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The Empire of the Rising Sun
Japan is a crowded nation with few natural resources. Traditionally,
the Japanese islands were the easternmost point of the Asia. The Japanese
people call their islands the “Land of the Rising Sun” because
it seems the sun rises from Japan, then spreads across the rest of Asia.
Japan became an industrial leader in the early twentieth century but it
was unable to expand their economy.
The Japanese believed that it was their destiny to liberate
the people of Asia from European control. In 1894, Japan expanded into
Korea. In 1937, as Germany was preparing to expand across Europe, Japan
conquered Manchuria, a province in northeast China. By 1938, the Japanese
controlled many important Chinese port cities and a great deal of the
Chinese coastline.
Indochina is a peninsula between China and India in Southeast
Asia. France had controlled Indochina for many years. Japan was able to
assume control of Indochina when Germany occupied France in 1941. The
United States demanded that Japan leave Indochina, and halted oil sales.
Japan depended on American oil to fuel its industries. The Japanese were
forced to search for new sources of oil. The Dutch colonies on the islands
of East Asia were an obvious target. The Japanese knew that they would
face war with the Americans if they attempted to conquer the Dutch colonies
while war raged in Europe. Japan decided to strike America by surprise.
On a quiet Sunday morning, more than 500 Japanese fighters
and bombers attacked the American Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
In little more than an hour, the surprise attack killed more than two
thousand Americans and significantly damaged the American war fleet in
the Pacific. President Roosevelt announced that that date, December 7,
1941, was “a date which will live in infamy.” The Japanese
believed they could destroy the American’s ability to contain their
empire in Asia by destroying the naval ships in Pearl Harbor. They did
not count on American resolve and industrial might.
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