In one stroke, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour brought together the war in Europe between Britain and Russia on the one hand, and Germany on the other, with the ongoing conflict between Japan and China, turning it into the global struggle between two great coalitions we know as World War II. By bringing America into the war, Japan assured not only the destruction of her Asian empire, but also the end of American isolationism, the survival of Soviet communism and the ultimate bankruptcy of the great European colonial systems. In this book, 11 contributors consider the action as an international event, giving their interpretations of the attack's causes and consequences.