Quote:
Originally Posted by Rochard
It's been said that the man who planned the attack on Pear Harbor (Isoroku Yamamoto) said ""I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." If he did say this or something similar, it was very true. Japan completely underestimated the Untied States in all areas, including manpower, resolve, and material and manufacturing - We could physically build ships as fast they could sink them and we had nearly unlimited resources.
Germany did the same with Russia - Russia was huge and vast, and had unlimited manpower.
Attacking Pearl Harbor was the biggest military mistake of all time.
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He also supposedly said something along the lines of...he could raise hell for about six months and then the tide would turn and that was also the case. It is my understanding that the Japanese never intended to defeat the U.S. but instead intended to keep us at bay long enough for them to consolidate their hold on other Asian countries and then sue us for peace. What they did not expect at all was our demand for their "unconditional surrender"...which demand was ultimately agreed to but did prolong the war with them.