The Touch to the Untouchables

The Touch to the Untouchables


They thought they were untouchable and had to worry about nothing, no one would ever be so brave and hasty to defy them, but in December 7, 1941 the United States of America’s forces in Pearl Harbor were suddenly attacked and terminated by a country that didn’t accept to submit to its power. In 1941 Japan showed the whole world it wasn’t impossible to defeat the army of one of the most powerful countries of the world, if a plan was well-prepared.
The surprise was complete. Japanese planes attacked in two waves and, made a total chaos began. 2,403 dead, 188 destroyed planes, and 8 destroyed battleships are some of the effects of this attack. All the world was shocked with this attack, including the government of the United States. President Roosevelt announced in a conference with his congress on December 8, 1941: “Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves.”
Certainly, the premeditated actions of the Japanese were essential, they cheated the whole world. Japanese sent diplomatic to the United States to distract them, to convince them that the Emperor wanted to maintain peace in the Pacific, and this cheat worked.

How did the Japanese could send all their naval planes all the way form Japan to Hawaii with no one noticing it? How Japanese could know the exact locations of Pearl Harbor’s naval stuff? One of the main reasons is that the United States never thought of the possibility of an attack, and even though they knew Japan’s planes had “disappeared”, the government didn’t imagine a sudden attack.

Japanese also deserve a lot of merit. They knew they could send a spy to Pearl Harbor disguised as a tourist to take pictures and information, and that no one would suspect anything, because the Americans were confided that Japan, as well as most nations in the world, would have fear and would submit to most of their wishes. This is the reason that Japanese had so much information before attacking Pearl Harbor, and knew precisely where and how to attack to leave this place with no protection.

326 Japanese planes were in their way to attack Pearl Harbor, Japanese knew already that because of the masquerade they had armed in Washington (ambassadors pretending to have intentions of peace) the United Stated didn’t expect an attack, and in Pearl Harbor the army of the Americans was only training hard or sleeping. This brilliant attack was about to begin. For theJapanese, it was show time.


On December 7th Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippine Islands, and Wake Island. In the morning of September 8th the Japanese attacked Midway Island. This was a coordinated attempt to use surprise in order to inflict as much damage as quickly as possible to strategic targets. This is, again, showing everything was previously planned, and with extreme precision.

Many American lives and equipment were lost. Also the environment suffered because of all the fuel oil that contaminated the Pacific Ocean. But what was mostly damaged was the dignity, pride, and honour of Americans.

Not even the government could believe one country that had one of the best armies of the world, one country that had been afraid of no other threatens before, their country, had lost this battle. An Army captain who had helped to discover the Japanese diplomatic "Purple" code (treats of peace to cheat the United States), said to his wife repeatedly, "But they knew, they knew, they knew."

Years later in 1941, president Roosevelt and the chief of his Army said, if Japan would have continued attacking right after Pearl Harbor, Japanese could have gotten all California, and maybe more because the United States didn’t have enough sources at that moment to regain all it had lost (soldiers and equipment) in Pearl Harbor.

But the US didn't stay as if nothing had happend, because then the country would look weak at the eyes of the world, and would be attacked again by other countries who didn't agee with the decisions the government of the Americans was taking.

The threaten to Japan came immediately after the attack in Hawaii. President Roosevelt with the support of most members of the congress, decisively said: “Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves… As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. ”

A war had started between the United States of America and the country of Japan. This was very dangerous, but no one suspected all the anger and extreme destruction this war would cause. This was like waking a huge and agressive monster from a dream.

Japan had an association with Germany. Hitlerand his Nazi empire were over confident and on December 11th attacked, but the monster that was the United States was angry, very angry and defeated them.

Several battles took place, first during the Pacifc War, and then with a victory for the U.S. in the Battle of Midway. Four years later, the United States found a way to completely destroy Japan and leave it out of action for a lot of time.

This way was cheap and effective.

The solution to the problems the United States faced was the atomic bomb.

Two accurate attacks at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were enough. Obviously after this Japan surrendered, and no country wanted to “offend” the United States. The atomic bomb was a clever way to end all attempts of attack any country in the world could have, but this incredible and destructive weapon was used under a high prize: hundreds of lives were lost, the environment around the attacks was left with nothing but ashes; still today there are parts of Japan where vegetation does not grow.

It is said Pearl Harbor is ''the mother of all conspiracies''. Pearl Harbor’s attack was a good plan the Japanese had to defeat the United States, but Japanese didn’t take into account the enormous power the United States had. Pearl Harbor united a divided country (the United States) into one that wanted to enter a war, and win!

This battle between powers was difficult. The United States' wish to win led to something so destructive as the atomic bomb, without thinking-or carrying- about all the about the consequences, without thinking about all the hundreds of innocent people that would die. Pearl Harbor’s attack and its effects showed the world that for governments, power is the most important thing, power is over peace, over countries, over boundaries and, over human lives. This is not right, it is a big sign saying our society is not going in the right way. If we want humanity to survive ourselves, we must first look at situations as Pearl Harbor or Hiroshima, and learn from them, learn about its consequences, not no repeat them, but to make sure none of these will ever happen again.