Why did the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor?
that wasn’t the intention – or at least not all of it. The USA had placed an embargo on certain goods being imported into Japan as retaliation for Japan’s continuing war with the Chinese. These included vital raw materials and fuel oil. (Fuel oil was never intended to be on the list of embargoed goods but was included by accident; once included it was considered that it would be a “loss of face” for the US to then remove it. It was the dwindling fuel stock that forced Japan’s hand) Japan was faced with the prospect of a shameful climbdown and withdrawal from China or invading the countries which provided the raw materials it needed. It was the case that some officials in Japan believed that the Japanese nation could somehow defeat the USA through superior fighting spirit and will power, believing that the USA lacked the will to fight and would back down if they took heavy casualties (note parallels with Vietnam and Iraq). Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, who had lived and studied in the US, b
