December 7, 1941 was one of the worst attacks ever launched on the United States. Since that day, 2,403 soldiers were killed in action, 1,178 were wounded in action. Thanks to errors in judgment by numerous members of the US military, the Japanese were able to carry out this terrible attack, which crippled the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. “Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date that will remain in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan... As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I have ordered that all measures be taken for the our defense... With confidence in our armed forces, with the boundless determination of our people, we will achieve the inevitable triumph, so help us God.” –President Franklin D. RooseveltSince the mid-19th century, Japan had sought to transform itself from a closed, feudal society into a modern country with industrial and military power. In the early 1930s, the Japanese army engaged in battles with the Chinese in Manchuria and in doing so prevailed. Since Manchuria had lost these battles, it became part of the Japanese political system. In 1939, World War II began with a series of German victories. Germany defeated Poland, France and England. Many European nations that Germany had control over were of great interest to Japan because of the natural resources of tin, rubber, and oil, and Japan desperately needed these resources (Duiker and Spielvogel, 540-544). If Japan could seize these territories and incorporate them into its empire, it could become the most dominant power in the Pacific Ocean (Encyclopedia Britannica). A year after the start of the general war in Europe, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with…… half of the paper…… New York: Longman, 1987. La Forte, Robert S., and Ronald E. Marcello, eds. Remembering Pearl Harbor: Eyewitness accounts from U.S. military men and women. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources Books, 1991.Laurie, Clayton D. "Pearl Harbor." In Jeffries, John W. and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: The Great Depression and World War II, 1929 to 1945, Revised Edition (Volume VIII). New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2010. American History Online. Facts about File.Love, Robert W., Jr., ed. Pearl Harbor revisited. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995 "Pearl Harbor Attack." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica online. 2011. Network. 03 February 2011Prange, Gordon. At dawn we slept: the untold story of Pearl Harbor. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 1981. Wohlstetter, Roberta. Pearl Harbor: warning and decision. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1962.