Pearl Harbor.......Do you think this attack was a wise move by the Japanese? why or why not.?

Question

After learning about this I feel like it was a waste of innocent life. How do you feel?

Answer 1

In the short run (at least till mid 1942), it was a wise move as the cripple American Pacific fleet was unable to actively stem the Japanese conquest in Far East Asia.

In the long run, it was a costly mistake which the brains behind the attack, Admiral Isoroku Yamamto had rightly predicted when he planned this daring attack when he said that "I fear that I have awaken the sleeping giant" & calculated that the Americans would be out of the picture for a year at best.

Answer 2

It (obviously) didn't work out well seeing as how Japan lost the Pacific Theatre to the US navy. So history is the real judge. But even at the time it was a foolish move. The reasoning usually attributed is that Japan knew US oil shipments were cut off, so they needed a free hand in the Pacific to conquer other folks who had natural resources. Destroying the Pacific Fleet would therefore be a necessary preempt.
But the US could not have avoided full involvement in the war after such an attack, and commitment of US resources to the Pacific would devastate Japan anyway. Had there been no attack, Roosevelt would have had much greater difficulty getting Congress to declare war and perhaps would not have succeeded.
People talk about American luck (or conspiracy, lolerz) that our carriers weren't in harbor and thus survived. Even if they had been destroyed, we would have built new ones. Japan would have controlled the Pacific for longer than it actually did, but the better alternative would still have been letting the US sit the war out.

Answer 3

The plan as originally conceived was probably a good one for what the Japanese wanted to gain from it.

However there were a couple of big problems. First was the delay in delivering the declaration of war. Because they attacked before any hostility had been declared it was considered a sneak attack and really ticked off the American people. Secondly, the Japanese commander was alarmed at the increase in defensive activity during his second wave and decided to cancel the planned third attack. This third attack was supposed to destroy the fuel storage and ship repair docks. If these targets had been destroyed it could have been months longer before the US Pacific fleet could have launched any kind of effective operations. And of course the single biggest problem for the Japanese was that US Carriers not being in port on that morning. A simple matter of chance left the US with their best weapon against the Japanese.

Answer 4

For the early stages of the war in the PTO, it did seem like a wise move. The U.S Navy had been seriously crippled because of the Japanese fliers, and their battleships were hit especially hard. But it would have been much more effective if they had waited until the aircraft carriers were docked again at Pearl Harbor (on December 7th, they were on training exercises). Those same aircraft carriers would later play a very significant role in the downfall of the Empire of the Rising Sun.

Answer 5

Military-wise, it was almost perfect. They almost destroyed the entire US fleet which would have left the pacific wide open for them. It was shear luck that the US didn't have all the ships there. Had they been, the world may have been quite different.

It was a waste of US personnel, tragic, but the Japanese had acceptable losses. The reason for the strike was to minimize future casualties.

Don't forget Midway, again the US lucked out by finding them first. Had they not...

The Japanese culture is vastly different from ours and they saw it as an opportunity to become a world power. They also don't enter such engagements on a whim.

Answer 6

It was a very wise move on the part of the Japanese. This is because they wanted to take over most of the Pacific islands (the Japanese needed the resources on these islands very badly) and they knew that if they tried we would stop them with our navel fleet at Pearl Harbor, after they they destroyed our ships at Pearl Harbor they ended up taking quite a few islands. Mission accomplished.

Answer 7

Looking at it in a strategic way.. it was a successful surprise attack. The U.S. has used this tactic again and again in other wars. Look at both gulf wars. Both were started off by a large, crippling air attack. The only thing that saved the U.S. was the carriers were not in the harbor that day.

As for being a wise move or not... who is to decide. My favorite quote from the day came from the Japanese. It was that they feared they have awoken a sleeping giant. If you are interested on seeing both sides of the story watch "Tora Tora Tora." Good old movie that shows both sides of the story.

Answer 8

The Japanese were did an excellent job when planning this attack. I'm not saying that i support what they did, but think about it, if America had the same chance, we would have done it right? They planned everything out perfectly. But yes, it was an awful loss. Many lives were taken especially in the ship Arizona. It was an awful time in America. And yes, you are right, it was a waste of innocent lives.

Answer 9

No, it was not wise by any stretch, but a retaliatory move for the blockade and sanctions placed on them by the United States. In that situation. like many others our nation gets into, we tried to basically starve the Japanese people and prohibit them from obtaining oil, which they needed for their domestic needs. This was because of the Japanese invasion and war with China. Again, we were trying to act as world police, so we ended up in another war.
You're right about the "waste of innocent life", but isn't that also true of our actions in Iraq.
All wars, no matter the reason are just that, a waste of life, if the world leaders can't get along, why don't they get arms and fight each other and let the innocent people alone.

Answer 10

I have to say I think it was a misjudgement on their part coupled with chauvinism and egotism. Their lack of knowledge and ignorance of the US played into it as well. Had they known the American people better and had a greater understanding of the industrial potential of the US I think they would have let diplomacy lead the way. They had become accustomed to pushing around the Koreans and Chinese, and they looked at the weaknesses exhibited by Europe in the face of Hitler and gambled. Their attack at Pearl Harbor was critical in one respect, it forced the US Navy to rely on the aircraft carrier instead of the battleship. The carrier and air powere were just the way to go if you're battling across the Pacific! Arrogance and a thirst for power can really get people in a jam.