Attack on Pearl Harbor

battle_name=Attack on Pearl Harbor

Immediate aftermath

Just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor began (but the next day, December 8, 1941, on the other side of the international date line), Japanese troops began an early morning attack on the New Territories of Hong Kong followed soon after by attacks on the Philippines, Wake Island, Malaya, and Thailand and the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse.{{ref|Ross}}

Related Topics:
December 8 - 1941 - International date line - Hong Kong - Philippines - Wake Island - Malaya - Thailand - Sinking of HMS ''Prince of Wales'' and ''Repulse''

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On December 8, 1941, the U.S. Congress declared war on Japan with Jeannette Rankin casting the only dissenting vote. The United States was outraged by the attack, and by the late delivery of the note breaking off relations, actions which it considered treacherous. Roosevelt signed the declaration of war the same day, and called the previous day "a date which will live in infamy" in an address to a joint session of Congress. Continuing to intensify its military mobilization, the U.S. Government began converting to a war economy.

Related Topics:
December 8 - 1941 - U.S. Congress - Declared war on Japan - Jeannette Rankin - U.S. Government - War economy

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The Pearl Harbor attack immediately galvanized a divided nation into action as little else could have done. Overnight, it united Americans against Japan, and it probably made possible the unconditional surrender position taken by the Allied Powers. For that reason, some historians believe that the attack on Pearl Harbor itself doomed Japan to defeat simply because this awakened the "sleeping US behemoth", regardless of whether the fuel depots or machine shops had been destroyed or even if the carriers had been caught in port and sunk. U.S. industrial and military capacity, once mobilized, was able to pour overwhelming resources into both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters.

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The perception of the treacherous nature of the attack on Pearl Harbor also sparked fears of sabotage or espionage by Japanese Americans and was a factor in the subsequent Japanese internment in the western United States.

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Nazi Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, four days after the Japanese attack. Hitler was under no obligation to do so under the terms of the Tripartite Pact, but did so regardless, perhaps due to Hitler's overconfidence. This doubly outraged the American public and allowed the United States to overtly enter the European theatre of war, and to greatly step up its support of the United Kingdom, actions which delayed for some time a full U.S. response to the setback in the Pacific.

Related Topics:
Nazi Germany - United States - December 11 - Hitler - Tripartite Pact - United Kingdom

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Both the naval commander, Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, and the Army commander, Lieutenant General Walter Short - whose Army Air Corps had been responsible for aerial defense of the naval base - were relieved of their commands shortly after the attack. They were charged with dereliction of duty for not making sufficient defensive preparations. Some scholars have argued that Kimmel and Short were scapegoated, as crucial intelligence was not revealed to them, but the military has subsequently refused to exonerate the officers.

Related Topics:
Husband E. Kimmel - Walter Short

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In terms of its cardinal objectives, the attack on Pearl Harbor was a tactical success which eclipsed the expectations of its planners. In execution it has few parallels in the military history of any era, at least in the short-to-medium term. Even the surprise British carrier strike on the Italian's Taranto naval base in 1940 had not been that devastating in terms of damage inflicted, although in successfully neutralising the Italian navy it had much greater strategic implications. Due to its grievous losses at Pearl Harbor and the subsequent Japanese invasion of the Philippines, the U.S. Navy was unable to play any significant role in the Pacific War for the next six months. With the U.S. Pacific Fleet essentially out of the picture, Japan was temporarily free of worries about its rival Pacific naval power. It went on to conquer southeast Asia, the southwest Pacific and to extend its reach far into the Indian Ocean.

Related Topics:
Pacific War - Pacific Fleet - Indian Ocean

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Although Pearl Harbor was the most notable attack on American soil during the WWII, there were several others.

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