Middlesex | Historical Context
World War II in the Pacific
Two incidents in 1940 exacerbated the tension between the United States and Japan that resulted in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. declaration of war against Japan. Japan invaded Indochina and signed the Tripartite Pact, which created an alliance between Japan, Germany, and Italy against Great Britain and France. As a result, the U.S. government drastically increased economic sanctions by withholding oil and freezing all Japanese assets. In retaliation, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, and the United States entered the war.
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