When the war started we still had guys on horseback, practicing with brooms instead of guns and trucks that said “I am a tank” on them.
The real production shot up AFTER the war started.
They thought they could shock the US out of fighting at Pearl Harbor and they lost the gamble.
True. As a whole however, we were better prepared for World War II than World War I despite the early setbacks of 1942.
I heard officers asked the Japanese, after the war, why they attacked Pearl Harbor. They allegedly said, because they did not think we would fight.
They picked the wrong generation to attack.
Yamamoto said as much. He said Japan would run wild the first year. But he knew America’s industrial capability would eventually win out. I think Japan thought they could hold out and get help from Germany. Didn’t happen. The British army prevented a link up by stopping the Japanese in Burma. They might have prolonged the war if they had developed their jet aircraft earlier than later. Numerous what ifs. But in the end, there’s no substitute for industrial might and the will of a country determined to destroy an aggressor.
Re: “They thought they could shock the US out of fighting”
There’s another dimension to that belief that is usually swept under the rug by historians.
Many people in Japan’s senior leadership felt that Roosevelt was a rich, spoiled, effeminate dandy.
They never believed that FDR would pursue the war all the way to the Home Islands, especially against fight-to-the-death, fanatical Japanese soldiers.
re: “They thought they could shock the US out of fighting at Pearl Harbor and they lost the gamble.” GeronL
Had the planned 3rd strike been delivered. It was cancelled by the overall commander. There would have been a good chance that the Americans would have negotiated an end. The third strike was to take out the fuel farm at Pearl.
Dan Kurt