Pearl Harbor

8 Pages 2036 Words

December Seventh: “A Day Which Will Live In Infamy”

Following a series of shocking events of the second World War, the immense world power known as the “Home of the Brave” was inevitably forced to join in the war effort, by a drastic and detestable movement of war on their country by Japan. Japan at the time, was a somewhat struggling empire, looking to expand their influence and make its mark among a world of larger, more threatening nations. The road to war between Japan and the United States began in the 1930s, when differences over the country of China drove the two nations in opposing directions. Japan was on its march, further expanding its empire into China, and the United States was going to do all in its power to prevent it. 1
The struggle began in 1931, following the conquering of Manchuria, which until then had been a part of China. Succeeding this somewhat easy victory for Japan, the Japanese government decided in 1937, to begin a long and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to conquer the remaining regions of China. By 1938, Japan occupied much of China and had taken Nanking, longtime capital of China, where Japanese troops killed more than 42,000 civilians. The Chinese government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, had fled to central China. But China refused to give up. To force China to surrender, Japan decided to cut off supplies reaching China from Southeast Asia. Japan's military leaders spoke of building an empire, which they called the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. This alerted the League of Nations, which had been compiled following World War One in order to prevent such acts of aggression. Therefore, the League sent representatives to Machuria to investigate the situation. Their report condemned Japan, which inevitably lead to Japan simply withdrawing from the League. 2
Meanwhile, Hitler marched through Europe. Germany, in 1938, annexed Austria and then seized Czechoslovakia without resistance. In Augu...