did the US provoke the Japanese to attack?

Question

1941 was a tense time, all major powers in the Pacific had their ships in the open sea...the US congress at the time did not allocate funds to upgrade the navy and airforce...so...all old ships were moored at Pearl Harbor...the 3 aircraft carriers (new ships) were not there.....they were in the open sea....it was too much of an invitation not to attack...only Yamamoto warned not to attack but was overruled by the Samorai.....Yamamoto had studied in the US and knew the industrial powerhouse......USA...

Answer 1

Actually, if you look at history, we did put Japan into a corner. Because of the war they had started with China, we had imposed some pretty stiff trade embargo's on them. They had to have the suppliles, and we wouldn't let the supplies get through. Personally, I think it's one of the greatest tragedies in our history. Especially because my Grandfather was at Schofield barracks at the time. But, I personally think we needed an excuse to get into the war with the peoples backing. I wouldn't say we totaly provoked it, but we didn't do anything to avoid it, either.

atdiw - Although I agree with your stance, why would us wanting to test the bomb come into play?? We were NOWHERE close to making it in 1941

Answer 2

The US sent the Pacific fleet to Hawaii, not just the old ships, in preparation to defend against the Japanese. The Carriers were just as old as some of the battleships moored in Pearl On 07 Dec 41.

When you look at where Hawaii sits, it made sense. Basically Pearl was centrally located in the Pacific so, if needed, it could deploy quickly to any attack by Japan.

Japan knew it would have to war with the US, it's plan was to wipe out our Navy so we would give them a treaty with free range over the Pacific. Weather we provoked them or not, we still would have been targeted by them

Answer 3

It depends how far you're willing to stretch the meaning of provocation, and proximate cause. The Japanese imported about 80% of their oil from the US, though it's now hard to think of the US as a major exporter of oil. The British and Dutch followed. Japan had to get its oil someplace, and no later than spring 1942, so war was from that point inevitable. The attack on Pearl was a classic spoiling attack, similar in concept to the Japanese attack on Port Arthur, so it didn't exactly come out of the blue.

Answer 4

The Aircraft carriers were the primary target of the Japanese fleet. When they were not found at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese feared the US fleet was nearby and could counter attack, so the Japanese decided not to carry out the third wave of the attack.

The carriers were busy delivering planes to Wake and other islands or doing training at sea. It was just a fluke they were not at Pearl Harbor on the day of the attack.

Answer 5

It's an interesting question and worth debate.. The end result was that the Japanese eventually turned away from peaceful negotiation and began violent attacks not just on the United States but also China, Great Britain, Australia, and anyone they perceived as a threat to their desired "Sphere of Prosperity". Don't forget that during the war, Japan seized and occupied many small islands in the Pacific Theater, often with devastating consequences for the inhabitants (None of whom had taken any sides with the principals prior to 12/7/41)

Answer 6

some say yes and some say no, depends on which history book you read. its all conspiracy theory related. there were things that the u.s. did to provoke our entry into ww2 such as moving the pacific fleet to pearl harbor from san diego, imposing a very strict embargo on all oil, steel and rubber on japan for their aggression in china and manchuria, the lend-lease act of 1940 which gave the british some of our naval ships for bases in the carribean, our military presence in the phillipines, to name a few. everyone with a brain knew that the u.s. couldn't stay out of the war forever. our shipping lanes were being threatened by the german u-boats, and by the japanese imperial navy in the pacific. and there was a theory being floated around that the japanese were planning on invading panama in order to seal off the canal.
your statement that yamamoto didn't want to attack is erroneous. he was the one that planned the attack, and knew it would be a success. but you are correct in stating that he knew that the industrial might of the u.s. could not be matched and that the japanese would be in for a very tough fight. his plan to attack pearl was to cripple the fleet so bad that the u.s. would take years to rebuild its navy, and possibly get the u.s. to sue for peace and end the embargo. yes we had broken the jap navy codes and their emissaries as well. we knew something was up before dec. 7th but we didn't know exactly what or where. when the japanese ambassadors presented the ultimatum to washington, the attack had already taken place. but the big question is did fdr and washington know that pearl was going to be attacked? and did they leave the base unprotected in order to get the american public out of its isolationist ideology? would this attack be enough to stir congress into action?

Answer 7

No. Suggesting that the government or the military would allow thousands of soldiers and sailors to die for nothing is pure ignorant liberal conspiracy garbage. US forces at Pearl Harbor were caught with their pants down.

Regardless, look at the Battle of Leyte Gulf and Midway, we had the Japanese codes and knew their plans so we let them walk into the trap...

Answer 8

Read books about the "Rape of China". The Japanese had captured and enslaved China in the "30s". They would line 100 men in a row. 10 rows and 10 Japanese would have a contest to see who could behead his 100 men first. They would place 100 women on beds and allow battalions of their solders to gang rape them.

Also read about the Bataan death march.
These people were animals and should have been destroyed.

Answer 9

Probably...
Japan was in an imperialist expansion mode while we were restricting her access to natural resources like metal and oil.

Combination for disaster.

Answer 10

If you consider the US telling a foreign power to stop invading all the countries around it, provoking, than yes!