to the attack on Pearl harbor which ended American isolationism.

On December 7, 1941, at 7:55 a.m., loudspeakers aboard warships in Pearl Harbor rang loud with warnings, "Air Raid. This is no shit" (Millis 354). The bombers streaked in low and filled the sky, marking the infamous Japanese attack on the bulk of the American military strength in the Pacific. The surprise attack was the grand entrance of Japan into World War II and resulted in its subsequent war with the United States. In its aftermath, their was no denying that this debacle was the worst day ever for the United States military. In only two hours the Imperial Japanese Navy had turned America's fortress into a shambles. The attack on Pearl Harbor continues to intrigue today as it was so significant to the international state system at the time of the attack. It represented a failure in deterrence by the United States on the Japanese and represented the end of American isolationism in the world which had stemmed from the conclusion of World War I. Instead of deterring the Japanese from pursuing an expansionist policy, these economic sanctions exacerbated relations between the U.S. and Japan

The war the Japanese planned had three objectives: to break the stranglehold of the embargo, to end interference with their conquest of China, and to build an overseas empire that would give Japan the supplies and markets it lacked. There was never any attempt to follow up the Pearl Harbor attack with a landing on the Hawaiian islands or the American mainland. Simply put, the Japanese were just trying to establish a headstart giving themselves enough time to complete their conquest of an overseas empire in the Pacific. The Japanese High Command hoped that the attack would allow them to develop an impregnable line of defense, giving them the opportunity to extract the necessary resources they needed in the Southwest Pacific with very little interference. They were fully aware that if their attack was countered with the full attention and capacity of the American forces they would most certainly lose. Admiral Yamamoto, who designed the attack of Pearl Harbor, warned, "In the first six months to a year of war against the U.S. and England I will run wild., and I will show you an uninterrupted succession of victories; I must also tell you that, should the war be prolonged for two or three years, I have no confidence in our ultimate victory." (Russet 229)

, encouraged Japan's southward expansion, and provoked the Japanese to risk war with the United States. Inevitability, the results would be devastating for both nations.

The Japanese assault on China challenged the position of the Western Powers in the Pacific and posed a threat to their security. The signing of the Anit-Cominterm Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in 1936, proved to the United States that the military in Japan had control. The U.S. government was almost forced to take a stronger stance because of the public outrage for the Japanese atrocities within China. The Japanese had tried the patience of the Americans and pushed them to their breaking point. Their convictions grew that the only way to break the military's control of Japan was to implement economic sanctions. But, the thought of Japan in Southeast Asia was a different one than Japan in China. "The loss of China to such autarkic control was not important enough for the United States to fight Japan. But if Japan should extend its autarkic control over Southeast Asia as well, the impact on the world's economy would be intolerable." (Utley 79) To the United States, Southeast Asia, represented a strategically important economic area because many of its necessary raw materials were imported from the region. Therefore the stakes had changed once the German invasions in Europe made Southeast Asia a vulnerable target to Japanese expansionism. The overrunning of the Netherlands, conquering of France, and the jeopardy they put Britain in, broke the British power in East Asia, left the colony of Indochina weak, and left the door wide open for the possible Japanese control of the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. If Japan could dominate Southeast Asia and Germany conquer the Suez Canal, the two powers would be linked thus giving German access to the important raw materials in this region. This possibly could lead to a powerful union of Japanese and German forces of an undefeatable nature.

Another possible theory of how deterrence failed in the Pearl Harbor attack is the possibility that there was never any goal of deterrence. Ever since the attack many rumors suggested that the inflexibility of American foreign policy was due to the fact that the United States pushed the Japanese to attack them because they wanted them to. Deterrence was not a goal of the United States but instead they tried to create a war. The attack was provoked by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who is believed to have known about the attack and covered it up. (Willey) He used the Pacific fleet as bait to enter the war and gain American support. (Willey) Although this theory has never been proven to be true and probably never will be it does a

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Approximate Word count = 2818
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)