What was the impact of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Coursework

What was the impact of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor - Coursework Example The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941 marked a turning point in American history, changing the political consensus on foreign policy in the nation and leading directly to the country’s entry into the largest and most destructive war in history. The first and most lasting consequence of the Pearl Harbor attack was the ending of the isolationist view of American foreign policy that had grown domestically in the electorate following WWI and the Great Depression. As Krzys Wasilewski writes in "American First in WWII," â€Å"On September 4, 1940, a law undergraduate, R. Douglas Stuart, Jr., founded the America First Committee (AFC), an organization that was to promote isolationism and warn the public against the horrors of Europe`s war. Soon he was joined by Lindbergh, Wood, Nye, and other experienced individuals who turned an obscure committee into a nationally recognized institution whose voice was heard all over the country. America was not the polic eman of the world, stated the AFC. Lindbergh, who became the organization`s most recognized member, said that the United States should invest its resources in defending itself, not other countries. ‘Shall we now give up the independence we have won, and crusade abroad in a utopian attempt to force our ideas on the rest of the world?’ asked Lindbergh, ‘or shall we use air power, and the other advances of modern warfare, to guard and strengthen the independence of our nation?’† (Wasilewski, 2008) ... (Lutton, 2002) Whether or not the war could have been avoided is a matter of historical debate, but what cannot be argued with are the direct consequences of the American entry into WWII following the Pearl Harbor attack, which unquestionably turned the tide of the conflict and led to the defeat of the fascist military regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, and the Emperor of Japan. I. The Loss of Human Life from Pearl Harbor and WWII: Modern history books paint an evil picture of the Nazi regime of Germany led by Adolph Hitler and the SS, portraying it as one of the most violent and hateful political regimes of all time. Knowing retrospectively the atrocities and genocide of the â€Å"Final Solution† or Holocaust that led to the deaths of over six million Jews in Europe in concentration camps, the public today believe overwhelmingly that World War II was a just war that stopped the threat of fascism globally and allowed the free, democratic societies led by America and Britain to triu mph ideologically, economically, and politically in the aftermath. Yet, the loss of life during WWII in both civilian and military populations makes it the most destructive and deadly conflict ever engaged in by humanity. The following chart lists the total number of casualties on both sides of the war: These statistics, gathered from a multiplicity of governmental and historical sources, suggest that the Axis powers lost approximately 6.5 million military deaths in WWII combined, in addition to nearly two million civilians. (WarChronicle, 2011) The Allied powers are estimated to have lost over 25 million civilians and 14 million soldiers collectively during WWII. (WarChronicle, 2011) While there is no way of knowing how the war could have been avoided or resolved peacefully, the