Pearl Harbor
A CHRONICLE OF JAPANESE AGGRESSION AND FAILURE
Japan and Aggression
 Japan continuing to acquire territories in the Pacific.
 Indochina 1940
 Japan’s “offer” 1940
 America insults Japan: 1941
Why?
 “Japan could not hope to win an all out war against
America and Britain” Admiral Yamamoto (head of
Japanese Military”
 Deficits per Japanese estimates:
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Steel production capabilities: 20:1
Oil production capabilities: 100:1
Coal production: 20:1
Aircraft production (prewar) 5:1
Shipping: 3:1
Overall: 10:1
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General Iwakuro
Did FDR know?
 From Chief of Staff: George Marshall
 “the Oahu fortress complex (Pearl Harbor) is the
strongest in the world, a seaborne attack is out of the
question”.
 Part of the surprise was how outrageously ambitious
the plan was.
Quick stats
 First planes hit: 7:55 AM
 All but 29 Japanese planes returned
 ½ of America’s military fleet destroyed
 8 battleships destroyed
 3 cruisers
 2323 servicemen killed
Yet a total failure
 Ships were quickly raised and repaired
 The American carriers the key—were out oat the time
and remained safe.
 Submarine pens and oil storage tanks unharmed
 “limited success was a woefully small military return
for the political risk of attacking the United States
before a declaration of war” Paul Johnson.
The result?
 America rallied and mobilized as quickly and as
dominantly as any nation in human history.
 Consider the numbers…
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Total growth:
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By the end of the first year of the war…the US was now production
as much as all the enemies and allies put together. By 1944 they
had doubled their lead in that stat.
Tank growth:
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1940: 24,000—1942: 58,000
Numbers
 Soliders
 Enrolled:
11,260,000 troops
 670,000 marines
 4,200,000 sailors
 An increase from an over at just over 2,000,000 in 1941!
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 Production
 US factories built by wars end
298,000 planes
 102,000 tanks
 88,000 ships
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Growth at a miraculous pace
 USS Yorktown
 3 month job to repair, after Pearl Harbor—that was moved up
slightly…48 hours.
 Pentagon
 7.5 year building plan—shaved to a year
 Ship building
 1940 US building a ship in 196 days
 By 1942: 10.3 hours
 52% of all ships produced in factories that were not even there
before Pearl Harbor!!!!
Japanese perspective…
 Hirohito: “Why is it that it took the Americans only a
few days to build a complete airbase and the
Japanese more than 40 days?”
 Admiral Nagano: “I am very sorry”
Conclusion
 Pearl Harbor created a surge of nationalism that has
not been equaled in human history. That
nationalism led to a growth of industry and
productive capacity that still baffles economists and
smashed the depression literally overnight.