What possible alternate scenarios do you think would have developed had Japan not attacked Pearl Harbor?

Answer 1

~It is a foolish and inane question. US foreign policy at the time compelled a Japanese reaction. With Washington siding with Great Britain on trade and military restrictions designed to keep the Japanese poor, subservient and desperate for resources controlled by Washington and London, the Japanese had two choices: stagnate and wither as a viable nation or go to war. The only question was when and where would the war with the US begin. In actuality, WWII was almost a decade old in the Pacific by December 7, 1941. After Pearl, more people came to the dance and the name changed but the Pacific war had been raging between the Japanese and Chinese for years and the Brits and the US had been involved.

The Flying Tigers were the first US WWII vets, but they couldn't claim the distinction because the US refused to officially acknowledge we were involved. The Soviets had comparable units in China. The Germans were in China originally but later switched allegiances and then side with the Rising Sun. The only plausible alternate scenario would be the US and Britain (and to a lesser degree, the Soviets and French) having treated Japan throughout the '20s and '30s as an equal in the community of nations - and that simply was not going to happen. Even then, the conflict between China, Japan and Korea would likely have escalated and at some point, the Kuriles, Mongolia and Siberia would have been contested. Once Indonesia, Malaya and the mid-Pacific islands became involved, as they would have been, Britain and then the US would have responded.

Rather than worry about alternate scenarios that can only happen in comic books, why not explore the real underlying causes of the war, compare them to the events of today (like Afghanistan and Iraq) and do what you can - at the polls or in the streets - to stop it from happening again. There are very good reasons that folks want to fly planes into buildings, just as there were very good reasons for Tojo and Yamamoto to want to take out the US Pacific fleet in one fell swoop.

Seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. History remains an excellent teacher, and the class remains too ignorant, too lazy or too chauvinistic to learn. So it goes.

Do some reading, but not on this site. Barbarossa was launched in June, '41 a full six months ahead of Pearl. Pearl had nothing to do with the German decision to attack the Soviets and the Soviets were gearing up for their own attack on Germany. The US, having voted to retain the draft by one vote a few months earlier, was not a consideration. US weapons were inferior to anything the Germans and Soviets (and British, for that matter) had in the field. US military technology and tactics lagged years behind both the Soviets and the Germans and Japanese naval power dwarfed that of the US. German, Soviet and Japanese troops were hardened and batttle tested while their US counterparts were grossly outnumbered babes in the woods rookies who had never sniffed the smell of hostile cordite in the air. The Tri-Partite treaty did not require Hitler to declare war on the US. (It was more of a European Monroe Doctrine than an agreement to go to war.) The Nazis did not exist in 1917, let alone take part in WWI.

Had Hitler not commenced Barbarosa and Blue, Great Britain would have been defeated and the US would not have been involved in war in Europe, at least until the inevitable war between the Soviets and Germans began - at which time it would have been a toss-up as to which side the US would have joined.

The "Holocaust" was a non-issue and contrary to what is politally correct, the holocaust was much more far-reaching than a campaign against the Jews, who represent a minority of the 18 million who died in the camps (and the millions of other Slavs, Poles, Serbs, Russians, Romas and other victims who remain unrecorded because they never got to the camps. Stalin won the war in Europe at Stalingrad without US or British help. 10 million dead Soviet troops (men and women) and 15 million dead Soviet civilians beat Hitler, not 350 thousand US kias (in Europe and the Pacific combined). Sorry Audie Murphy: you may deserve your medals but you, Bradley, Patton, Eisenhower, Montgomery and the boys didn't really have that much to do with the outcome in the general scheme of things.

The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were dropped not to save American lives but to let Stalin and Mao know we had them and would use them (the Pentagon chose to ignore Nimitz, McArthur and Eisenhower, who all said it was unnecessary and/or a mistake to use them and to ignore Oppenheimer's plea that they be dropped on military rather than civilian (or better still, uninhabitted) targets. When Stalin upheld his treaty obligations of the Tehran Conference and declared war on Japan after the fall of Berlin and started marching through Manchuria at a faster and more devastating clip than Sherman slashed through Georgia, he had to be reigned in. The bombs were intended for that purpose (Japan having sent peace feelers out a couple weeks before Little Boy fell).

The war was as inevitable then as was the debacle in Afghanistan 6 years ago and as is the coming war between Iran, Iraq and the Saudis when the "coalition" pulls out of and abandons Iraq. The only plausible alternate scenario is how quickly would the US have sued for peace if the carriers had been in port on December 7, or how quickly would the US have been beaten had Halsey been at Midway instead of Spruance and Fletcher? Or would the Iron Curtain still be draped over Europe had Truman and Eisenhower allowed Patton to try to take on the Soviets? Even more basic, what would have happened if Gouveneur Warren hadn't taken a ride up Little Round Top on July 2, 1863 and, had he not, what countries in central North America would have sided with which parties in the World Wars?

