One natural outgrowth of the importance of this episode is that for sixty years now there have been all kinds of recriminations and conspiracy theories surrounding the events of December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor was essentially a national suicide mission by the Japanese. And, once entered into the War, it was inevitable that the U. would have the opportunity to rebuild those ships at her leisure. There was never any chance that the Japanese could actually attack the American mainland, which meant that the U. Naval ships in port that day had been destroyed (in fact, only two battleships, one target ship, and two destroyers were permanently lost), what good would that have done Japanese war aims ? At best it might have bought them a very little extra time in which to try to expand, and thus further overextend, their Empire. Even if the bombings had been completely successful and all the U. What makes this event all the more remarkable is how utterly futile it was. Or suppose that Japan had simply declared war before attacking : would the lack of the "sneak" in the attack have made enough of an emotional difference for Americans not to have imprisoned our own Japanese-American population or not to drop the atomic bombs on Japan ? Well, you get the picture we're talkin' big, big deal here. The Cold War would have been avoided and along with it the fifty year long economic displacement that the U.
Ultimately, the victorious Axis powers, and/or the Soviets, would have collapsed of their own weight.
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Meanwhile, Japan would have had a free hand to completely overextend itself in the South Pacific. This in turn would have meant either a bloody stalemate between Nazi Germany and the USSR or victory by one, followed by a debilitating attempt to control the European land mass. But for the attack, it is entirely possible that America would have safely sat out the War. To an extent that Americans no longer seem willing to concede-witness the hysterical reaction to Pat Buchanan's musings on the subject-Pearl Harbor was the proximate cause of the United States' entry into World War II. What If? games are inherently silly, however fascinating, and they can't produce any certain answers, but consider the course that history might have taken had the attack (or another like it) never occurred. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the rare historic events whose significance and continuing ramifications it is probably impossible to overstate. Whatever the label, Pearl Harbor was a turning-point moment in American history, and it gave rise, the very next day, to some of the most famous words ever spoken by an American president: "Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked." If you intend to read only a single book on Pearl Harbor, this is the one for you. It must be considered one of the most lopsided battles in all history-and "battle" probably isn't the best word to describe it. The Japanese, by contrast, lost only 29 planes. Hundreds of planes were destroyed or damaged. Arizona, which blew up about 15 minutes into the raid, and 17 other ships were either sunk or crippled. Thousands of Americans were killed or wounded. The whole assault lasted about two hours. naval officer on "his first night on his first patrol on his first command" spots a Japanese submarine just hours before the strike when the surprise attack finally does arrive, an excited Japanese commander shouts "Tora! Tora! Tora!" ("Victory!") before even the first bombs have fallen. The Japanese scan Hawaiian radio stations to see if their moves have been detected a U.S.
Lord begins by showing how Japanese admirals, three months before their notorious sneak attack, "tested the idea on the game board at the Naval War College." (It didn't go nearly as well there as it did in real life.) Then he proceeds briskly through the preparations for the assault and delivers a minute-by-minute account about those fateful hours in Oahu. Day of Infamy deserves to stand beside that classic as a gripping narrative, and the subject matter, of course, is infinitely more important. Walter Lord is best known for A Night to Remember, his book on the voyage of the Titanic. There may not be a better book on what happened at Pearl Harbor than Day of Infamy-and it's not as if the Pearl Harbor story has lacked chroniclers.