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Japanese Aggression in the Pacific

USA and UK had become increasingly concerned about the growth of Japanese military domination in eastern Asia. Various measures analogous to the freezing of Japanese assets had previously been tried, but Japan had taken little notice until this new move, inspired by the OPPOSITE: The U.S. Pacific Fleet, seen here in 1940, was the primary offensive and defensive weapon available to the USA in the Pacific theater. It was therefore one of the primary targets selected by the Japanese for neutralization in the first minutes of its war of aggression into the Pacific and South- East Asia. ABOVE: As well as the ships and aircraft of the U.S. Pacific fleet, the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian Islands targeted the aircraft of the U.S. Army Air Forces, such as this Curtiss P-40 fighter, lying badly damaged on the ground. RIGHT: The newspaper headlines tell it all: as part of their grand offensive in December 1941, the Japanese launched a series of carefully planned land offensives under the cover of potent air power.

Japanese occupation of French Indochina, starting on September 22, 1940. The threat implicit in the U.S. move of July 26 was reinforced on August 17 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt warned the government of Japan that any further Japanese efforts

to secure a paramount position in eastern Asia would serve to elicit U.S. retaliation to safeguard its policies and financial interests. While these overt moves were setting the scene for what was to follow, it should be noted that American-Japanese negotiations

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