Pearl Harbour, a U.S. naval base on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, was the target of a devastating surprise aerial attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941, resulting in significant casualties and damage. The next day, the United States officially entered World War II by declaring war on Japan, which marked the start of hostilities between the two countries. The incident can be evaluated in the light of international law and state relations.
Since the 1920s, both the United States and Japan had prepared for the likelihood that they would go to war with one another and had been aware of the danger since that time. Since the late 1890s, Japan had been suspicious of American territorial and military development in the Pacific and Asia. …
