What was Japan's military state immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor?

1 Answer
Apr 28, 2016

Short term strong, long term weak.

Explanation:

The Japanese hoped that by destroying the American Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbour, they could create an armoured protection for Japan, stretching from the Aleutians to the South Pacific.

They felt that the USA would not want to get involved in a long protracted war and sue for peace.

In the short term and on the surface, Japan's military state was strong. A series of sweeping victories gave them control of the whole of South East Asia defeating the British, French and Dutch in the process.

However there were a number of failures at Pearl Harbour. The Japanese failed to destroy the American aircraft carrier fleet and much of the onshore facilities in Pearl Harbour. Although severe damage was done to America's battleships the problem for the Japanese was that the role of the battleship was already obsolete. It was the aircraft carrier which was to dominate.

As a consequence one could argue that Japan's long term defeat was inevitable even immediately after Pearl Harbour.