Why did japan invade pearl Harbour?
395978
Click and Paste is great, but it just shows you don't understand what you are answering.\n\nThe primary reason for Japan attacking the US fleet at Pearl Harbor is because Deterrence as a long-term source for peace simply does NOT work. By imposing trade sanctions against Japan and the concentrating both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets at Pearl Harbor, the US wanted to send the message "if you do anything, we will destroy you." The message the Japanese received was "if we DON'T do anything the Americans will destroy us!"\n\nJust like Vietnam, the US was drawn into World War II by trying to prop up a dying European colonial empire, again it was France. When Germany destroyed France in June of 1940 the new government was called Vichy France because the city of Vichy was the only unoccupied city that could handle the number of bureaucrats in the French government. When General De Gaulle ran away leaving his fellow countrymen to face slavery and humiliation, he began politically luring some of the French posessions to follow him. In early 1941, the island of New Caledonia had a coup which ousted the Vichy governor and installed a Free French administration. Japan, which had already made an agreement with the Vichy government in Indochina to occupy what is now Laos and North Vietnam to stop supplies from reaching the Chinese army, decided it must act before a similar event took Indochina out of their reach as well. Japan launched an amphibious invasion of all of Indochina. This is the reason for the economic sanctions against Japan.\n\nJapan knew it could not hope to win a long war, simply because of the logistical problems involved. As a small island nation, not only did Japan have to import almost all of its natural resources, but almost half of those resources arrived via cargo ships flying American, British and Dutch flags. Japan's economy was already realing from the huge expense of building a gigantic military and a modern navy (and, like the USA, cheating on the restrictions!). Any sort of long embargo from America would surely send Japan back into Depression, but any sort of political retreat would surely provoke the Japanese military to once again seize power like they did in the early 1930's. By destroying the combined fleet at Pearl Harbor at one blow, along with the British and Dutch posessions in the western Pacific, Japan felt they could be in such a strong position that they could dictate terms to America before she was able to recover. As Admiral Yamamoto had said, for the first six months I can run wild through the Pacific, but after that I can promise nothing.\n\nJapan's problem was that the strike force sent to Pearl Harbor was able to inflict severe damage on the actual fleet but was simply not strong enough to do the sort of damage to Pearl Harbor's logistical capabilities that was necessary (the dry docks, the repair shops, the fuel storage tanks, etc). By leaving Pearl Harbor relatively untouched, America's distance to strike back at Japan was cut more than in half. If the US Navy had to work out of San Francisco rather than Pearl Harbor in 1942, it would have been a drastically different war!\n\nAnd don't EVEN get me started on the ridiculousness of the FDR "conspiracy" to get Pearl Harbor bombed so the USA could enter the war. The vein in my forehead is pulsing again!
329251
B - because of the advances in mainland China, it forced the US to fight a two front war.  The Japanese caused the americans, and Russians to have to balance their military efforts.  If the US and Russia could have spent less time in Asia, then they could have taken care of the German and Italians faster.
1064351
The question:\n\nWould we have joined World War Two if Japan hadn't attacked Pearl Harbor?\n\nThe answer:\n\nCheck it out here; it's really interesting: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylt=Ai6fsEgESenbEPC2ThudBXEjzKIX?qid=1006041013039
532747
we invaded iwo jima, which is like Japan's Hawaii.  It is considered a main Japanese island by not the main Japanese island.
947161
because of the brutal pearl harbor attack\n\n:> peace\n.
682494
Because Japan was able to cooperate with European nations and thus avoid the destruction that affected most of southern Asia and Oceania, Japan was able to begin building a large industrial and military infrastructure, then with help from European mentors Japan started to push out and take responsibilities in Asia. Japan was able to seize Korea and Formosa (Taiwan) first in wars with China. Then, during the Russo-Japanese War, Japan was given economic power and right to defend Manchuria, which they later annexed as Manchukwo. During the First World War, Japan declared on the side of the Western Allies, and at the Versailles Treaty in 1919 Japan was given the League of Nations mandate over the former island posessions of Germany in the Pacific Ocean (Carolinas, Marshalls, Bismark Islands, etc). In 1937, after quarrels with China over Manchuria, Japan began the actual invasion of China, which would bog their military down for almost ten years. When France was conquered by Germany in 1940, Japan reached a protective agreement with the French authorities in Indochina, then actually seized the entire province in 1941 which led to America placing economic sanctions. In the opening move of Japan's part in the Second World War, Japan seized Hong Kong, Malaya and Singapore, Indonesia, northern New Guinea, the Philippines, Guam and Wake. In early 1942, Japan took the Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal, and made an effort to seize the remaining southern portion of New Guinea to isolate Australia and New Zealand, but were turned back at the aircarft carrier fight in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The Japanese army was advancing through Burma and into the frontier of India, but were stopped at Imphal. With these setbacks, Japan felt it had to knock the American navy out of the war right away, thus the overextended plan for the ambush at Midway, which of course turned out to be an ambush against the Japanese navy. From that point on, Japan was not able to mount offensive operations until late 1944 in the South China Sea with disastrous results in what was called the Leyte Gulf Turkey Shoot.
