Bombing of Pearl Harbor

  • Black Ships open Japan

    The name was given to Western vessels arriving in Japan within the 16th and 19th centuries.
  • U.S. and Spain fought

    United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1989 due to a mysterious explosion.
  • New York Stock Exchange crash

    Plunged the entire world into an economic depression. Japan was hit hard leaving them with little or no resources. They had to import many things. As they grew worse, they've become more aggressive and to gain greater access to raw materials, they had to increase the amount of territory under their control. One territory happened to be the navy base location on Oahu.
  • China and Japan went to war

    The US felt it had a special relationship with China and often acted as that nation's protector. But Americans didn't want the nation to get involved in foreign wars. The US ruled Philippines within range of Japanese warplanes. In the summer of 1940, Roosevelt outlawed the sale of some American goods to Japan and the Japanese government considered that a threat. Ships/aircraft carries could give the US and its allies an edge in any war fought in the vast Pacific Ocean.
  • Japan joins Nazi

    Japan responded to America's actions by joining Nazi Germany. This agreement dealt with two European dictators that approved Japan's goals for an Asian empire, which consumed of three countries pledging to have each others back if attacked by US. President Roosevelt responded to this challenge by seizing Japanese money and property here in the US. Japan felt like they had to act back by seizing other countries starting with destroying the US Navy's Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
  • Hideki Tojo

    Hideki Tojo became the nation's prime minister and was not afraid to challenge Britain and the U.S. for power in East Asia. He began to plan for a secret surprise attacks all across the Pacific. Japan continued to negotiate with US for better economic agreement and during that time they made little progress. After years of work, American military intelligence broke several important Japanese naval and diplomatic communication codes in curiosity that they were about to attack.
  • RISKY!

    Attacking Pearl Harbor was one of the riskiest operations in military history. The brilliant Admiral Isoroku Yamamato made a plan. Japanese forces, centered around four aircraft carriers, would have to assemble at a remote north Japanese island and then cross thousands of miles of ocean to Hawaii--in secret.
  • First ships

    The first ships of the Japanese task force left their base in the Kurile Islands on November 26. The following day a message went out to American generals and admirals in Hawaii, the Philippines, and the Panama Canal Zone: "Consider this dispatch a war warning."
  • Japan bombs Pearl Harbor

    Japanese diplomats Nomura and Kurusu prepared for a meeting with Secretary of State Hull; they were being ordered to break off all negotiations with the U.S. The same message had been decoded and rushed to President Roosevelt. The U.S. Army and Navy was now aware that Japan might strike somewhere in the Pacific, but a warning did not reach Pearl Harbor until nearly 8:00 a.m., Hawaii time.Japanese bombs were falling onto the neat lines of U.S. warships in Pearl Harbor's "Battleship Row."
  • Martial Law

    In Hawai'i, martial laws was declared within hours of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 2018, and it lasted, with some modifications, for nearly three years, until October 24, 1944. The martial law regime affected every resident of the Territory of Hawai'i, citizen and alien alike.