Watch Pearl Harbor: Dawn of Death

On the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, several Japanese junior officers urged Imperial Admiral Nagumo to carry out a third strike in order to destroy as much of Pearl Harbor's fuel and torpedo storage, maintenance, and dry dock facilities as possible. Nagumo chose to retreat expecting retaliation and fully believing the Japanese had done enough damage to keep America out of the Pacific for at least six months. In retrospect, sparing the vital dockyards, maintenance shops, and oil depots meant th

December 7, 1941 - the day that will live in infamy. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, led to the United States' entry into World War II. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, and as Operation Z during its planning. At 7:48 am, Japan began their attack on th

Although most Americans were shocked by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the outbreak of war between the two countries came as no surprise to most observers of international affairs. Relations between Japan and the United States began in the late 18th and early 19th century, with the diplomatic but force-backed missions of U.S. ship captains James Glynn and Matthew C. Perry to the Tokugawa shogunate being of particular importance. The countries maintained relatively cord