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Noah Pla
Professor Diaz
ENC1102
April 25th, 2018
World War II: The U.S
Twenty-one years after the first Great War was fought, the world once again was
threatened by the chaos; war was near. World War II is one the most notorious wars ever fought
by the United States. As the evils of the world arose, not only did the U.S. had to fight for their
freedom, but now for the worlds. Over the years, I have always been intrigued by the history of
this war; from the movies and shows it all looked fascinating. One day, after watching a movie
about World War II, I began to wonder about what really happened so many years ago, which
led me to begin my research. I was astonished by what I found. It was hard to believe what
horrors the U.S. faced during those long dreadful years: Many lives were lost, homes were
destroyed, and countless families were separated. I now had a new perception of war.
It was not to my surprise to later find out that many Americans only had a basic
understanding of World War II. Most high schools only give students a broad representation of
the war. George Santayana once said: “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it ”
(Jones, 2017). If our youth continues to be misinformed about the days of World War II, they
will never learn from civilization’s mistakes. People should get a better understanding of what
happened, learn about the sacrifices the U.S. made as a country, the battles we won, and the
triumph over the evils of the world. Now, with this new found knowledge, I would like to shed
light on the subject and inform readers about the events that took place in the United States’ most
notorious battle.
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With over 102 countries involved and a death count of over eighty million worldwide, the
world was in its darkest hours. The world split themselves into two sides- the Allied and the Axis
powers- in an all-out fight for control. The Allied alliance was made up of mainly three
countries: United States, Great Britain, and Soviet Russia. The Axis alliance was composed of
mainly Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan (Longman 8). In 1939, the U.S was witnessing what was
happening to the rest of the world: the Japanese were scarce on natural resources, giving them a
reason to invade China and causing chaos across the nation. The Japanese were killing civilians,
burning cities, and raping the women. The U.S opposed Japan’s war against China, but after
World War I, the American people did not want to become involved in another conflict (Maddox
85).
As time went by, the conditions continued to worsen. Japan continued to cause conflict
across Asia and began to threaten countries in the League of Nations. In 1940, The U.S retaliated
by setting down an embargo in Japan, with the Allied nations shortly following. The result gave
Japan more reason to seized resources from China, and quickly before the countries resources
depleted (Maddox 87). Japan responded by taking over Saigon, which was France’s territory
that primarily sold rubber and tin to the U.S; Japan hoped to hurt the countries’ imports, which
created an economic war (Maddox 86). The U.S president at the time, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, began to see tensions rising in the West, and in 1940, the president formed a new
command and assigned General Douglas Mcauther to the head of the U.S Armed Forces Far East
to monitor the Pacific and Asia, which Indicated that the U.S was preparing for war (Maddox
88).
On December 1941, the U.S intercepted a message from Japan about a potential attack on
the U.S the Naval base, Pearl Harbor. With little time, the U.S command sent a message to the
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base to prepare for an imminent attack. On December 7, 1941, with the message failing to make
it to the base causing the U.S to be unprepared, the Japanese Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo
Fuchida led hundreds of Japanese fighters to the base.The attack from the Japanese was a
success: it left the U.S base in ruins and crippled the U.S Pacific fleet, leaving the country
vulnerable from the west. The casualties were dire, leaving 2,343 Americans dead and 1,272
wounded (Snyder, 207). The attack on Pearl Harbor was the worst attack to ever happen on U.S
soil. The shaken country was furious, and the people demanded justice. With no choice now, the
United States and the British Empire declared war on Japan on December 8th, 1941 (Snyder
204).The Allied alliance had been now formed and Adolf Hitler felt opposed by the new
alliance. Now with Germany and Japan having a common enemy, Hitler created the Axis
alliance which forced the United States to declare war on Germany December 11, 1941 (Snyder