What started the war between the us and japan?

Question

The one with the terrible nucliar bomb dropping.

Did you know there is now enough nucliar weapons to cause 400,000 hiroshimas. Disturbing.

Ooh sorry atomic*

But what was pearl harbor about? what was the surprise attack for?

Answer 1

Dear Easy,
There are so many HORRIBLY WRONG answers up here, I can't even begin to correct them all. I suggest that you get a history book that covers the first part of the 20th century through the end of WWII. Otherwise, if you believe a good number of answers you got up here, you will be terribly misinformed!

Answer 2

I saw a documentary that said that the U.S. basically sanctioned Japan because they were attacking China and so we (U.S.) refused to send things like oil. Japan got even and felt justified in attacking Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was not really a U.S. base that was just where keep the ships. There's even a theory that the government knew about Pearl Harbor but chose not to do anything because if we became active in the war effort it would pull the U.S. completely out of the Great Depression. WWII was a war of resources not idealogy as some people would like to think. That and power. Whoever has the most power rules the world.

Answer 3

Like many had mentioned before, it is a better idea to understand the overall picture of World War II before you can fully understand why the war between US and Japan began. I recommend getting as many books from the library since each book, based on the authors, explains the history in different point of views, but most of the fact should be the same. It is a good idea to read many versions of the story so you can understand the whole thing better.

Here are some basic between the war between US and Japan:

1. It all began with Japanese expansionism. After a successful industrialization, Japanese invaded China/Manchuria region in 1931. To the Chinese, that's the time WWII officially began.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_Incident

2. Japan invaded China again in 1937, the cruelty of the "Rape of Nanking Massacre" shocked the world. Even though not officially involved, many Americans rushed to help the Chinese, and American airmen helped the Chinese air force. The United States also instituted in 1941 an embargo to stop supplying Japan with raw materials needed for the war in China.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre

3. With the intention to conquer all China and Asia. In 1940, Japan officially joined the Axis power with German and Italy in hope to stop Western power's influence in Asia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_powers_of_World_War_II

4. December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in hope to isolate American's force from protecting the Philippines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor

5. After the Attack on Pear Harbor, America officially entered the war. WWII is still considered by many the most devastating war in the human history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II

Answer 4

The Japanese believed it was their duty and right to colonize East Asia in the name of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, which was really an excuse to throw off the European colonists, especially the British and Dutch, and replace them with Japanese.

The Japs invaded China in 1931 and continued a war with them through the 30's. In 1941, in an effort to stem the tide of Japanese aggression, the US imposed an oil embargo on Japan, reasoning that they could not feed their war machine without oil and gasoline.

The Japanese planned to seize the oil fields in the Dutch East Indies but knew to do so would force a war in the Pacific with the US, the Netherlands and Great Britain (even though the Dutch had been all but eliminated from the war by the German conquest of Western Europe in the spring of 1940). To make sure they could win a war against the two largest navel powers in the world, Japan planned and executed the attack on the main US fleet at Pearl Harbor (recently moved forward from San Diego, CA).

Simultaneously, the Japs attacked the British Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean and sank two capital ships, HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales.

If the Japanese had done better at Pearl Harbor (only two battleships and two more smaller ships were permanently sunk, and fuel reserves and the submarine pens were all but untouched), their plan might have worked.

Answer 5

The actual event was the attack on pearl harbour in 1941 that effectively started the hostilities between the US and Japan. However, Japan had been engaged in a campaign of expansion throughout the pacific and China since the 1930,s. So how exactly the US failed to see it coming is beyond me (they had intelligence of the attack, and midget submarines had been seen before the attack).

What I find more frightening is the total number of "missing" nuclear weapons that have been lost over the years. Both the US and USSR have lost several

Answer 6

In the 1920s the Japanese government was taken over by what became known as the "Navy Cabinet". A "junta" of military leaders devised a plan to expand the Empire of Japan into China, Siberia, SE Asia and the Pacific, including the US territories Alaska and Hawaii.

