Pearl Harbor and the Back Door to War Theory | Description & Facts britannica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from britannica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Was there a “back door” to World War II, as some revisionist historians have asserted? According to this view, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, inhibited by the American public’s opposition to direct U.S. involvement in the fighting and determined to save Great Britain from a Nazi victory in Europe, manipulated events in the Pacific in order to provoke a Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, thereby forcing the United States to enter the war on the side of Britain.
How did Roosevelt precipitate the conflict with Japan and prepare the country for war
The ‘back door to war’ theory while not supported by most historians states that U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt provoked the Japanese military to attack the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which led to American involvement in World War II. Learn more about the theory in this article.