One reason for the attack was Imperialism. For example it is evident in the passage from Document A that Japan intends on becoming a world power and that they believe that taking China is necessary for it. “An old order… (European and American)… is now crumbling. Japan is the fountain source of the Yamato race. Manchukuo (Manchuria) is its reservoir and East Asia (including China) is its paddy field.” Also in the events that took place before the attack you can get a sense for the reason Japan placed the attack. “1932 Japan completes occupation of Manchuria 1937 Japan attacks China … 1941 The United States freezes all Japanese assets and bank accounts 1941 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.” Because the United States froze the bank accounts of Japan it caused them to not be able to move money and stocked the flow of oil which prevented the expansion the new order.
A second reason for the attack was oil trade. In the 1930’s 80% of Japans petroleum but in 1941 when they began to try to take over China the U.S. reacted by cutting down the oil imported almost completely. The Japanese were interested in keeping the flow of imported oil coming because they couldn’t produce their own until they made it down and expanded Japan to the Netherlands. Japan only had a few oil reserves so they made very little of their own oil. When the U.S. drastically slowed down the flow of oil to Japan it caused them to attack because if they didn’t they wouldn’t have been able to further progress into China.
The Third reason the U.S. was attacked was because of the embargo. In document e