On December 7, 1941, hundreds upon hundreds of Japanese fighter jets attacked the Pearl Harbor Naval base just off the coast of Honolulu, Hawaii. Even though the attacks weren’t more than 2-3 hours, the aftermath was disastrous. The Japanese managed to destroy over 20 American vessels, including battleships, and hundreds of airplanes. During this brutal attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese managed to kill over 2,000 Americans and wound over 1,000 more. The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, but the United States and Japan had been edging toward War for decades. But no one believed that the Japanese would start that war with an attack on American territory. For one thing, it would be very inconvenient: Hawaii and Japan were about 4,000 miles apart, so it would mean lots of back and forth travel for Japan. In fact, American officials actually thought that if there was any Japanese attack, it would be on one of the close European colonies in the South Pacific. The day after the attack was the day Franklin D. Roosevelt had formally asked Congress to declare war on Japan, which ended with only one disagreeing vote. Shortly after, just a few years down the road, Germany and Italy, former allies of Japan, also declared war on the United States. This threw the United States in a very serious war, one that sparked the Holocaust, and none that lost many many lives, and this World War will be especially remembered forever.