Talk:Arashi/@comment-24876067-20151118131843/@comment-78.145.95.162-20151119014808

@Kraiden88 Its a little more complicated than that. It wasn't an inevitable conclusion of simply attacking Pearl Harbour that they'd lose. It was specifically attacking Pearl Harbour and NOT catching the US Carriers there.

If the Carriers had been there then Japan would have been in an incredibly strong position in the Pacific and would have had a much better position to force America to sue for peace and allow Japan to expand its Empire. As it was they blew up, at best, some Battleships and other vessels but didn't catch the Carriers they were after.

Hence Yamamoto. Stories say that when he was told of the damage done and the 'success' of the attack people around him celebrated, but he didn't. Because he knew that the one big chance was to hit the US Carrier fleet hard enough to cripple it. And the attack, for all its damage, was a strategic failure.