# Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor? — WHE Article Discussion

**URL:** <https://community.worldhistory.org/t/why-did-japan-attack-pearl-harbor-whe-article-discussion/273>\
**Category:** WHE Articles\
**Created:** [July 23, 2026, 8:56am UTC](https://community.worldhistory.org/t/why-did-japan-attack-pearl-harbor-whe-article-discussion/273 "2026-07-23T08:56:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![markzcartwright](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/community.worldhistory.org/markzcartwright/32/35_2.png) [@markzcartwright](https://community.worldhistory.org/u/markzcartwright)\
**Post date:** [July 23, 2026, 8:56am UTC](https://community.worldhistory.org/t/why-did-japan-attack-pearl-harbor-whe-article-discussion/273/1 "2026-07-23T08:56:04Z")

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Without warning or even declaring war, Japan attacked the US naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941. Japan's military government, which had already occupied Manchuria, Korea, coastal China, and French Indo-China, needed access to raw materials, particularly oil, to continue its imperialist ambitions in the Pacific. A preemptive strike on the US Navy, it was hoped, would allow Japan to dominate this theatre of the Second World War (1939-45).

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_This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at [https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2953/why-did-japan-attack-pearl-harbor/](https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2953/why-did-japan-attack-pearl-harbor/)._

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**Author:** ![markzcartwright](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/community.worldhistory.org/markzcartwright/32/35_2.png) [@markzcartwright](https://community.worldhistory.org/u/markzcartwright)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2026, 4:07pm UTC](https://community.worldhistory.org/t/why-did-japan-attack-pearl-harbor-whe-article-discussion/273/2 "2026-07-28T16:07:40Z")

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