What We Learned from Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Just before eight in the morning on December 7, 1941, an aerial assault was taking place on the United States Navy’s Pearl Harbor Naval Base, and the United States Army Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Airfield in Honolulu Hawaii. Hundreds of planes blackened out the morning sunshine, causing it to look like a cloudy day. Picture the sounds of rounds zipping past your ears and hitting the person next to you, hearing your fellow soldiers crying gout in agony while they fall to their deaths. While your fellow soldiers are taking fire, you turn to the sea and hear the sounds of hundreds of sailors scream for help but to no avail as the sink with their beloved ship. In the midst of all that tragedy it united the American people.
On September 1, 1939 it all began with the German invasion of Poland ("Pearl Harbor and,"). Strong tensions following the First World War, and Germany falling economy helped fuel the decision for the invasion of Poland. Following the German invasion France declared war on Germany. There were two sides in this fight, the Axis powers and the Allied Forces. The Axis powers consisted of Germany, Italy, and Japan, while the Allied forces consisted of France, Poland, United Kingdom, the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union, and later the United States. This World War claimed 45-60 million lives, and 6 million of those lives were Jewish lives. The killing of the Jews became known as the Holocaust. Japan entered the war with different intentions than their counter parts. Its principal objectives were to secure the resources of Southeast Asia and much of China and to establish a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" under Japanese hegemony (COAKLEY 2001, 502). They wanted to reclaim the land that they thought was rightfully theirs, land that their ancestors once occupied but was taken from them. They also wanted to expand into new territory in the pacific southeast, one of the reasons why they attacked Pearl Harbor. At the
Just before eight in the morning on December 7, 1941, an aerial assault was taking place on the United States Navy’s Pearl Harbor Naval Base, and the United States Army Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Airfield in Honolulu Hawaii. Hundreds of planes blackened out the morning sunshine, causing it to look like a cloudy day. Picture the sounds of rounds zipping past your ears and hitting the person next to you, hearing your fellow soldiers crying gout in agony while they fall to their deaths. While your fellow soldiers are taking fire, you turn to the sea and hear the sounds of hundreds of sailors scream for help but to no avail as the sink with their beloved ship. In the midst of all that tragedy it united the American people.
On September 1, 1939 it all began with the German invasion of Poland ("Pearl Harbor and,"). Strong tensions following the First World War, and Germany falling economy helped fuel the decision for the invasion of Poland. Following the German invasion France declared war on Germany. There were two sides in this fight, the Axis powers and the Allied Forces. The Axis powers consisted of Germany, Italy, and Japan, while the Allied forces consisted of France, Poland, United Kingdom, the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union, and later the United States. This World War claimed 45-60 million lives, and 6 million of those lives were Jewish lives. The killing of the Jews became known as the Holocaust. Japan entered the war with different intentions than their counter parts. Its principal objectives were to secure the resources of Southeast Asia and much of China and to establish a "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" under Japanese hegemony (COAKLEY 2001, 502). They wanted to reclaim the land that they thought was rightfully theirs, land that their ancestors once occupied but was taken from them. They also wanted to expand into new territory in the pacific southeast, one of the reasons why they attacked Pearl Harbor. At the
Bibliography: 1. "Attack at Pearl Harbor, 1941," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (1997) 2. COAKLEY, ROBERT W. WORLD WAR II: THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN. Washington DC: Center of Military History, 2001. http://www.history.army.mil/books/AMH/AMH- 23.htm (accessed April 17, 2013). 3. Cox, J.A. "`Tokyo bombed! Doolittle do 'od it '." Smithsonian 23, no. 3 (June 1992): 112. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed April 18, 2013). 4. Detroit:Gale. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com.famuproxy.fcla.edu/ic/uhic/ReferenceDetailsPage/Referen ceDetailsWindow?query=&prodId=UHIC&displayGroupName=Reference&limit er=&source=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_wit hin_results=&action=2&catId=&activityType=&documentId=GALE%7CCX340 3300590&userGroupName 5. "Doolittle Raid on Japan, 18 April 1942." Naval History & Heritage Command. http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/misc-42/dooltl.htm (accessed April 18, 2013). 6. O 'NEAL, M. J. (2004). Pearl Harbor, Japanese Attack on. In K. L. Lerner & B. W. Lerner (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security (Vol. 2, pp. 410-413). 7. "Pearl Harbor and the Road to War." History.com. http://www.history.com/topics/pearl- harbor (accessed April 17, 2013). 8. "The Doolittle Raid (Hornet CV-8)." USS Hornet. http://www.uss- hornet.org/history/wwii/doolittle.shtml (accessed April 18, 2013).