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One must think about how Japan had been "reading" US public opinion at the time. Isolationism had been huge here. Many Americans, inside politics and out, were convinced by WWI that Europeans were hard-wired to go to war with each other, thought that Americans were "above that" and were "determined to stay out of Europe's endless quarrels".
Japan thought that the people of the US so wanted to avoid war, that if they took out some US ships, that the people would rise against the US military and the military would forget about enforcing an embargo on Japan.
Of course, it did not happen that way. Losing 2,000 sons on a Sunday morning less than three weeks before Christmas created a population of people who were out for enemy blood. Japan was caught by surprise. They had executed the Pearl Harbor attack flawlessly, but the mission completely failed in its larger objective.
I see a parallel between Pearl and the 9/11 attacks. Al-Queda thought that by destroying the WTC and the Pentagon people-and-all, that the US would stop "meddling" in the affairs of the Islamic World. The attacks devastated the US people, but the US would become more involved in the affairs of the Islamic World than ever.
(My bold)
Tactically, the IJN attack on Pearl & Philippines & etc. was excellent. Strategically, the Pearl attack was a disaster. Pearl sank ships mostly @ their moorings, in shallow water, within easy reach of machine shops, pumps, parts, fuel, divers, salvage/work crews. All the ships - except three - see Pearl Harbor Raid: Post-attack Ship Salvage were repaired & put back into service by early 1944. The attack missed the carriers, which turned out to be the most important for force projection. & of course, the follow-up attack on shops, fuel tank farms, etc. - which would have made salvage/recovery much more difficult - was called off.
Japan had other options - but the militarists who had captured the government were trained to always attack, @ the cost of missing/ignoring any other option.
I haven't read all 17 pages of posts, so I don't know if this contribution has been made or not. I've been a fan of the anime show "Space Battleship Yamato" for 35 years. It was imported as "Star Blazers" and has a huge fan base. One of the themes in the show is their spaceship, the Yamato, is being sent on a desparate mission to save the homeworld (akin to the final mission of IJN Yamato to Okinawa in 1945). There are a lot of themes of perseverence and sacrifice in the series, which I believe mirrors how the Japanese saw themselves in '44-'45. The "planet bombs" the aliens use all have the distinctive "mushroom cloud" effect which immediately made me connect with images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Interestingly, there is a "reboot" of the first season that is about 2 years old that is written with more back-story and depth of character. In this series, the Earthers "shot first" and the alien invaders seemed to have all of the political backstories that mirrored what may have transpired between the Army, Navy, and Emperor during the war. When I have some time I'll read all the posts in this thread and jump in if inspired. In the meantime, I wonder if themes in various anime series in general often project sort of a "revisionist" view to focus on resillience rather than the terror they created in the war?
Remember it only could took the loss of the outdated Maine to get the USA in the Spanish American War. Similarly the USA could have sent one of the older battleships like the Arkansas with her 12 inch guns to the exposed port of Manila as BAIT.
Isn't there forensic evidence that suggests their was an explosion in a powder magazine due to environmental issues on board the Maine that caused it's sinking? Kind of a ****ty way to start a war...
Isn't there forensic evidence that suggests their was an explosion in a powder magazine due to environmental issues on board the Maine that caused it's sinking? Kind of a ****ty way to start a war...
Yeah I think the Maine explosion was probably accidental myself.
However, I mentioned the Maine because I trying to make the point that if Roosevelt really wanted the Japanese to attack the USA so the US could get in the war, a single old battleship like the Arkansas left out in say in the Philippines would have been sufficient as bait. Instead he left the oldest battleships in the Atlantic and put almost all the better more valuable battleships (the standard types) at Pearl. Therefore, I do not think Roosevelt wanted the battleships to be attacked like some conspiracy people accuse him of.
Did Japan have no choice but to attack the US in WWII?
Japan had choices.
They sure picked the wrong one.
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At the high tide mark
