American servicemen called the red meatball on the side of an approaching plane It was the Rising Sun symbol of Imperial Japan This was no drill or the arrival of friendly aircraft from California This was a very real attack by 183 Japanese planes Moments later naval operations officer Logan Ramsey was shouting into a loudspeaker for all to hear Air Raid Pearl Harbor 2 A HISTORY OF HATRED The sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was the climax of anti American feelings that had been brewing among the Japanese for nearly a century It began in 1853 when U S battleships under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry anchored near Tokyo and
forced Japan to sign a diplomatic agreement with the United States This opening of the proud isolated kingdom led to Japan being forced to trade with Western nations Humiliated by these events Japan resolved to transform itself into a world power that could compete economically and militarily with the United States and Europe Japan achieved this goal and set out to show off its military strength in wars with China 1894 1895 and Russia 1904 1905 both of which Japan won
In late 1937 Japanese troops invaded Nanking China and brutally massacred approximately 300 000 soldiers and civilians Following World War I 1914 1918 members of an international conference in Washington D C were concerned about Japanese aggression in Asia so they set limits on the nation's manufacture of weapons and warships Again humiliated the Japanese resolved not to let the Western powers intimidate or bully them In 1931 Japanese troops invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria and by 1937 were attacking other parts of China
A NEW WORLD WAR Nazi Germany had sparked World War II 1939 1945 in September 1939 when it invaded Poland The United States had stayed out of the war but supported the cause of the Allies which included Great Britain and France who were fighting Germany and Italy Japanese soldiers entered French Indochina in September 1940 and invaded more of the country the following year
