Posted on 12/07/2021 9:26:40 AM PST by MAGA2017
What if Japan had not attacked Pearl Harbor eighty years ago today?
The attack is today regarded as an enormous tactical success, but a strategic failure. Several older battleships were damaged or destroyed, but the treachery of the attack spurred the United States to fully mobilize for war and to pursue that war with a vengeful fury. The attack also pushed the United States to adopt innovative tactics that would quickly overturn Japanese advantages in air and naval technology. What other military options did Japan have besides an attack on Pearl Harbor?
It would have been extremely difficult for Japan to avoid attacking the United States in the context of a general offensive into Southeast Asia. While Washington had stopped short of making an ironclad security guarantee to British and Dutch possessions in Asia, it had made clear to Tokyo that it did not welcome further aggression. The US had cut Japan off from steel and oil, putting tremendous economic pressure on the Japanese war machine.
(Excerpt) Read more at 19fortyfive.com ...
Some alternate histories aren't worth any attention. Japan's WW2 was so nutso that parsing out elements of it are silly.
FDR really had put the Japanese in a hard bind. I am sure much of US policy was in Asia was pressure from the UK that feared for its own possessions on Asia.
Several different sources agree with you. They thought that this could give them some time. Others thought a hard enough blow would cause us to sue for peace.
However, Yamamoto had been to the United States, knew the size and the power, and did not want to do this. That was why he made the point about having to march to DC. The only way to get America to sue for peace would have been to force us.
Now I am even angrier at Biden and the debacle in AFG.
Yes, you are correct. I was not trying to correct your statement but merely pointing out the obvious as to the media’s culpability in trying to ‘pull the wool over the people’s eyes.’
My point was that the media had to ‘protect’ Truman’s back side by saying that the surrender was ‘unconditional,’ when it clearly was not ‘unconditional.’ Truman’s lie seems to have withstood the truth.
Because American cryptographers had also broken the Japanese naval code, the leaders in Washington knew as well that Japan’s “measures” would include an attack on Pearl Harbor.
>> “What If?” is for children and Old People <<<
‘What if’ is for people who do threat analysis and disaster preparedness.
Upside for you is you can go ahead and get rid of your guns, first aid kit, and fire extinguishers. Oh, and cancel all your insurance policies, too.
Something I read a while ago was that the initial Japanese plan was to bypass the Philippines, as it did not offer enough economic spoils to warrant the effort. However, the decision was made that, since it lay astride the shipping routes between the primary prizes of Malaya and the Indies, and the home islands, the Philippines had to be taken as well.
The Japanese really stretched themselves thin during the Hundred Days of conquest...they had tight allocations of forces and time allotted to conquer their targets. Some campaigns (such as Malaya and Singapore) were great successes...others (notably the Philippines) became debacles.
People do not learn history and so are inclined to argue with me but Japan really did want to take over a large chunk of the world. And they had been working on it for sixty years at that point. Imperial Japan was far more dangerous and monstrous then people want to believe.
And if you talk with the older Japanese they will tell you about what was planned and what they did. Well, probably most of them have passed on now but back almost 40 years ago they would tell you.
Had someone try to tell me that Japan was just trying to liberate occupied Asia counties from the grip of western imperialism. Which, when you consider that Japan treated non-Japanese Asians far worse then the western imperialist did, is kind of humorous. In a very grim sort of way.
Different ‘What if’, future tense, not past.................
I just watched it again a few weeks ago.
Sooner or later the US would have been drawn into the war even if Pearl Harbor had not happened. What Pearl Harbor accomplished was galvanizing the American people into supporting the war and almost immediately killing the large isolationist movement.
Hi Michael,
Aside from being on day 5 of the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it gastro version of the dreaded, “Let’s destroy the economy” virus things are going great. The kids have reached orbit with their biz and the dog is healthy.
Hope you and yours are doing well.
Cannot believe it’s been 20 years since the Dem Talk Radio days.
The fuel tanks around Pearl Harbor were above ground. They were buried during the war, but after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese really stretched themselves thin during the Hundred Days of conquest...they had tight allocations of forces and time allotted to conquer their targets. Some campaigns (such as Malaya and Singapore) were great successes...others (notably the Philippines) became debacles.
he was on a roll...
Good for him. He saw quite a lot of major fighting, bless his heart.
We were all patriotic then. My dad went down to enlist, they found he had a heart murmur, so he became a “dollar a year man.” A volunteer with special skills that might be needed. He had several restaurants and knew how to provide meals for hundreds of people at a time.
Mussolini and Hitler did the same thing.
And rightly so. The problem wasn't just Germany, it was Germany with Japan and Italy. I thought FDR's "Arsenal of Democracy" speech pretty much made the case for war.
A day that will live in infamy indeed. As for Japan vs Islam? Different. Islam is sneaky, Japan right up front. Plus, I have Japanese friends now. As a woman, I doubt I’ll ever have a muslim friend.
I’ll just state the obvious, if things were different, they wouldn’t be the same.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.