Thursday, August 02, 2007

Pearl Harbour

On the 7th of December, 1941, the USA was brought to its knees by a surprise attack.

But it was no surprise. The Japanese were rampaging all over Asia. It was predictable, almost inevitable.

The Americans were caught with their pants down.

5 battleships, 1 minelayer, 3 destroyers.
188 aircraft.
4,000 servicemen.
Lost.

But at the end of that attack, Fleet Admiral Yamamoto said, 'we have just awoken a sleeping giant'.

How true.

As a result of that action, the USA's people united for war, and its weapons wreaked havoc on Japanese soil, decimating 64 of Japan's cities and culminating in history's only use of atomic bombs in warfare, killing almost 200,000 Japanese and ending the war.

When you compare the US retaliation to Japan's initial victories, Japanese losses pale in comparison to the US'.

Japan then came under US occupation, and it would be decades before they would recover and regain some measure of independence.

Now, 68 years later, times, names, scales and places have changed, but history is, of course, replaying itself.

jOhn thought at 6:55 PM