Pearl Harbor: 75 years later

This is not a political thread, this is a historical thread that discusses a historical event.

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Japanese military attack on the Pearl Harbor military base in Hawaii, which forced the United States into World War II. The date of December 7, 1941 is one of two dates in American history that shall forever live in infamy (the other is September 11, 2001). The attack involved crashing planes into military bases and ships in a suicide attack, which the Japanese military called "kamikaze;" in this aspect, it was similar to 9/11, which also used airplanes to destroy buildings. It has now been 75 years since Pearl Harbor, and 15 years since 9/11. Could another such event of the same scale happen again 45 years from now, in 2061? Pearl Harbor happened way before my time, but I know about it because I remember taking modern U.S. and world history in elementary school, high school, and college. I was around for 9/11, however, and I remember it well; I was an elementary school student at that time. There was also a movie about Pearl Harbor, simply titled ​Pearl Harbor​, famous for the song "There You'll Be" by Faith Hill, released just months before 9/11, in May 2001, 9/11, though, was the kind of thing that you would think would only happen in a movie, and not in real life, but it wasn't a movie; it was actuality.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan, and Japan's ally, Nazi Germany, declared war on the United States. Many countries' economies, including both America's and Japan's, were still suffering from the Great Depression of the 1930s, but World War II effectively ended the Great Depression. World War II was fought between two alliegiances, the Allies, led by the U.S. the UK, and France, and the Axis, led by Nazi Germany and Japan. Initially, the Allies focused on defeating Nazi Germany, led by fascist ruler Adolf Hitler, who was also in charge of the Holocaust. After the Allies achieved victory in Europe by defeating the Nazis in May of 1945, the Allies then turned their full attention to defeating Japan. The U.S. warned Japan to surrender, or face "complete and utter destruction." Japan refused to surrender, and the U.S. unleashed their ultimate weapon: the atomic bomb. The first atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Despite this attack, Japan still did not surrender, so the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, and at that point, Japan decided to surrender on August 15, 1945, effectively ending World War II.

In the years following World War II, both Japan and Germany wanted to reconcile with their former enemies, and prove that they were team players again. In 1964, Tokyo, Japan hosted the Summer Olympics (and will host the Summer Olmypics again in 2020), and in 1972, Munich, West Germany hosted the Summer Olympics (West and East Germany would reunite in 1990, creating a single, unified Germany). Today, both Japan and Germany denounce their actions during World War II, and have become close allies to the United States. On top of that, today, Japan is one of the most technologically-advanced nations in the world.

Earlier this year, current and out-going U.S. President Barack Obama made history by becoming the first U.S. President currently in office to visit Hiroshima, and later this month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will make history by becoming the first Japanese Prime Minister currently in office to visit Pearl Harbor. These visits to each other's sites of destruction memorials are considered to be the ultimate act of reconciliation between two former adversaries who have since become among the closest of allies. Today, America gets a lot of things from Japan, such as cars, TVs, appliances, anime, and video games.

Who would have thought that Japan would give us so many things, so many years later? Who would have thought that Japan and the United States would reconcile their differences and become among the closest of allies?