Pearl Harbor attacked

The Pearl Harbor Attack was an ambush attack led by Japanese planes. On Dec.7, at dawn, 353 Japanese planes swooped down and bombed Pearl Harbor, destroying and damaging most of the battleships. The American ships fought back, but there where too many Japanese ships, and they were too hard to hit. The Japanese fleet won, and the Americans lost most of their battleships.

The Japanese thought that, since they destroyed the Pacific Fleet, or most of it, they could take the Indonesian oil fields. Then they would offer peace, and the Americans would have to accept (before the battle, the U.S had stopped sending supplies to Japan because they were attacking other countries).  However, this thought was wrong because, one, all the aircraft carriers had not been at Pearl Harbor (a carrier is way more important then a battleship), and two, the Americans now were so angry that all they wanted was victory. There was no hope for peace.

The U.S made thousands of ships to battle Japan, and 12 million soldiers were set for battle. Japan had made all the ships it could, and could find no more soldiers.

After the battle, the U.S declared war on Japan, forcing Germany and Italy to declare war on them.