Event

Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor

Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States directly into the war and completed the conflict's transformation into a fully global struggle.

Status: draft
Event Kind: surprise attack
Date Precision: day
Date Display: 7 Dec 1941
Start Date: 7 Dec 1941
End Date: 7 Dec 1941

What happened

Japanese carrier aircraft struck the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor as part of a wider offensive across the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

Why it matters

The attack ended formal American neutrality in the war and locked the world's greatest industrial power into the Allied coalition. It also fused the European and Pacific wars into a single global conflict.

Notes

Use this as the key globalization point for the war.