What Year Did Pearl Harbor Happen?

[stephanie1993]

why did pearl harbor happen and I want to understand what happens to the people their.

[Mamyalynne]

1941 was the year of the attack on Pearl Harbour.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor

[FredPuli43]

December 7th , 1941. Japan aimed to get control of territories and the ocean in the whole region. At the time, the US was neutral. However, the US had a Pacific fleet which , if mobilised, would severely affect Japanese activity. The Japanese idea was to destroy the fleet, by surprise attack, when it was in harbour. The plan failed because, though the fleet was severely damaged, the reaction in the US was one of horror and any idea of the US remaining neutral was abandoned because of this act of treachery, the US promptly declared war on Japan, and we know how that ended !

[Hypognosis]

Call it co-incidence or call it serendipity but the American aircraft carriers were out at sea, on exercises and thus escaped the attack unscathed.

The Japanese realized they needed to destroy the US carrier fleet, in order to give themselves a year or so's breathing space, while replacements were built, back at the US mainland and they missed their chance. The vulnerability of ships to bombing or torpedoing by aircraft was, ultimately, the achilles heel of resupplying and defending hundreds of islands, across the vast distance from Japan to (almost as far as) Papua New Guinea.

Another curious thing about the day itself. Supposedly there was some misunderstanding about Time Zone discrepancies which meant that the plan for the Japanese ambassador, in Washington, to formally deliver the declaration of war just a few minutes before the attack was launched went wrong. It was delivered late, so folk memory (if not proper history) records Pearl Harbour as a despicable act of undeclared war.

[stewey]

Another conspiracy theory ( there are all kinds), is that the British PM and the American President knew that this attack was to happen. It brought the US physically into the the war...And what a difference that made!

[bert_h]

Stewey, the idea that even the US president "knew" that there would be an attack on Pearl Harbour is just another modern conspiracy theory. Because the Americans had broken the Japanese "Purple" code, they knew that the Japanese Ambassador was to hand the Secretary of State a big message the next day, and they knew everything that was in it, and that its last part was diplomatic-speak for a declaration of war. When the President and the Secretary (Cordell Huill) were reading it over the night before, one of them said "I guess this means war", and other said "Yes, I guess so", or words pretty well to that effect. But there was absolutely nothing to suggest such an immediate opening of hostilities.

Hypognosis, the timingg confusion was that Tokyo had not told their US Ambassador why the specified handover time was so important. He thought the typed-up copy looked a bit messy, and ordered the typist to do it again. Japanese reputation in the USA has never recovered from the opportunity that his lateness for his appointment gave the President to claim truthfully that Pearl Harbour had been attacked without a declaration of war. The Japanese meant it to be legitimate, but it turned out not to be, simply because they hadn't trusted their ambassador with all the facts.

[ToraToraTora]

.....and for a special bonus prize who can tell me the name of the last ship at pear harbour to be sunk?

[jackthehat]

USS Phoenix aka The General Belgrano

[ToraToraTora]

yes JTH, you win!