And despite numerous provocations, Adolf Hitler refused to provide the incident that would unite the country in war. Roosevelt desperately wished to enter the conflict against Nazi Germany, but isolationist sentiment remained strong. In fact, the United States was already engaged in an undeclared war with the German U-boats which were ripping the heart of convoys carrying supplies to Britain. American eyes were fixed, however, on the momentous events across the Atlantic, where Britain was under siege by a victorious Germany and the Soviet Union was reeling under a savage onslaught. Bogged down in a military adventure in China, the Japanese desperately needed the oil and other resources of Southeast Asia and had begun their march to the south with the seizure of French Indo-China in July 1941. War in the Pacific had been brewing for some time. Fifty years later, Americans still ask the same questions: Why wasn't Pearl Harbor on the alert? Who was responsible for failing to anticipate the attack? Was there a conspiracy to tumble the American people into a war which they did not want? Could war with Japan have been avoided? The surprise at Pearl Harbor was echoed by shock and disbelief at home.
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