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
In 1940 Japan joined Germany and Italy against the Allies forming the Axis Powers Japanese forces soon marched into French Indochina present day Vietnam Japan's ultimate goal was to take over all of Southeast Asia and the U S commonwealth of the Philippines Alarmed by this move the United States froze all Japanese assets in the country in 1941 This meant that the Japanese government couldn't access any funds or resources it owned that were invested in American banks or businesses The United States also launched an embargo on Japan As a result of these moves Japan lost access to high quality scrap metal and fuel for airplanes which were needed to continue the fight with China U S President Franklin D Roosevelt was hopeful that these tough measures would bring the Japanese to the negotiation table but
they were no longer interested in negotiating Japan's leaders were preparing for war against what they saw as their sworn enemy the United States WARNING SIGNS The Pearl Harbor attack should not have come as a complete surprise to the United States There had been warning signs going back nearly a year In January 1941 Joseph Grew the U S ambassador to Japan heard a rumor about a planned attack on Hawaii Grew told his superiors but they considered the rumor unreliable and ignored it In September the U S Navy intercepted a coded message from Tokyo the Japanese capital to the Japanese consulate in Honolulu the Hawaiian capital on Oahu The message asked the consulate to note the location of U S ships docked at Pearl Harbor It took U S authorities a month to decode the message but it was never sent back to those in charge at Pearl Harbor On the very morning of the attack another Japanese message was intercepted that was meant for Japanese ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura telling him to announce a break in relations with the United States and destroy his code machine When Army Chief of Staff George C Marshall received the message he immediately tried to alert the commanders in Hawaii But because of technical problems his warning didn't arrive until hours after the attack had taken place
