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Originally Posted by theking
He also supposedly said something along the lines of...he could raise hell for about six months and then the tide would turn and that was also the case. It is my understanding that the Japanese never intended to defeat the U.S. but instead intended to keep us at bay long enough for them to consolidate their hold on other Asian countries and then sue us for peace. What they did not expect at all was our demand for their "unconditional surrender"...which demand was ultimately agreed to but did prolong the war with them.
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That was exactly what their goal was. They didn't want to take on the United States directly, but instead destroy the US Pacific fleet so they could could continue their rampage through the Pacific for six months to a year.
The biggest blunder was they missed all of the US aircraft carriers - None of them were in port that morning. While the attack was a huge blow to the Pacific Fleet, with the three aircraft carriers still running around the US never really lost it's footing and was able to attack a short time later.