December 7, 1941, a day that Americans will never forget. The Japanese army launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, home of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which caused heavy losses to the U.S. Navy and officially involved the United States in World War II. So why did Japan choose to attack Pearl Harbor in the United States?This article will analyze it from three aspects: geopolitics, military strategy, and economic interests.
First, from a geopolitical point of view, Pearl Harbor is strategically located in the Pacific Ocean and is an important base for the U.S. Pacific Fleet. For the United States, Pearl Harbor is the cornerstone of its stability in the Pacific. For Japan, Pearl Harbor was a stumbling block to its southward expansion strategy. After occupying Northeast China and Southeast Asia, Japan urgently needed to seek more resources and markets to keep its war machine running. However, the US military presence in the Pacific posed a serious threat to Japan's expansion. Therefore, Japan chose to attack Pearl Harbor with the intention of weakening the US military power in the Pacific region and creating conditions for it to carry out its southward expansion strategy.
Second, from a military-strategic point of view, Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was aimed at breaking the strategic superiority of the United States over Japan. Before the war, the U.S. Navy had a clear superiority in strength in the Pacific. Although the Japanese Navy was relatively combative, it could not compete with the US Navy. In order to change this strategic situation, Japan chose to attack Pearl Harbor in order to quickly weaken the U.S. Navy in the early stage of the war and lay the foundation for subsequent wars. In fact, after Pearl Harbor, the US Navy lost the strategic initiative in the Pacific region, and Japan gained a strategic advantage in a short time.
Finally, from the perspective of economic interests, Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was to secure its resources in Southeast Asia**. Before the outbreak of the war, the United States imposed a series of economic sanctions on Japan, which seriously affected Japan's war economy. In order to break the U.S. sanctions, Japan needs to seek new resources. Southeast Asia's abundant oil, rubber and other resources have become Japan's preferred targets. However, the U.S. military presence at Pearl Harbor posed a serious threat to Japan's southward move to Southeast Asia. Therefore, Japan chose to attack Pearl Harbor in order to eliminate the US military threat in the Pacific region and ensure that it could smoothly move south to Southeast Asia and obtain the resources it needed.
To sum up, Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was not accidental, but the result of a combination of geopolitical, military-strategic, and economic interests. As far as the United States is concerned, the Pearl Harbor incident is a profound lesson that makes the United States realize that it is necessary to maintain a high degree of vigilance and strengthen its national defense construction in times of war. For Japan, Pearl Harbor briefly gained a strategic advantage, but it also brought the United States into the war, which ultimately led to Japan's defeat.