Japanese to take the Pacific.
But since it turned into a sneak attack, through a series of errors and accidents, the US was angered to a point where it probably wouldn't have mattered how much damage they did.
2007-04-13 17:59:25 · answer #2 · answered by rohak1212 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was the pressure the United States put on Japan by cutting off their fuel supply.
2007-04-12 22:54:47 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
As we know that Japan had become a world power, so in order to have the mastery of the pacific they needed to get the U.S. fleet out of the way. this website can give information about all WWII events.
2007-04-13 01:43:25 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is not motivation but a NECESSITY due to the oil embrago by US. They need to get oil and other natural resources from SE Asia by occupying them which war with United States. And to win a war with US, they need to strike first on US naval post and sink all battleships and carrier.
2007-04-12 23:43:58 · answer #5 · answered by bolehtahan 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It was an act of retaliation since we cut off the oil supply.
2007-04-12 22:52:43 · answer #6 · answered by Bernard W 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