December 7, 1941; a date which will live in infamy
Today is the 64th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
I think we should all reflect on the way global politics and war have evolved, i.e. the war on Islamic terrorism.
9-11 was the first attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor back in 1941.
As wargamers, it is partially our duty to make history an important part of our daily lives, to never forget the lessons of the past, and to pass these things on to future generations.
Thank you,
- Chris P. (Janus)
boromir Field Marshall
Posts: 330
(12/8/05 11:58 pm) Reply
Re: December 7, 1941; a date which will live in infamy
Quote:9-11 was the first attack on U.S. soil since Pearl Harbor back in 1941.
...unless you count various embassy bombings and such. I believe embassadorial grounds are deemed sovereign to the tenants.
Re: December 7, 1941; a date which will live in infamy
Sorry by "first" I meant "worst"
- Janus
boromir Field Marshall
Posts: 329
(12/9/05 5:19 am) Reply
Re: December 7, 1941; a date which will live in infamy
that's for sure. Though I still kinda like the theory that the US Gov't at the time more or less allowed Pearl Harbor to happen such as to alter public perceptions enough for the USA to enter WWII. One way or the other, it was quite a feat.
Boromir
jwlbigdog Field Marshall
Posts: 329
(12/9/05 11:49 pm) Reply
Conspiracy theory
So we are assuming that Roosevelt thought that the Navy could still win without half its fleet for a year?
Granted, the theory has a case, but I still think it's unlikely. No one could have predicted that we could salvage most of the battleships off the bottom of Pearl Harbor, or that we would even up the odds six months later at Midway. Moreover, it was the European war that preoccupied Washington, not a war in China. Hence, our Europe-first strategy. It would seem more prudent to foment a crisis with Germany if we were just trying to be drug into war. Of course, to counter my own argument, it had been tried already - that's how we got into WWI. Maybe Roosevelt decided it would be more believable this way...
boromir Field Marshall
Posts: 329
(12/10/05 3:23 am) Reply
Re: Conspiracy theory
lots or facinating arguements and theories either way, eh?
Imp's Right Hand
Posts: 1075
(12/12/05 4:39 pm) Reply
Re: Conspiracy theory
Quote:So we are assuming that Roosevelt thought that the Navy could still win without half its fleet for a year?
Don't recall where, but I recently read a very interesting article that discussed the attack on Pearl Harbor. The jist of the discussion/research was that the lack of communication between various services in the military prevented key bits of information from being put together in a timely fashion for somebody to make a case that the Japanese were coming. This in turn led to the belief that the US Gov't, FDR in particular, "allowed" for it to happen. Because when you then look over the information in hindsight, you see the US had the information to predict such an attack, but that is based on hindsight information rather than looking at the overall situation during the time. Sure, the US had the pieces of the puzzle, but all those pieces lay scattered on many different tables, so to speak.
Regardless, it was a very interesting article discussing US Military intelligence back to the Civil War era. Dang it if I can recall where I read it though, could have been in the Armchair General.
Stimp
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The more is given, the less people will work for themselves, and the less they work, the more their poverty will increase."
- Leo Tolstoi (1892)
Lack of communication
This seems much more likely than an intentional conspiracy, as it happens all the time, even today. And besides, the government can't even keep its secret prisons out of the press!
Imp
jwlbigdog Field Marshall
Posts: 330
(12/18/05 11:25 pm) Reply
Re: Lack of communication
The old bureaucratic story of people rising to their greatest level of incompetency?
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