The reason Japan attacked Pearl Harbor

My Filipino great-grandfather signed up as a soldier at 14, which was actually not allowed; He fought the Japanese in our province. I remember my mom telling me that the only thing he shot that day was coconuts so he could eat and drink during the fight. While he did this, he met a young Japanese kid, who might have been the same age, looking at him while eating. They both looked at each other but they didn't shoot each other instead, they ate coconuts together while all the fighting was going on lol...

As Yamamoto reportedly said: " In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success. "

My grandfather was a mechanic in the Dutch East Indias quickly defeated army. He and all his comrades were captured by the Japanese and transported by ship as prisoners to Burma. Whilst travelling the ship was relentlessly bombed by Allied forces leaving few survivors. Once being picked up by a trailing Japanese ship along with other survivors, my grandfather worked on the Burma railroad, which too was bombed by US forces who had no idea that they were bombing their own and inflicting significant casualties. On one occasion my grandfather had a piece of shrapnel from a bomb blasted into his leg which was taken out without any pain relief. As a mechanic my grandfather would often travel with Japanese supply trucks, which he used as a way to smuggle in medicine and food for the other malaria and hunger stricken prisoners. Throughout his stay in the atrocious conditions of Burma my grandfather recalled one escape which took place. Three Americans made their way past the guards and into the jungle, never to be seen again. The guards, recruited from Korea, were cruel bullies who enjoyed torture and prisoner mistreatment for their own amusement. Upon Japanese defeat my grandfather caught a serious case of Malaria which kept him bed stricken for over a year. After his recovery he traveled to Holland where he met my grandmother.

I never learned about this in school. Completely facsinating. Thankyou! Great video!

There's an interesting alternative history to consider. The Japanese could have left America alone and just attacked the Dutch East Indies, Malaya & Singapore to secure the oil and other resources they needed. It is possible that the American public would not have wanted to go to war with Japan essentially to protect the Colonial interests of Britain and France.

The strangest thing about WW2 is that the high commands of both Japan and Germany knew that if they didn't deal a knockout blow to their opponents, they would lose. Their inability to produce enough weapons, train enough pilots, and have enough fuel to wage war, made Pearl Harbour, The Battle Of Britain, and Operation Barbarossa the brash and audacious campaigns they were. The Axis mentality was strike first and overwhelm. It's great when it works, but when it doesn't, you get nuked, or have the Soviets run a third of your country for 55 years.

My grandmother is a 1940's World War 2 survivor. She's 96, and still alive, no cane, no walker, no wheelchair.

Essential information for history students, great job.

My dad was at Pearl Harbor on the USS Nevada. My Aunt often told me if a Japanese bomber had zigged instead of zagged I wouldn't be here. Dad had extreme PTSD, and I sometimes go wandering on the internet looking for explanations and answers for the pain my family and I went through. This video sums things up pretty well, I feel like I finally have a solid understanding of the "why." Rest in peace, daddy, I'm sorry you had to go through all that.

Excellent video. Rare to hear the reasons / motivation of Japan to take such a drastic step. In 99% of publications the attack itself is covered, not the thinking behind the assault.

this was nicely broken down. easy to understand.

I like the interim summary of each main point.

Admiral Yamamoto told the Japanese war council, " I shall run wild for 6 months, after that I have no hope for success." He nailed the timetable almost exactly.

For anyone interested in the essential story on Japan and its inner circle of leadership leading up to Pearl Harbor, I'd highly recommend Eri Hotta's book 1941. It's a fascinating account of how Japan essentially stumbled its way into a war that many if not most of its leaders knew that it could not win. This video is a good start to understanding it, but the deeper story is really fascinating. Just thought I'd add this comment at a WWII history lover wanting to share the goods . . .

Outstanding video, subscribed! 👍

This video is worth watching as it points out Japan's resource problem after Second Sino-Japanese War, which is way more convincing than some views based on conspiracy theory. As a Chinese, I also glad to see the video admits the war efforts during WWII by China. Besides, another worth mentioned factor was the Two-Ocean Navy Act, passed after the defeat of France in 1940, which aimed to increase the size of the U.S. navy by 70%. This meant that Japan's power advantage over the U.S. Pacific Fleet during the naval holiday would cease to exist within two years.

My great grandmother was 13 during ww2, she was alone with her baby siblings while her big brother was out to look for food. A japanese soldier was around the area and saw the hut where our great grandmother was staying, and went inside. He only saw my great grandmother and her infant siblings. She told us how scared she was for all of them and thought her big brother was killed. But the japanese soldier only left food for them, she said they must have assumed she and her siblings were abandoned. When her big brother came back and learned about the food, they agreed to feed it to a dog cuz they didnt trust it. Surprisingly the dog didnt die, so the food wasnt poisoned. She's still alive today, but has a habit of hoarding canned good cuz she's afraid to starve to death. Which we understand is a trauma from her experience in ww2.

Well done, you cover most of the topic, but one slight detail; the Japanese hadn't developed a brand new torpedo, they modified their existing air-dropped torpedoes by attaching a wooden fin, braking the dive, and making it stay shallow when dropped.

My Japanese grandfather fought against the Russians in Manchuria… his squad was captured and became POWs. Many of his colleagues were sent to Siberia never to be seen again. My grandfather never spoke about the war again…

What's crazy is we trained Japan's pilots years prior to this. Even an army air corps officer predicted it. I remember seeing an old documentary in my rotc class