On December 7, 1941 Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Now many know about Pearl Harbor but don’t know the complete reason behind it, but you have to understand the backstory behind it. 

In 1937 Japan started to expand. They took parts of China and continued to take small islands such as Iwo Jima. Some historians consider World War II to start in 1937 because of this and how hostile Germany was becoming at the time. 

As Germany started to take countries in Europe, Britain was in desperate need for supplies. The U.S didn’t like Japan's actions against other countries, so America put an oil sasion on Japan which starved them of oil. That oil was then sent to Britain. Japan needed oil, but couldn’t get it. Their only move was to attack the U.S and hope they don’t declare war. If America backed down, Japan would have taken over a lot of small countries and islands, as well as a lot of Asia. With this in mind America Declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941. A few days later on December 11 1941 Germany declared war on the U.S, and started attacking U.S cargo ships with U-Boats (German submarines). 

America had now entered  World War II. Germany had taken over almost all of Europe, and about less than a quarter of Russia. Even if Germany didn’t declare war on the U.S after Pearl Harbor, at one point it would have happened because of the pressure coming from European allies. The war was very costly for America with a total of 400,000 casualties for America. Many would say that this was a reason to stay out of the war. To prevent the death of what was many boys under 20 and some being 16 sneaking into the military with someone else's birth certificate. 

Now we shouldn’t take the 400,000 

men and women that died lightly it is a very sad part of our history, but if America did stay out of the war completely Germany would have taken Europe in its entirety. Along with Russia because they would have had more troops to fight on the Russian line. The world as we know it today would have been run by Nazi’s. This also would have led to the Jewish religion and the people that warship it to be gone with the concentration camps. 

With this America would have been forced to fight Germany and it would have led to the war ending much later then 1945 and with a lot more dead citizens and military troops. 

A survey given to Mr. Rexford’s Yellow class, 68.8% of students think that America should have entered the war. As well as almost all of the students thinking that the A-Bomb that was released in Japan to be necessary. This data is not something that was given 20 years ago. This survey was given on March 15, 2021. This data is only a few weeks old. What I am trying to say is that many people believe this and that this isn’t dated. 

I did multiple interviews with students that go to BMS. Ian Hoffman agreed to be interviewed and here is what he had to say. Question, If Pearl Harbor didn’t happen, do you think Japan and the U.S would or would not go to war with each other? Answer, “I think not as quickly, but at one point it would have happened with all the sanctions the U.S had on Japan in favor of Britain.” (Ian Hoffman) With this being said it would have been almost impossible for the U.S not to get involved in the war with Germany taking over Europe and the sanctions America had on Japan.

As you can see it was necessary for the U.S to get involved when they did. If they didn’t the world would be totally different to what it is today.


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