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Great Britain was not a superpower in 1781. They had the world's biggest and best navy. It could keep damn foreigners out of Great Britain, as long as they did nothing stupid, like re-deploying everything to the Americas. The British experienced a military coup in 1648, and they learned to keep their army small, and under the command of politically reliable people. An army capable of keeping Americans in line may decide to come home and keep King and Country in line.That speaks to Japan's second miscalculation, that unfounded belief that the US lacked the will to fight. Where on God's Earth did that assumption come from? 1781, after a grinding five year uprising, the US defeats the British, the greatest superpower the world had yet known, handing the Empire it's worst ever defeat (Singapore saw more captured, by Britain was back in three years). They again beat Britain to a standstill in 1812-14. Then in 1898, less than forty years after the Civil War the US defeats Spain, another major power. Then in 1907 the US sends its battlefleet around the world to remind everyone of US power. Did the US ever demonstrate a lack of Warrior spirit? Where was Japan looking?
The Niihau incident was one of the reasons given, when the decision was made to relocate Japanese and Japanese-americans away from the west coast.
Did Germany give a DoW before invading the USSR? This seems like a rare thing.As far as Pearl Harbor was concerned, the public wasn't outraged by the attack so much as they were outraged that there was no declaration of war.
No, but Germany wasn't neutral at the time and it's public wasn't pro isiolationism, either.Did Germany give a DoW before invading the USSR? This seems like a rare thing.
My point was expecting Japan to have issued a DoW before commencing hostilities is unrealistic. Has any aggressor country ever done so? I don't think the US expected Japan to do so, especially after their surprise attack on Russia a mere 37 years earlier.No, but Germany wasn't neutral at the time and it's public wasn't pro isiolationism, either.
Great Britain was not a superpower in 1781.
You are a superpower if you can project power on everybody else. A famous quote by Otto Von Bismark was that if the British landed troops on the continent, he would have them arrested by the police. There was some conflict between Canada and the USA circa 1870, and the British appreciated that they could face millions of trained battle hardened troops, tens of thousands of battle hardened, proven officers and hundreds of battle hardened, proven generals, even without recruiting Confederates. The French had the same problem in Mexico. The reason for this is obvious.I suppose if your only metric for national power is the size of a standing army, this might be correct. But I think that's only one of many metrics that factor into national power -- and the RN alone meant the UK was indeed a superpower insofar as it could deny trade routes to its enemies even as it secured the nation's own trade.
Regarding a large standing army as the only or main metric for superpowers is unrealistically constricted, in my opinion. National power comes in many guises, most of which aren't military at all.
The problem is MacArthur didn't play by Japanese rule book. He started in middle, bypassing and isolating large garrisons.
USN subs, starting with the Porpoise class (1937-ish) had a range of 11,000 miles.1930s long range bombers and long range submarines didn't really exist so it couldn't be planned for.
HiThat speaks to Japan's second miscalculation, that unfounded belief that the US lacked the will to fight. Where on God's Earth did that assumption come from? 1781, after a grinding five year uprising, the US defeats the British, the greatest superpower the world had yet known, handing the Empire it's worst ever defeat (Singapore saw more captured, by Britain was back in three years). They again beat Britain to a standstill in 1812-14. Then in 1898, less than forty years after the Civil War the US defeats Spain, another major power. Then in 1907 the US sends its battlefleet around the world to remind everyone of US power. Did the US ever demonstrate a lack of Warrior spirit? Where was Japan looking?