Angel Lopez Mr. Malnic
Global Studies
3/3/11
A turning point in history is considered as an event involving a whole country or a substantial amount of people that changes the traditional pattern of behavior or order. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was an important turning point in World War Two. World War Two was a global military conflict between 1939 and 1945. The war was caused by many reasons. These causes consisted of the Treaty of Versailles, the failure of the League of Nations, Adolf Hitler’s actions, and the failure of appeasement. On the morning of December 7, 1941 Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The base was attacked by 353 Japanese fighters, bomber and torpedo planes. Four United States Navy battleships were sunk and four other battleships were damaged. The Japanese caused a lot of damage. They sank three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 United States aircrafts were destroyed and 2,402 men were killed and 1,282 were wounded. Japanese loses were light, they only lost 29 aircrafts and five midget submarines. 65 Japanese servicemen were killed or wounded. The attack on Pearl Harbor had many objectives. The attack on Pearl Harbor was intended to neutralize the United States Pacific Fleet, thereby preventing the fleet to interfere with Japanese conquest on the Dutch East Indies and Malaya. Another objective of the Japanese was to buy time to consolidate its position and increase its naval strength. The last goal was meant to deliver a major blow to American morale. One which would discourage Americans from committing to fight war extending into the western Pacific Ocean and Dutch East Indies. To show this, battleships were chosen as the main target, since they were the best ships of any navy during that time. The overall intention was to enable Japan to conquer Southeast Asia without interference. The attack of Pearl came as a shock to the United States and led directly to the American entry into World War Two. On December 8, 1941 the United States declared war on Japan. Operations by the United States prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on the United States on December 11, 1941. When the United States entered World War Two things were just getting started. World War Two was a global military conflict between 1939 and 1945 which involved most of the world’s nations. World War Two was caused by many reasons. These causes consisted of the Treaty of Versailles, the failure of the League of Nations, Adolf Hitler’s actions, and the failure of appeasement. The war formed two opposing military alliances, the Allies and the Axis. The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty that ended the state of war between