Answer 2

I think if the Allies were not tied up with Germany then they would have dealt with Japan, after all Japan was invading European colonies. Entering the European theatre of war was not an option for the USA because the country did not want to go to war and it would have been political suicide for FDR. The attack on Pearl Harbor was inevitable because the USA pushed and pushed Japan untill they had no other choice but to go to war. This gave the USA the reason to enter the war and the rest is history. The USA had many interests in Asia and there was no way they were gonna let someone else, especially non-caucasians, take a piece of their pie. If it wasn't pearl Harbor, then the USA would have found some other way to get involved in the war.

Answer 3

As I understand it, Japan felt Pearl Harbor was necessary because America seemed to be intent on interfering with Japanese attempts to acquire natural resources that they felt were necessary to ensure their future prosperity.

It seems likely that if Japan had decided against an attack on the US, the US would likely have been drawn into the European conflict and concentrated its resources on fighting Germany. This would have left Japan free to do as it wished in Asia and the Western Pacific.

I suspect that Germany would have been defeated, but Japan could have worked out an agreement with the US that would have left Japan with a good chunk of Asia, (especially if Japan was willing to release all the English prisoners it held and make some concessions to England in Indochina and the Indian subcontinent). This would have been especially true if Japan had abstained from trying to capture the US controlled Philippines.


At any rate, Japan could probably have avoided having atomic bombs dropped on itself.

Answer 4

The best option for Japan other than to attack the US was to come to some kind of terms over China, and try to find another supplier of the raw materials that Japan needed. Without oil Japans fleet was hamstrung unable to maneuver. With the fall of France perhaps they could have claimed the French colonies in Asia. But What Japan really needed was a source of oil. Their was really no alternative other than a conflict with the US.

Answer 5

Asia would be in way better shape than it is now, Japanese might not have colonized as much of it, but their businesses would have spread out more and slowly won the day financially.
China probably would have had to be conquered, lost to the Japanese, or scuttled by the Japanese to avoid war if they conquered it, because they were in the middle of a war there. They were also in Indo China by then too, and probably fighting the Viet Minh. Pearl Harbor was a bad move in many ways, but if they had only sent a third wave of attacks, and hit the fuel storage tanks, the whole place would have gone up.

Answer 6

I believe that the United States would have entered the war later if not for the attack at Pearl Harbor. Though probably not too much longer because we were already shipping supplies to the British and this led to many merchant and civillian ships being attacked by the Germans.

There would most likely have been a larger number of civillian deaths and D-Day probably would not have been able to occur on the date it was.

Answer 7

Then they would have skipped it and gone straight for Hawaii or Alaska instead.

There was no getting around it. Japan wanted American blood. There was too much economic pressure, and too much loyalty to their Axis allies to abandon their role.

If Japan were not with the Germans.. Then the Axis would simply be defeated in a different situation. Hitler probably wouldn't of had the confidence to move on the USSR as he did, and would probably have happily continued fighting the stalemate across the English Channel.

Answer 8

short answer...

we would have still had to even if they didnt because the axis powers wanted japan to attack the US so we would be too buisey attack germany. and we eventually would have had to get in

LONG ANSWER

The US was utilizing it's isolation in foreign affairs policy and unlike in world war one we had already leaned toward the allied side becuase of the circomstances of WW2. i.e. the holocaust, the nazis Didn't like the us, and not to mention we fought them in the last world war so we had more faith in the allies. similar to WW1 the germans foolishly sent the zimmerman telagram to mexico to attack the germans wanted to keep the US occupied so they influanced the japs to attack the US. unlike the mexicans the japs had not fought and lost to the US so they were ready and willing. (just assuming) i think japs had so much pride when the US showed with it's big gun ships to forse the japs to trade with the US they wanted to get us back somehow thus the reason they industrialized so rapidly. never the less just knowing that the germans would have attempted such thing (like in WW1 ie zimmermen tellegram) we would have gone and aided the allies. much more the war would have ended more rapidly as we wouldent have been fighting on 2 fronts. also we were predetermined to destroy japan much more but we used it as a pretence (excuse) to join the campain to fight the axis powers.

also i dont think we would have dropped the nuclear bomb. i think we would not have dropped them becuase 1st it would have caused alot of calateral dammage and 2nd i think we just used it to see how devistating it would have been on our opponents during the war, not to mention the fear factor it brought along with it.

Answer 9

we would have stayed in peace and still sending equipment ti England through the lend Lise act.

Answer 10

we would be flying a german flag at our white house.if japan had waited like germany had wanted them to.they would of kicked our @sses.