The attack of Pearl Harbor by the Japaneses was a military strike conducted by the imperial Japaneses navy against the United States naval base in Pearl Harbor. Hawaii, on the morning on December 7, 1941. The attack was intended as a preventive attack in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from intefering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands< and the United States.
The base was attacked by 353 japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six air crafts. Four battle ships were sunk (two of which were raised and returned to service later in the war) and the four others present were damaged. The Japanese also sank or damaged three ships, an anti-aircraft training ship,and one 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 men were killed and 1,282 wounded. The power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and lost five submarinies, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded. One japan sailor was captured.
The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War 2 in both the Pacific and European theater. The following day (December 8) the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for isolation, which had been strong, disappeared. Clandestine support of Britain was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.
Despite numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action, the lack of any formal warning by Japan, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Fraklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim on December 7. 1941 "a day which we live in infamy".
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