Pearl Harbor: Japan’s Fatal Miscalculation

Everyone thinks Pearl Harbor was a brilliant Japanese victory. They were wrong.

It was their greatest strategic blunder. They hit every battleship—but left the three things that actually win

wars untouched. So the U.S. shrugged, patched the holes, and launched a comeback

so fast Japan’s own admiral wrote: “I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant.” Carriers?

Out at sea. Oil farms? Not scratched. Repair yards? Still humming.

By Christmas, sunken ships were floating again, while Japan burned irreplaceable pilots

and planes. Every “crippling” blow became a free upgrade—old battleships got torpedo bulges,

radar, better guns. America didn’t crawl; it accelerated straight to Midway.