334334
At 5 am Sept 1st 1939, Hitler invades Poland. The British and French issue an ultimatum by that afternoon. It expired at noon GMT Sept 3rd. Birtan and France then declared war on Germany, HOWEVER, World War II was not a world war until Japan attacked the USA at Pearl Harbor on Sunday Dec. 7th 1941 at 7am. Go find someone who was there, like I did. I'm sure they have many intresting tales to tell. Dont be afraid of the old. They actually like to talk about the good old bad old days.
591078
Because at the time the US was the only nation with atomic bombs.  \n\nAtomic bombs were so new and powerful that no one knew anything about them. Fear of the unknown is powerful. \n\nAlso it showed Japan that the US would stop at nothing to end the war and that they wanted the war over now not later and would keep fighting until it was over.
794207
During WWII, the Japs knew the US military was bigger and badder then theirs. They tried to destroy the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor to take the US Navy out of the equation to make the playing field more even. However, many of the Jap military leaders thought bombing the Pacific fleet was a bad idea. They thought of the bombing as simply awakening a sleeping giant. Turns out, they were right.
431391
The Germans made a deal with the Japanese that if they attacked America then they (the Germans) would help the Japanese fight against the U.S. This did not happen.The Germans wanted the Japanese to keep the U.S. busy while the Germans did there thing. America had a deal with Great Britain that the U.S. would send equipment and supplies to help in the war. It was called "lend and lease". This would help the war effort and keep the Americans from the fighting. This was working to some point until the raid on Pearl harbor. There is speculation that the Brits knew of the attack on pearl but didn't say anything because they wanted the U.S. to join the war. There were a few stipulations G.B. had to agree to for the U.S. to officially join in the war effort. The most important was that G.B.(great Britain) would have to remove it's self from ALL of it's colonies. such as India and others.
200761
Both.\n\nThe Japanese knew that it was only a matter of time before the United States would enter the war, so they took a gamble to strike pre-emptively to keep America out of the war.\n\nTheir intent was not to scare America into submission, but to cripple the Pacific fleet enough so that it would take them over a year to rebuild. By that time, the Japanese figure that they would have entrenched themselves in the conquered territories to make it impossible for America to get them out.\n\nThey made a few mistakes:\n1) They underestimated America's industrial power. Under normal non-war conditions, it would have taken over a year to repair the fleet, but when all of America converted to war production, it took only a small fraction of that time.\n\n2) They crippled the battleship fleet, but the Navy aircraft carriers were not at Pearl Harbor at the time. Military wisdom at the time made the battleships the main fighting force of the fleet, but at that time, the Navy was already changing tactics to make aircraft carriers the main fighting force. The attack at Pearl Harbor only sped up that process. America retaliated to Pearl Harbor using their carriers.
352271
Whose reason? Germany's reason? Italy's? America's? Japan's?\n\nTwo main reasons: Axis aggressions and Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.\nCatalyst prompting war in Europe: Blitzkrieg - Hitler's invasion of Poland.\n\nGeneral reasons: imperialism (German, Japanese, and Italian), alliance systems, appeasement, racism (anti-semitism), expansionism.\n\nAxis powers: Germany, Italy, Japan. \nAllies: USA, Britain, USSR, France.
140767
one of their allies had the atomic bomb and were prepared to use it. also, Germany was the main foe, being so close to taking over Europe, they had to worry about them first. military strategy throughout history warns about fighting a battle on 2 fronts. depletes your resourses and manpower. Germany was the main concern then take on Japan.
