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December 7th 1941: Attack on Pearl Harbor

On this day in 1941, just before 8 am, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched an attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After decades of escalating tensions, primarily over Japanese aggression against China, and Japanese anger over American trade sanctions, the Japanese strike on America’s Pacific Fleet still came as a surprise. In a two hour assault, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes dropped bombs and torpedoes which killed around 2,400 American soldiers and sailors, while 20 naval vessels and 200 planes were destroyed. In contrast, the Japanese suffered just 64 fatalities. The Pearl Harbor attacks were part of a larger, co-ordinated assault against American territories in Guam and the Philippines, and parts of the British Empire. While the strike certainly damaged the Pacific Fleet, vitally important aircraft carriers were spared as they were away from the base, and shipyards remained intact, allowing for swift rebuilding. The next day, following a powerful speech, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. The legislature passed the war measure with only one dissenting vote, cast by pacifist Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana. America’s declaration of war was immediately followed by further declarations by Japan’s Axis allies Germany and Italy against the United States. Two years in, despite initial isolationist neutrality, America was now involved in the Second World War. The entrance of the United States into the war marked a pivotal turning point in one of the bloodiest wars in human history, as the full might of the American military joined the Allied cause against the forces of Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, and imperial Japan.