pearl harbor timeline

By brilozensky

  • The “Black Ship” Opens Japan

    The “Black Ship” Opens Japan
    • Japan was a closed society until 1853, their society was like this to keep out dangerous influences and foreign ships could not enter their ports. Japanese people could not have contact with the outside world.
    • In 1853, American warships entered the port of Edo. They came to trade with other nations, Japan was threatened so they signed a trade treaty with the US
    • Japan signed trade treaties with Great Britain, Russia, France, and Holland.

  • Japan, A Strong Independent Nation

    Japan, A Strong Independent Nation
    • The ruling shogun was overthrown, and a 15-year-old emperor named Mutsuhito took the throne.
    • The nation had a new political system with a parliament and a constitution, a modern army and navy, and growing industries.
    • Japan did not want to adopt Western culture

  • America Becomes a Pacific Power

    America Becomes a Pacific Power
    • Imperialists believed that America needed overseas bases for its navy, markets, and the goods being produced in factories and on farms.
    • U.S. and Spain fought a brief war.
    • The U.S. took over Spain's Pacific possessions, including the Phillippine Islands. -The U.S. announced an "open door policy". Which proposed support for China's independence while guaranteeing equal trading rights for all nations. Japan didn't like this,
    • The U.S. took the islands of Hawaii as an American territory

  • The Great Depression

    The Great Depression
    • The 1929 New York Stock Exchange crash and the failure of important European banks put the entire world into an economic depression.
    • Japan was hit really hard, they had to import oil, iron, steel, and other commodities to keep its industry and military forces alive.
    • Many nations raised tariffs
    - As Japan's economy grew worse, the country became more aggressive

  • China in Flames

    China in Flames
    • China and Japan went to war
    • In December, Japanese troops captured the city of Nanking (Nanjing) where they massacred as many as 300,000 Chinese civilians.
    • The US had a special relationship with China and often acted as that nation's protector. Most Americans in the 1930s didn't want the nation to get involved in foreign wars
    - Germany and Russia attacked Poland. France and Britain declared war in return, World War II began

  • The Tripartite Pact

    The Tripartite Pact
    • Japan joined Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in the Tripartite Pact
    • The three countries pledged to support one another if any one of them was attacked by the US
    • President Roosevelt placed an embargo on exports of oil, steel, and iron to Japan. Great Britain and the Netherlands also cut off exports of oil to Japan
    • Without oil and metal, Japan couldn't continue the war in China

  • War Warning

    War Warning
    • Hideki Tojo became Japan's prime minister
    • Tojo was not afraid to challenge Britain and the US
    • Japan began planning for surprise attacks all across the Pacific, from Hong Kong to Hawaii
    - Attacking Pearl Harbor was one of the riskiest operations in military history, Japanese forces, centered around four aircraft carriers, would have to assemble at a Japanese island and cross thousands of miles to Hawaii in secret

  • The Bombing

    The Bombing
    • The Japanese government began sending messages to its diplomats in Washington
    • Japanese diplomats Nomura and Kurusu prepared for a final meeting with Secretary of State Hull
    • The U.S. was 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.