736178
It was oil and other resources such as rubber and scrap steel.  Oil was the reason Japan coveted S E Asia.  \n\nThere was another reason:  an underestimation of the foe they were taking on.  They underestimated the industrial might of the USA . Yamamoto, the Japanese admiral who planned and led the attack on Pearl Harbor stated exactly what was to happen: initial successes until Japan would be overcome by the strength of the industrial response.  Also, call it nationalism or perhaps racism, Japan didn't think they would lose to the USA.  They thought they were tougher and better warriors.  And they were a tenacious, brave adversary.  But they woefully misunderstood the spirit of the Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen who fought under the Stars and Stripes.
635807
Pearl Harbor \nPearl Harbor Raid, 7 December 1941 --\nOverview and Special Image Selection\nThe 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy's battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.\n\nEighteen months earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had transferred the United States Fleet to Pearl Harbor as a presumed deterrent to Japanese agression. The Japanese military, deeply engaged in the seemingly endless war it had started against China in mid-1937, badly needed oil and other raw materials. Commercial access to these was gradually curtailed as the conquests continued. In July 1941 the Western powers effectively halted trade with Japan. From then on, as the desperate Japanese schemed to seize the oil and mineral-rich East Indies and Southeast Asia, a Pacific war was virtually inevitable.\n\nBy late November 1941, with peace negotiations clearly approaching an end, informed U.S. officials (and they were well-informed, they believed, through an ability to read Japan's diplomatic codes) fully expected a Japanese attack into the Indies, Malaya and probably the Philippines. Completely unanticipated was the prospect that Japan would attack east, as well.\n\nThe U.S. Fleet's Pearl Harbor base was reachable by an aircraft carrier force, and the Japanese Navy secretly sent one across the Pacific with greater aerial striking power than had ever been seen on the World's oceans. Its planes hit just before 8AM on 7 December. Within a short time five of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor were sunk or sinking, with the rest damaged. Several other ships and most Hawaii-based combat planes were also knocked out and over 2400 Americans were dead. Soon after, Japanese planes eliminated much of the American air force in the Philippines, and a Japanese Army was ashore in Malaya.\n\nThese great Japanese successes, achieved without prior diplomatic formalities, shocked and enraged the previously divided American people into a level of purposeful unity hardly seen before or since. For the next five months, until the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May, Japan's far-reaching offensives proceeded untroubled by fruitful opposition. American and Allied morale suffered accordingly. Under normal political circumstances, an accomodation might have been considered.\n\nHowever, the memory of the "sneak attack" on Pearl Harbor fueled a determination to fight on. Once the Battle of Midway in early June 1942 had eliminated much of Japan's striking power, that same memory stoked a relentless war to reverse her conquests and remove her, and her German and Italian allies, as future threats to World peace.\n\nhiroshima and nagasaki:\nSome of the most frequent queries concerning the atomic bombs are those dealing with the selection of the targets and the decision as to when the bombs would be used. \n\nThe approximate date for the first use of the bomb was set in the fall of 1942 after the Army had taken over the direction of and responsibility for the atomic bomb project. At that time, under the scientific assumptions which turned out to be correct, the summer of 1945 was named as the most likely date when sufficient production would have been achieved to make it possible actually to construct and utilize an atomic bomb. It was essential before this time to develop the technique of constructing and detonating the bomb and to make an almost infinite number of scientific and engineering developments and tests. Between the fall of 1942 and June 1945, the estimated probabilities of success had risen from about 60% to above 90%; however, not until July 16, 1945, when the first full-scale test took place in New Mexico, was it conclusively prove
49407
FDR wanted to enter the war to aide Allied forces and the only way to enter the war was to provoke Japan into involving the U.S. He did not know the exact time and location of the attack but he knew the general time and that it would be coming somewhere in the Pacific. He was also aware that by pushing Japan into a corner they had no choice but to retaliate against the U.S.
120321
It started because the mouth invaded the nose to take control of its valuable snot resources.\n\nOh, you mean world war 2? Sorry. Yeah, it started because the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. And if anyone posts that answer in all seriousness, I may be forced to kill them in the most painful way possible.\n\nWorld War II started because Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939, prompting Britain and France to declare war. However, some historians place the date as early as 1931 with the Manchurian Incident.\n\nSo, to answer your question, there were a number of events which precipitated the war after the war to end all wars. For a fuller history of the international conflicts of the 1930s/40s, see the wikipedia entry referenced below.\n\nETA: OMG, someone did. I despair for you.