By early 1941, the Axis powers, which includes Germany and Japan, seemed to be undefeatable throughout the course of WWII. In the Eastern front, Japan has been showing military aggressions in the Pacific region, controlling the neighboring Asian countries showing no sign of stopping. But no longer than 4 years later, the war ended with the complete unconditional surrender of Japan to the Allied Forces. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a butterfly effect is where small variations or events in the initial conditions of a system can lead a large-scale and unpredictable results or outcome in the future. This effect could be seen in the attack on Pearl Harbor, where several small mistakes or decisions leading to the attack would have a huge…show more content… Southeast Asia, also known as the Southern Regions, offered all the supplies that are essential to the Japanese war advances. But with tensions between the US and Japan are at its highest, an unprovoked invasion of the Southern Regions can resulted in a military retaliations from the US as American colonies like the Philippines is located in the Southern Region. Before the Japanese Army could invade Southeast Asia, they must neutralize the US Pacific Fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor.
The task of planning the attack on Pearl Harbor was given to Admiral of the Japanese Imperial Navy, Isokoru Yamamoto. He has seen the U.S. Pacific Fleet on Pearl Harbor being the largest threat to Japan’s plan to occupy the Southern Regions. So Yamamoto planned a swift attack that will eliminate America’s capacity on intervening Japan’s advances in the Pacific. He believed that the complete destruction of the Pacific Fleet will not only immobilize U.S. military but literally takes out America’s will to fight.…show more content… At 6 am, the Japanese launched the 1st wave of attack, consisting of over 183 planes, was launched north from Oahu. Led by Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, the planes reached the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Oahu at 7:55 am. The main objective of the 1st wave of attack was to destroy the U.S aircraft carriers as it carries the most valuable military value. The second wave of attack was dispatched and arrived at 9 am. The second wave has the duty to ensure the destruction of the main targets and destroying what is left. After just 3 hours, the Japanese withdraws and returns to mainland Japan. In the end, a total of 8 battleships were damaged, 200 aircrafts were destroyed, 6 airfields were damaged, 2403 American lives were lost in the U.S. side. It had seemed that the attack was a total victory for the Japanese, as they just lost 29 aircrafts and 64 men on their side. Or is