Mrs. Wilson's History Festivus

United States History II

World War II Primary Source Document Analysis

March22

 

 

 Click on the links below and answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper. Answer in complete sentences!  

The Attack at Pearl Harbor (American and Japanese Viewpoints)

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pearl.htm

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pearl2.htm

 

  1. Describe the damage and death toll created by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
  2. Where else did the Japanese attack on December 7th and 8th?
  3. How many people died aboard the U.S.S. Arizona? What was the cause of the massive explosion?
  4. Both the American sailor and Japanese pilot see and feel the explosion of the  U.S.S. Arizona. What are the similarities and what are differences of their  accounts of the attack on the Arizona?
  5. After reading the American and Japanese viewpoints at Pearl Harbor why was the attack such a success for the Japanese and a disaster for the United States?

 

The Attack at Pearl Harbor, 1941: The White House Reacts

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pearl3.htm

 

  1. What was President Roosevelt doing when he found out the Japanese had attacked America at Pearl Harbor?
  2. Why did the leader of the United Kingdom (England) call President Roosevelt on December 7th?
  3. What do you think Churchill meant when he wrote: “To have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. Now at this very moment I knew the United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all!…Hitler’s fate was sealed. Mussolini’s fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder.”?
  4. Why did Germany and Italy declare war on the United States?
  5. According to Grace Tully, what “extra” people were brought to White House in the minutes after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese?
  6. What was mood of the staff and generals at the White House as each report of the Japanese attack on Hawaii came in with more details?
  7. What did the federal government quickly know within an hour of the attack on Pearl Harbor?
  8. Why do you think there were so few alternations of President Roosevelt’s message to Congress asking for a declaration of war against Japan?

 

 

The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis, 1945

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/indianapolis.htm

  1. What secret weapon was the USS Indianapolis delivering to an American military base on the Pacific island of Tinian?
  2. Why was the USS Indianapolis ordered to sail to the Philippines?
  3. About how many sailors survived the initial sinking of the USS Indianapolis?
  4. What problems did many of the survivors of sinking face while in the ocean?
  5. How many days did the sinking of the USS Indianapolis go unnoticed?
  6. How many sailors were rescued from the USS Indianapolis?
  7. What injuries did Lewis Haynes suffer during the torpedo attack on the USS Indianapolis?
  8. In how many minutes did the USS Indianapolis sink?
  9. How did Dr. Lewis Haynes check to see if sailors were dead or alive?
  10. Why did some sailors drink the salt water, and what problems did it cause them?
  11. How did the seaplanes help the sailors?
  12. What is something new or interesting you learned by reading this primary source?

 

The Bataan Death March

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/bataandeathmarch.htm

  1. How many American and Filipino soldiers were captured when they were forced to surrender to the Japanese in April of 1942?
  2. Out of the 12,000 American prisoners how many died during the Bataan Death March?
  3. What was the Japanese attitude to soldiers who surrender?
  4. Who was blamed for the Bataan Death March? What happened to him?
  5. Why was the air force captain executed by the Japanese?
  6. What was the Oriental Sun Treatment?
  7. What happened when Captain William Dyess tried to drink water?
  8. During the march what happened to the drop outs?
  9. How did the Japanese soldiers act during the Bataan Death March?
  10. What was the prison camp like at San Fernando?
  11. What did the Japanese do during suppertime to anger the Americans and Filipinos?
  12.  From what you know about the Holocaust does the Japanese military seem any better than the Nazis? Explain!

 

 

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