Japanese Marshal Admiral (1884–1943)
He planned Pearl Harbor knowing Japan would likely lose the war. The admiral who led the Combined Fleet through the Pacific's opening blows understood American industrial power better than most in Tokyo — he'd studied at Harvard and walked Washington as a naval attaché — but was tasked with striking first anyway.
Yamamoto graduated from the Imperial Naval Academy in 1904 and lost two fingers at the Battle of Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War. His time at Harvard and as naval attaché in Washington taught him that Japan's access to oil and industrial capacity couldn't match America's, leaving little hope in prolonged conflict. By 1936 he was navy vice minister, opposing the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, yet in 1939 he took command of the Combined Fleet and designed the December 1941 surprise strike that opened the Pacific War. Early Japanese victories gave way to catastrophic loss at Midwa…
Sourced, dated quotes from Isoroku Yamamoto
A military man can scarcely pride himself on having "smitten a sleeping enemy"; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten.
Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco.
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.
The fiercest serpent may be overcome by a swarm of ants.
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