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The Japanese knew that they would lose in a war with the US but the military leadership considered a war inevitable. Pearl Harbor was their "Hail Mary". The civ
by rangibaby 8y ago
The Japanese knew that they would lose in a war with the US but the military leadership considered a war inevitable. Pearl Harbor was their "Hail Mary". The civilian leadership (Konoe et al) tried to negotiate an alliance of some kind with the US as late as autumn 1941.
"In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success." – Yamamoto, head of the Japanese Navy, and architect of the Pearl Harbor attack