Why Did America Attack Southeast Asia Research Paper

Japanese forces invaded Southeast Asia in 1931; initially invading Manchuria and later attacking China. The U.S. and China had a long standing relationship and opposed the Japanese invasion, however, it was widely believed that there was “no vital interest” in China worth going to war with Japan. Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in 1940 forming the Axis powers. America did little to help out China in fear of provoking Japan. The United States issued economic sanctions on Japan in order to stop the fighting in Asia. Due to extreme shortages of oil and other resources that the United States provided along with the desire to knock the U.S. off as the “dominant Pacific power”, his lead to the attack Japan made on Britain and U.S. as they seized the resources in Southeast Asia.
When the U.S. moved the Pacific Fleet from California to Pearl Harbor Japan felt threatened. Japan had attempted to warn the US of the attack but the warning came to late due to messages being botched at the Japanese Embassy. On December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor by air causing destruction which included: 20 vessels, 8 battleships, 300 airplanes, 2,000 soldiers and sailors died and another 1,000 were wounded. The next day, America declared war on Japan followed by Germany’s
Hitler’s mantra was that “Germany shall either be a world power or not at all” and he used a “total war” thought process as his strategy in that he ordered his troops to stand firm and not surrender. In December, 1944 German troops attempted to split the Allied armies in Northwest Europe with a surprise attack which caught Americans off guard. The American line of defense created a large bulge giving the battle the name Battle of the Bulge. Although American casualties were significant but they had slowed the Germans long enough to allow Eisenhower’s troops to move