Pearl Harbor Attack

The Pearl Harbor attack was a deadly sneak attack by Japanese forces on the US naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Hundreds of Japanese planes dropped bombs on the base during the attack. Three ships were destroyed, and many others were damaged. More than 2,400 American soldiers and civilians were killed in the attack. President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan the next day. As a result, the Pearl Harbor attack marked the United States’ entry into World War II (1939–1941).

Tensions between Japan and the United States had increased for decades before the Pearl Harbor attack. These tensions resulted from Japan’s aggressive behavior toward its Asian neighbors. Japan lacked natural resources...