Back in 1905, Japan defeated the Russians in a struggle over Manchuria (now NE China), becoming the first non-Western power to defeat a European country. Russia was humiliated, and the defeat sparked an uprising against the Czar. The Japanese, emboldened by their victory, sought to extend the empire. Their attack on Hawaii at Pearl Harbor in 1941 brought the US into the war against the Axis.

The Japanese government claimed Japan was slighted by the US in various treaties, and made the claim that Hawaii was rightfully theirs.

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Answer 7

Aside from the attack on Pearl Harbor, the policies of the United States government "against" Japan prior to WWII. If you study the history, the Japanese felt that they were kind of "painted into a corner" in regards to trade policies, etc., and is the reason they attacked the U.S. The U.S also knew that in order to get out of the depression they might need to go to war, so these policies were encouraged. This does NOT excuse the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but it explains the "why" of the attack. Its complicated and if you really want to know more you should consult some history books.

Answer 8

Japan and US war is related to WWII. You need to know first why WWII Was started. Here are the key events that led to Japan and US being the enemy
1 On August 31, 1939, Hitler and the Nazis staged a Polish attack on a minor German radio station in order to justify a German invasion of Poland.
2 France and Britain had a defensive pact with Poland. This forced France and Britian to declare war on Germany, which they did on September.
3 Japan had long been coveting mainland resources, invading China and (en route) Korea for centuries. Japan plotted an imperial takeover of Asia and the Pacific in the style of Western imperialism less than a century earlier.
4 The US opposed this movement and placed embargoes on Japan. Searching for supplies and rebelling against US intervention, Japan embarked on its Oriental conquest.
5 Hoping to keep the US Air Force out of Japan's way, Admiral Yamamoto led the attack on Pearl Harbor.
6 Unfortunatley they opened fire 30 minutes before the proclamation of war was officially delivered, so many viewed it as a violation of military convention
7 Note that one reason many people say WWII started in 1939 by Hitler's invasion of Poland instead of by Japan in 1937 is because the former is the moment when the first main Allied nation declared war on an Axis nation (Britain declares war on Germany). Rather than be specific and say the first shots of origin started with Japan's invasion, it is pointed out that no main Allied nation had declared war at that time.

Answer 9

The war between Japan and the US was started with the attack on Pearl Harbor.

There are enough nuclear weapons in OUR arsenal to destroy every city in the WORLD. That is a terrible thought. The evil genie is out of the bottle and no way to put it back in. All we can hope for is governments to use common sense. That in itself demonstrates how useless it will be to stop some country for using it.

It is a sad, sad world we live in.

Answer 10

The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was the first direct military battle of the war between the two, but the United States and Japan had been in conflict for many years prior to the attack. The main reason for this is that both desired greater influence in the Pacific and Asia.

When Japan invaded Manchuria (a part of China) in 1931, the United States gave military and financial aid to the Chinese resistance forces. This angered the Japanese, who thought it was not the place of the United States to get involved in Asian affairs. The Japanese they argued that they had not intervened when the U.S. invaded the Philippines in 1899--why should the U.S. become involved in Japan's actions in China?

The United States later angered the Japanese further by placing an embargo on steel and oil sales to Japan (at the time the U.S. was the largest exporter of both). So...in one view, the war between the U.S. and Japan began over economic and political influence and power in Asia. The Japanese felt the United States had backed them into a corner economically (it was impossible to continue growing as an empire without steel and oil), and attacked.

Don't go for the easy answer here--it takes two to tango! I'm not trying to insinuate that the attack on Pearl Harbor was justifiable (it was not), but there were reasons for the Japanese to do so--it wasn't simply a blind, angry action on their part. Do the research to answer the question for yourself (and to check my answer)--it is the only way to learn from history.

Answer 11

Japan attacked the United States, that's what started it. They attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941. It's been called "the biggest surprise attack in world history".