The Philippines were considered the most likely destination. In retrospect, Pearl Harbor may seem damn obvious, but hindsight is 20/20.
I'm sticking with criminal negligence.
Even the Japanese did not think that they had a chance to win. However, the oil embargo had made the situation so desperate that even a small chance was considered preferable to certain defeat.
That's too pessimistic for the militarists. There were plenty of people who thought they could win in 1941, they just weren't everybody. Hell, there were still a lot of dangerous people who thought they could win in 1945.
That's too pessimistic for the militarists. There were plenty of people who thought they could win in 1941, they just weren't everybody. Hell, there were still a lot of dangerous people who thought they could win in 1945.
I'll defer to your knowledge of the Pacific War, since I'm mostly interested in the war in Europe, but as far as I know, no one in Japan believed they could 'win' in 1945 - especially by the metrics they set out. Even if the US was not able to conquer the home islands, losing your entire empire and not getting conquered is a far cry from 'winning'.
"win" as in "drive the Americans back strong enough that they would give up and not conquer the home islands" is kind of what they were going for as "winning".
Bit of a moving goalpost, as leftists are known to do.
I'm sticking with criminal negligence.
That's too pessimistic for the militarists. There were plenty of people who thought they could win in 1941, they just weren't everybody. Hell, there were still a lot of dangerous people who thought they could win in 1945.
I'll defer to your knowledge of the Pacific War, since I'm mostly interested in the war in Europe, but as far as I know, no one in Japan believed they could 'win' in 1945 - especially by the metrics they set out. Even if the US was not able to conquer the home islands, losing your entire empire and not getting conquered is a far cry from 'winning'.
"win" as in "drive the Americans back strong enough that they would give up and not conquer the home islands" is kind of what they were going for as "winning".
Bit of a moving goalpost, as leftists are known to do.