History Essay Example: How the Attack on Pearl Harbor Impacted the USA

On 7th, December 1941 before 8 am hundreds of Japanese planes attacked an American naval base at Pearl Harbor. The Harbor is close to Honolulu, Hawaii. The Japanese bombardment of the naval base lasted only two hours, but it was shattering. Twenty American naval vessels were destroyed, they included eight big battleships (Tanaka and Grain, 5). More than three hundred planes were also destroyed in the barrage. Two thousand American soldiers lost their lives in the attack while more than one thousand soldiers were left wounded. Pearl Harbor impacted the United States in a positive way since it led to the end of the war, prompted the entry of America into World War Two and galvanized the nation.

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Just a day after the assault from the Japanese the then President of the United States asked the Congress to declare war on Japan (Zimm, 151). The Congress approved his request with only one vote against the proposal to go to war with Japan. Three days after the President was granted approval to go to war with Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on the USA. The United States Congress reciprocated by declaring war also against Germany and Italy.

Although the attack was devastating to the USA in the short term, it also had longer-term benefits to the country and the world. One benefit the attack had to the country was that it created a sense of unity and also jobs. America was not united strongly after the civil war, the attack on Pearl Harbor helped the Americans to have a sense of unity since they viewed the Japanese as a common enemy. After the attack, the whole nation share a unanimous decision as the Congress that America should enter the war. The war provided jobs for the Americans, women and men were recruited to serve various positions in the Americas military. The solidarity was also shown by the rate of which the citizens bought victory bonds and stamped to help fund the government and the troops on the war.

Another benefit was that the attack helped the country move from isolation to leadership (DeConde, 26). Before the attack, America maintained an isolationist policy, which stated that the America should engage in wars more so the chaos in Europe. That attack gave them a good reason to depart from this policy and display to the world their military might and also depression. Its navy becomes the largest worldwide, boasting of 250 ships, seven aircraft carriers, and sixty submarines.

Finally, the entry of USA into the war benefitted the world. Its entry led to the end of World War II which if prolonged could have resulted in more loss of life more so the killing of the Jews and destruction of property. In the long run, we can see although the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese was disastrous it also led to benefits which could not have been achieved without the attack.

Works Cited

DeConde, A. New Interpretations in American Foreign Policy. Mary Land: Wildside Press LLC.

Tanaka, Shelley, and David Craig. The attack on Pearl Harbor: The True Story of the Day America Entered World War Ii. New York: Scholastic, 2002. Print.

Zimm, Alan D. Attack on Pearl Harbor: Strategy, Combat, Myths, Deceptions. Philadelphia [Pa.: Casemate, 2011. Print.