World War 2 Facts

  • When Japan seized southern French Indo-China in July 1941, Roosevelt responded by freezing Japanese assets in the United States and ending sales of oil to Japan. Japan’s military depended upon American oil. Without this oil, Japan’s military would soon grind to a halt. The British and the Dutch put sanctions on Japan as well.
    • United States freezes Japanese assets
    • The Path to Pearl Harbor: “President Roosevelt swung into action by freezing all Japanese assets in America. Britain and the Dutch East Indies followed suit. The result: Japan lost access to three-fourths of its overseas trade and 88 percent of its imported oil. Japan’s oil reserves were only sufficient to last three years, and only half that time if it went to war and consumed fuel at a more frenzied pace.”