On December 7, 1941 the U.S. troops stationed on the island of Pearl Harbor were not waken up by the familiar sound of a bugle but instead by gunfire and explosions. This is what it might have been like if you were one of the troops at Pearl Harbor. This attack was important because it led to other events in World War II. Some of these events were America's involvement in the war and the dropping of the Atom Bomb at Hiroshima. Between the years of 1920 and 1940 dictators came to power in Germany, Italy, and Japan. The first country to have a dictatorship was Italy. Thier dictator was Benito Mussolini. He became dictator in 1922. Mussolini organized and founded the Fascist party before he became dictator.
After thier loss in World War I Germany had severe problems with thier economy. Adolf Hitler and his political party the Nazis promised they would end Germanies problems if Hitler became dictator. The Germans made Hitler thier dictator in 1933.
Italy and Germany decided to become allies in 1939. They called themselves the Axis Powers. Japan joined the Axis Powers in 1940.
The emperor of Japan at the present time was Emperor Hirohito. After he joined with the Axis Powers he started taking over countries, cities, and island in and around Japan that belonged to countries who opposed the Axis Powers.
Joseph Stalin, the ruler of Russia at the present time, sided with Hitler until Hitler double crossed him and tried to take over Russia. After the double cross Stalin decided to side with the Allies.
The Allies were the countries that were opposed to the Axis Powers. These countries were Britain, France, the U.S.A., and Russia. The three leaders of the Allied Powers were Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president of the U.S.A., Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Britain, and Joseph Stalin.
After World War II started Japan grew angry with the U.S.A. because they were helping China by sending them war supplies. Japan didn't like this because China was the main target of Japanese attacks. As a result of this Japan decided to take a "peace" trip to the U.S.A. . They made the trip in November of 1941. During this "peace" trip Japan made three proposals to the government. These proposals were, to stop aiding China, to stay out of Asian affairs, and to begin shipping oil to Japan right away or Japan would attack the U.S.A. . President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the government of the United States didn't carry out these proposals.