[pierrem15]

The US coordinated an oil embargo against Japan with the Dutch government in exile (still in control of the Dutch East Indies) and Britain (in control of Middle Eastern oil). As the largest exporter of oil, this left the United States with the means to crush Japan without firing a shot.

Japan had about a year's worth of oil in reserve. Breaking this embargo was the principal reason Japan attacked the United States.

[volunbeer]

Good point. We did not fully comprehend the threat that our oil embargo represented. However, it is not cut and dried and there were potential alternatives for Japan that would have spent less fuel than all-out war did.

The Japanese were wedded to Bushido and it made diplomacy very unlikely.

[Kevmo]

Japan could have attacked the Dutch colonies and Brit colonies without getting America into the war. It was a strategic blunder which I’m grateful they engaged in, because the USA was the most instrumental in ending WWII, in particular with such forcefulness against the Jap aggressors.

[Seruzawa]

True. But if Japan had simply taken the oil sources and stayed clear of the US they would have avoided war with us. Today we don’t remember how isolationist the USA was back then. The American people would never ever have stood for a war with Japan over British colonies. Never.