why Japan decided to bomb Pearl Harbour, and by so doing take on the USA??
2007-09-26 17:18:37 · 8 answers · asked by Melanie M 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
The US had placed sanctions on the Japanese for their imperialism and treatment of the Chinese. The Japanese had no steel or oil of their own so were having to import it all. With the sanctions on they had none coming in. That's why they attacked the US.
2007-09-26 17:25:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
Okay interesting question. The US sided with China before we got involved in WWII. China and Japan were at war. We had sanctions against Japan. We were not providing them with oil and other natural resources anymore. Also Japan knew we were going to get involved anyway. They pretty much wanted to destroy our Pacific fleet (the part of the Navy that would actually engage Japan) before we engaged them. They wanted to take out our aircraft carriers as well, but thank God they weren't at Pearl Harbor at the time but were instead at a training excercise of some type. The goal of the Pearl Harbor attack was to stall the inveitable (the USA attacking Japan) and inflict as much damage as possible before we attacked. They hoped that by taking out our Pacific fleet we would be delayed for months, possibly a few years. While the attack was relatively successful, they failed to eliminate our aircraft carriers and some other portions of our Pacific fleet. It did delay us but in the long run, was probably a mistake even though we would have most likely gotten involved anyway.
2007-09-27 00:30:47 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
The US imposed an oil embargo. They were down to about a three month supply. They couldn't get it from Siberia, because Zhukhov had already beaten them badly. If they couldn't go north, they had to go south, to the Dutch (Shell) oil fields. Keep in mind the Dutch government was in exile, with Germany looking like they were going to win, and they were giving the Royal Navy all it could handle. The one threat was from the US Pacific Fleet, which had basically moved from California to Hawaii exactly so they could steam to meet the IJN should they make the move. It was a matter of going to the US Pacific Fleet, or letting the Pacific Fleet come to them. Having no other alternatives, they chose the smarter of the two moves.
2007-09-27 00:27:23 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
because the government honestly thought it had no other choice, being sanctioned and otherwise criticized by the US. It is to be noted, that the general feeling of the PEOPLE did not jive with the government';s actions at the time.
2007-09-27 08:21:42 · answer #4 · answered by Mrsjvb 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They thought they could cripple the US Pacific fleet by sinking so many ships in one fell swoop. If they could maintain navel superiority they could rule the islands with impunity.
2007-09-27 00:25:38 · answer #5 · answered by badbender001 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Japan thought that most of our fleet of ships was docked. If they could take out our navy all in one shot, they could essentially beat us with just one battle. Bad plan, bad execution.
2007-09-27 00:31:43 · answer #6 · answered by cubsnguns 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Because they thought the USA was full of pacifist tree hugging Liberals who would sue for peace.
2007-09-27 00:22:03 · answer #7 · answered by Philip McCrevice 7 · 2⤊ 5⤋
are we writing a report? too lazy to do the research?
2007-09-27 00:26:19 · answer #8 · answered by Johnny D' Venison 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