On Sunday 7 December 1941, Japanese aircraft attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The US Pacific Fleet was devastated and 2403 Americans were killed. But it was not the decisive strike Japan had hoped for, and it awakened a sleeping giant that would turn into a nemesis. So why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor and how did America respond? History Hit’s Rob Weinberg asks the big questions on this seminal event to Professor Carl Bridge of Kings College London.