Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War

America's International Monetary Aides and Restrictions Lead it to War

Often times, in international conflict, nations will have ties and relations with other nations to provide aid and assistance in each other's international affairs. These ties can include financial aid, a loan made to another nation in order to better that nation's economic troubles. Other assistance can be in the form of military aid, a loan of resources, diplomatic aid in the form of a pact, agreement, or treaty, or a full-fledged military alliance. From the early 1930's, when Adolf Hitler made his rise to power in Germany, up until the early to mid 1940's, these types of agreements between nations set off the second World War. During this same time period, the United States of America couldn't help but get itself involved in the mess that was developing across the Atlantic Ocean in Europe and also in Asia, primarily between Japan and China. With the initial plan to remain neutral and keep its nose out of other's business, the United States was soon forced to answer to the call of its international partners and also to the call of the innocent people across Europe who were being victimized by Nazi Germany.

In late 1940, the Tripartite Pact officially brought together the Axis Powers of Germany, Italy and Japan. This agreement essentially declared that no matter who the enemy was, these countries would support each other should there be a military conflict. Eventually, due to the aid the United States was providing to those opposed to the Axis as well as the financial and trade restrictions implemented on Japan, Japan found itself in a tough position and needed to break out. Japan soon felt obligated to retaliate with a sneak attack on the United States military. Pearl Harbor or Operation Z as it was known to Japanese military, occurred on December 7th, 1941 and was the motive for America's military engagement in World War II. The Imperial Japanese Navy sent an aircraft fleet of 353 airplanes to destroy four U.S. Navy Battleships, kill over 2,000 U.S. military and civilians and cause much more damage around the base to other ships and facilities. Along with the destruction, the Japanese also influenced the American people to abandon their support for neutrality and switch their focus towards a military engagement with the Axis.

For a long time, public-opinion leaned towards neutrality before the attack on Pearl Harbor. In the 1930's, with Roosevelt as President, the United States was swiftly recovering from the major blows caused by the Great Depression during the late 20's and early 30's. By the late 30's, the Roosevelt administration was able to determine that the country had officially moved out of the depression and was on the road to prosperity. These economic troubles were the influence for the public to want to stay away from the