Did they really think it was a good idea I know admiral Yamamoto warned them against it and he was ignored.

>>507748786 (OP)
Pearl Harbor was a false flag

>>507748786 (OP)
It was a pre-emptive strike

>>507748786 (OP)
Why would the CIA listen to some nip?

>>507748880
It wasn't a false flag so much as it was deliberate bait. The Japs bit

>>507748786 (OP)
They believed it was the only course of action they could take which would be effective in their current situation. They were getting fucked in trade and lashed out in a desperate attempt to help the Axis. Also didn’t help that the civilian population was largely brainwashed into thinking the Allies were evil, as people were excited for war against the US and loved when Japan finally attacked.

>>507748786 (OP)
They had two alternatives to the US oil embargo: give up their empire, or fight for it. They decided to go down with a fight and Pearl Harbor was their best hope.

If they had actually taken out the American fleet like they planned, it would have been crippling. Instead almost every ship was out of port that day, and all the aircraft carriers were. Additionally, they severely underestimated how fast America could build new ships to replace losses, and how rapidly we could shift from a battleship focused fleet to an aircraft carrier and aviation focused fleet. And then on top of that, they underestimated MacArthur's willingness to spend tens of thousands of Marines' lives on capturing dozens and dozens of islands for the sole purpose of encircling Japan and cutting off the home islands in preparation for invasion. AND THEN on top of that we invented nukes and were willing to use them on civilian population centers.

Japan had terrible luck with that war.

>>507749830
Also bad luck at Midway

they had no choice really

USA had blockaded them and they were running out of oil and food production

it was either go for the risk or surrender

>>507748786 (OP)
They sunk some boats and in return they were hit with a literal sun, twice. This has been the worst trade deal in the history of trade deals, maybe ever.

>>507749382
We cut off their oil so they were already fucked.

>>507750582
Partly bad luck, partly their codes got broken and they never figured it out. Complete intelligence failure. Overall, terrible luck for Japan that in hindsight just looks like foolishness for attacking America at all, when at the time it was a reasonable strategic approach to the conflict.

>>507749830
>If they had actually taken out the American fleet like they planned, it would have been crippling.
In the medium term yeah but post-43 would have continued much the same assuming a similar spate of wins and losses.
>Additionally, they severely underestimated how fast America could build new ships to replace losses
They didn't. Pearl Harbour was supposed to cause a negotiation or cuck the US so badly that any war would be impossible to prosecute politically. The Japanese had noo plans for actually fighting a long drawn out war in the first place and knew very well the American industrial advantage over them and I mean the rest of Daihon'ei not just Yamamoto.
>battleship focused fleet to an aircraft carrier and aviation focused fleet
Kinda true but even they still help Battleships in high regard. Carriers or bust didn't happen on both sides until late-'43.

The rest is correct, but I don't get what you mean about MacArthur.

>>507748786 (OP)
Had the Japanese taken out the US carriers and tank farms, PACFLT would have had to shift operations back to the West Coast. They would have had time to consolidate their gains and cut off Australia before the U.S. could have mounted an effective response. It would have dragged things out longer and possibly have outlasted public support in the US for continuing the war once Germany was defeated. Maybe.
Honestly, they never had the logistical capability to pull off what they wanted. Their merchant marine was insufficient for their needs even before they attacked Pearl Harbor. It was our submarine fleet in the Pacific that really won the war in the Pacific, by annihilating their merchant shipping.

>>507751574
The island-hopping campaign and liberation of the Philippines was insanely bloody and not really strategically sound except as a means to encircle Japan with the goal of forcing an unconditional surrender, rather than just normal peace talks. Japan wanted them for resources and colonization. America just wanted to put temporary air bases on them to expand their air superiority.

Nobody but MacArthur would have been committed enough to do that. And it was kind of crazy for him to do. By the point of the island-hopping campaign Japan was already on the back foot and we didn't really need to get control of those islands with amphibious landings and ground combat.

>>507749139
There was no CIA then leaf lol

>>507750582
They lost 4 carriers at Midway.
This was due to U.S. Air superiority.
It wasn't due to us being "better", but we rotated replacement pilots into existing units. Japan took new pilots and created new squadrons. Our rookies were able to learn from veteran pilots. Japan's amassed fighting knowledge was destroyed because pilots weren't able to pass it down.