The Attack on Pearl Harbor or Bombing of Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack on the United States naval base on Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. It was launched on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 by the Empire of Japan's 1st Air Fleet against the U.S Pacific Fleet and other US armed forces stationed at the harbor and also on the other side of Oahu. The attack spurred the U.S. into entering World War II. American casualties were 2403 dead and 1178 wounded, one of the worst losses in U.S. history (but still comparatively light in comparison to what might have been, in the opinion of several observers) 5 older battleships, 3 destroyers, 3 cruisers, and 188 planes (mostly obsolescent P-40s or obsolete P-36s) were destroyed. By contrast, Japan's losses were 64 dead, 1 captured, 29 planes, and 5 midget submarines. When U.S President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the shocked American people, he called it "a date which will live in infamy." The date is still noted every year in the U.S.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was the first time the United States was ever attacked by another country since the War of 1812 and the Burning of Washingtonfrom 1812-1815 during the Napolenic War

The Battle of the Phillipines, the Japanese invasion of what was then a U.S Colony, began nine hours later.