Attraction: Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. On December 7, 1941, Japan launched an unprovoked aerial attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor.

Many Americans were hesitant to get engaged in the European war before the invasion. When the United States declared war on Japan, drawing the country into World War II, everything changed.

The US Pacific Fleet was based in Pearl Harbor, which was the most important American naval base in the Pacific. The Japanese attack was a strategic failure. At the time of the strike, the majority of the US fleet and aircraft carriers were not there.

The attack was justified by the Japanese as retaliation for the United States’ military and economic assistance for the Chinese Republic, as well as the subsequent economic sanctions against Japan. The US froze Japanese assets and imposed an embargo on oil exports to Japan in the summer and fall of 1941.

The attack on Pearl Harbor had long-reaching consequences that went far beyond the United States. Hitler praised the attack and declared war on the United States, which historians consider to be his greatest blunder.