Pearl Harbor is an American naval base in Hawaii. It is located on the southern coast of Oahu Island. Pearl Harbor has been a United States Naval Base since 1875. It is considered one of the largest and best protected naval bases in the world.
By the middle of 1941, Germany had forcibly taken over most of Europe and was also attacking Great Britain. There were also conflicts in the Mediterranean, Africa and the Soviet Union. The Japanese had begun their plan to enlarge their territories by taking over the Philippines, Malaya, Burma, Thailand, and the Marshall Islands.
The United States had not entered any of these wars because President Roosevelt had promised the people of the US that we would not fight any more battles after World War I and most of congress supported isolationism.
However, the United States entered the war on the morning of December 7, 1941, just before 8:00 AM because the Japanese began an air attack on our naval base in Pearl Harbor. The assault on Pearl Harbor lasted one hour and fifteen minutes. When it was over, 2403 people were dead, 1178 were wounded. 188 planes were completely destroyed and 159 planes were damaged. 4 battle ships were blown apart or sunk, 4 other battle ships were severely damaged and 11 other ships were sunk or demolished.
Sources: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to World War II. Mitchell G. Bard. 2004. Second Edition. Alpha Publishing.
The World Book Encyclopedia. 1951. Field Enterprises.
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2 comments:
Good historical perspective. Please give a full citation (publisher, author, etc.) to the encyclopedia as you do the the book source. Also, remember to use two vocab words per blog post. You can edit a blog once you're signed in by clicking on the pencil icon under the bloc.
Blaine have you heard about the theory that the president put the whole navy there so it can get attacked on purpose, so America can go to war? Whats your stand on that?
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