World War 2 pacific war between US and Japan. History Term Paper

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World War II Pacific War between US and Japan
Introduction
The Pacific War, widely known as the Asia-Pacific War, was the playhouse of World War II in Asia and the Pacific's. The war took place over an extended area, including the Pacific islands and Ocean, the South West Pacific, and parts of South Asia, and China. While there were many ongoing conflicts at the time, it is widely accepted that the Pacific War between the US and Japan truly began on December 7, 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service pulled a surprise military strike against US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Spector). The attack, widely called the Battle of Pearl Harbor triggered the entry of the US into World War II ("The United States declares war"). The war saw the allied armies pitted against the Japanese who were later supported by Thailand and to a lesser extent the Axis. Additionally, on 9 August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria, which caused Japan to announce the intention to surrender on 15 August 1945. Japan surrendered in a formal ceremony aboard the USS Missouri along Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945 (Gruhl). This paper traces the United States' participation in the Pacific War from the battle of Pearl Harbor to America’s victory in Midway.
Diplomatic Background of the Pacific War
The war between Japan and the US had remained a possibility that both countries had been aware of and prepared for since the 1920s. Their relations were, however, cordial, and they remained trade partners (Renzi et al.). Tensions started growing in 1931 when Japan invaded Manchuria. In the following years, Japan expanded its territory into China causing the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937. Japan made significant efforts to ensure China remained isolated and strived to obtain sufficient independent resources to achieve victory in mainland China (Spector).
From December 1937, Japanese military actions such as the USS Panay attack, the Allison incident, and the Nanking Massacre triggered public opinion in the West. To curtail Japanese expansion, the US, the UK, and France aided China with its loans for war supply contracts. In 1940, in an attempt to halt the flow of supplies to China, Japan attacked French Indochina (Spector). The US also stopped shipments of aircraft, parts, machinated tools, and jet fuel heading to Japan, an act that was perceived unfriendly in Japan. The US, however, refrained from halting oil exports, partly because of the prevailing sentiment in Washington given Japanese dependence on American oil; such action was likely to be considered an extreme provocation (Renzi et al.).
During the middle parts of 1940, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the Pacific Fleet to move from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. To further discourage Japan's aggression in the Far East, Roosevelt also ordered a military buildup in the Philippines. At the time, the Japanese high command was almost sure that any invasion on the UK’s Southeast Asian colonies would trigger the US’s entry into the war and therefore, according to Japan, the best preventive measure against American naval interference was a devastating ambush. Japan had also considered invading the Philippines in its war plans (Renzi et al.). The US on its part planned to defend the Philippines with over 40,000 troops, a plan that was never acted upon because of opposition from Douglas Macarthur who opined that he needed approximately ten times the number of soldiers being proposed. The US, therefore, planned to abandon the Philippines by 1941 and late 1940, Admiral Thomas C. Hart, commander of the Asiatic troops issued orders to that effect (Spector).
In July 1941, following Japan’s siege in French Indochina, the US halted oil exports to Japan a move, which was in part influenced by new regulations on oil consumption in America. This move sped up Japan's plans to invade the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. In mid-August that year, President Roosevelt warned Japan that the US was willing to take opposing measures if "neighboring countries" were attacked. The Japanese found themselves in a dichotomy, either withdraw from China and lose face, or capture new colonies from the European colonies of Southeast Asia (Spector).
In an attempt to enhance their relations, Japan and the U.S. negotiated. Part of the offers Japan made was to withdraw from most of China and Indochina as they had made peace with the Nationalist government. Japan also proposed to interpret the Tripartite Pact independently and to end trade discrimination, as long as other countries reciprocated in kind. These proposals were not accepted in Washington. Japanese Prime Minister, Konoye, requested a meeting with Roosevelt. However, Roosevelt insisted on an agreement first, before they could meet (Gruhl). The US ambassador to Japan strongly urged Roosevelt to meet Konoye, asserting that it was the only way to preserve the conciliatory Konoye government as well as peace. Roosevelt, however, ignored him. The following month, Konoye's government fell when the Japanese military ignored an order to withdraw all troops from China (Renzi et al.).
Japan's last proposal, delivered on November 20, 1941, was a withdrawal from Indochina offer and to stop attacks in Southeast Asia provided the US, the UK and Netherlands ceased aid to China and lifted sanctions against Japan (Spector). On November 27, the US issued a counter-proposal, the Hull note, which required Japan to evacuate China and finish non-aggression agreements with Pacific nations completely unconditionally. The Japanese had, however, already left port for Pearl Harbor the day before, November 26 (Spector). "United States declares war."
The Battle of Pearl Harbor
On the morning of December 7, 1941, at 1818 GMT, the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, woke up to a surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in what the Japanese referred as the Hawaii Operation. Japan’s action was a preventive measure to stop the US Pacific troops from interfering with its intended military operations in Southeast Asia against foreign nations, including the US, the Netherlands and the UK (Gruhl). The Japanese conducted coordinated attacks on the US base, and other militaries, including the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, for about seven hours. The attack on Pearl Harbor featured Imperial Japanese aircraft (which included fighters, level, and dive-bombers, and torpedo bombers) in two waves. The aircraft were launched from six aircraft carriers. Eight US Navy battleships suffered severe damages, and four of them were sunk. Additionally, the Imperial Japanese Navy also sank or destroyed three cruisers, three destroyers, one hundred and eighty-eight American aircraft, an anti-aircraft training ship and a minelayer (Overview of The Pearl Harbor Attack).
The attack claimed 2,403 American lives while a further 1178 were seriously wounded. Some key installations in the base such as the power station, shipyard, fuel, and torpedo storage facilities were, not attacked. Japan's losses in this attack were minimal. The country lost 29 jets and five midget submarines. Japanese casualties were 64 military men. Additionally, a lone Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured by American troops (Overview of The Pearl Harbor Attack).
The surprise attack sent profound shockwaves in America, and it is what prompted America's entry into World War II in both the Pacific and the European battlefields. The day following the attack, December 8, 1941, the US declared war on Japan ("The United States declares war"). A few days after the US's declaration, both Germany and Italy separately declared war on the US. In response, the US declared war on Germany and Italy (Gruhl).
While there are numerous historical instances of Japan taking unannounced military action, the absence of any warning or ultimatum in this case, especially when negotiations were seemingly in progress, led President Roosevelt to declare December 7, 1941 "a date which will live in infamy" (Gruhl). Since the attack took place without any formal declaration of war, it was later tried in the Tokyo Trials and was found to be a war crime (Renzi et al.).
Following the attacks in Pearl Harbor, Japan sprung a series of attacks on American and British installations and with considerable ease, won in Bataan, Corregidor, Wake Island, Guam, and Singapore (Gruhl). Not one American triumph was tough to manage the growing concerns back home as they suffered a string of successive defeats.
Elated by his troops’ victory in Pearl Harbor, Japanese commander-in-chief, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, knew they still had unfinished business. Despite the damages, they had caused the US fleet; they had not hit one of their key targets, the American aircraft carriers. The Jap...