With 400 sailors aboard, the Oklahoma lost her balance, rolled onto her side and slipped underwater. Next, torpedoes pierced the shell of the battleship USS Oklahoma. The ship exploded and sank with more than 1,000 men trapped inside. At 8:10, a 1,800-pound bomb smashed through the deck of the battleship USS Arizona and landed in her forward ammunition magazine. Bombs and bullets rained onto the vessels moored below. On December 7, after months of planning and practice, the Japanese launched their attack.Īt about 8 a.m., Japanese planes filled the sky over Pearl Harbor. That way, the Americans would not be able to fight back as Japan’s armed forces spread across the South Pacific. The oil embargo placed on Japan by the US threatened Japan's expansion plan for its empire, so while they made diplomatic efforts to get the embargo lifted (on terms to still be allowed to take over desired territories), they prepared for war.The Japanese plan was simple: Destroy the Pacific Fleet. They viewed Europe's power through their massive empires, and they emulated by invading and conquering other Asian countries. Because of its very limited resources, Japan realized it needed natural resources to industrialize and compete with the West. With the arrival of Perry, Japan realized they were behind the Western world (Europe and America), and from the start of the Meiji (Enlightenment) Era in 1868, Japan began sending people to Europe and America to learn everything they could in order to catch up with the West. Perry demanded Japan to open to trade with the West. Perry arrived on Japan's shore in 1853, Japan had been a mostly closed country for the previous 250 years, strictly regulating interactions and trade with foreigners. Japan was fully aware of America's power.
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