Today, December 7th, 2016, the world will keep on turning, and if you're in the same boat as me, and most of those who attend college, you will find yourself fully immersed in studying for finals. But, amidst all of the fun and stress of finals, it is just as important to never forget that fateful day of December 7th, 1941, when the course of history was changed forever.

America had previously, as late as 1940, been shipping steel and iron ore to Japan, but failing negotiations between the two nations ended the shipments of war material. During the summer of 1941, America also brought an end to sending the most crucial aspect of any nation's war machine, oil. America had placed an embargo on Japan.

A secret deadline for diplomacy was set by Japanese high command for November 25th, 1941, a deadline that came to be known to the United States by the use of decoding. The deadline passed and officials had thought that an attack was imminent on either British Malaya or the Dutch East Indies, since both had followed suit with America and had placed embargos on Japan as well, ultimately freezing their assets.

In the early morning hours of December 7th, the United States intelligence services had intercepted and decoded Japanese transmissions which had stated that some type of Japanese action was soon to proceed. The message was sent to Washington several hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor began, but the message was delayed and received at Pearl Harbor only after the attacks had already begun.

Just before 8:00 a.m., the American naval fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii received the rudest of wake-up calls. The men of the Pacific Fleet were awakened by the hums of Japanese fighter planes, and the smashing of the USS Arizona's hull by an 1800-pound bomb that sent her into a fiery explosion with more than 1,000 men trapped within.

The Japanese had one objective on that morning: annihilate the American fleet and annihilate it they nearly did. The Arizona was not the only ship who was attacked that morning. The USS Oklahoma found herself wounded and beaten with torpedos just before she rolled into the Hawaiian waters with 400 American soldiers still aboard.

In the wake of that destruction there were 2,403 dead, 8 destroyed or damaged battleships, and over 180 destroyed airplanes.

By the time the Japanese finally relinquished a battered and bloodied American fleet from its grip, nearly every ship- USS Arizona, Oklahoma, California, West Virginia, Utah, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Nevada- had sustained significant damage. The American spirit, however, refused to accept this attack as a defeat, and every shipped was repaired.

The next morning, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the United States Congress made their declaration of war, the United States was launched into the greatest war known to man within a mere 72 hours. The sleeping giant was awoken with Lady Liberty charging the way to victory. Though the events of Pearl Harbor were nothing short of a tragedy, it sparked the greatest unification in American history. Never before had America come together like she had in the face of adversity brought about by this colossal war.

The lives lost in Pearl Harbor were not lost in vain, as America marched on to victory for the lost soldiers, proving to the world the United States of America is not to be taunted or pushed. It was this war that thrust America into her position as leading nation of the globe- a delicate yet powerful influential position she holds to this day.

We are not to be taken lightly. So, during the finals week chaos you're undoubtedly enduring, remember the brave souls who endured the war-torn fields of Europe and East Asia, and the lives lost during the tragic events of Pearl Harbor.

Roosevelt would finish his speech on December 8 with: “With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounded determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph- so help us God.”

It is truly, "A Date Which Will Live in Infamy."