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in 1853, a small fleet of American warships commanded by Commodore Matthew Perry steamed into the bay at Edo
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1860s the ruling shogun was overthrown, and a 15-year-old emperor named Mutsuhito took the throne.
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In 1898, the U.S. and Spain fought a brief war. The direct cause was that the U.S. supported rebels on the Caribbean island of Cuba who wanted independence from Spain.
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New York Stock Exchange crash and the failure of important European banks plunged the entire world into an economic depression.
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China and Japan went to war.
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1939, Germany and Russia attacked Poland. France and Britain declared war in return. World War II had begun
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Japan responded to America's actions by joining Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in the Tripartite (three-part) Pact.
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In late 1941 Japanese army general Hideki Tojo became the nation's prime minister.
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The U.S. was now aware that Japan might strike somewhere in the Pacific, but a warning did not reach Pearl Harbor until nearly 8:00 a.m., Hawaii time.
