>Know they can't beat America >Still go to war against

>>2847158
At the beginning of the war and basically up to Midway the Japanese Navy had more Carriers and Ships then the Americans. If they had won at Midway, the US would have had almost to no carriers left and no bases in the Pacific. It is tough coming back from that, since now Japan can begin digging in.

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>>2847158
>Were the Imperial Japanese the greatest mad men of all time?

>>2847199
this meme again

>know they can't beat Russia
>know they can't beat China

In terms of absolute population, standing armies, and resources both of those things are just as true. The Japanese, based on their past experience, we're hoping to exhaust the enemy's will to fight and this win even thoigh technically weaker. You might as well say Vietnam "knew" they couldn't beat the US.

>>2847210
>filename.kek

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>>2847215
>comparing early 20th century Russia and China to the fucking US
I really hope you're just pretending to be retarded.

>>2847158
The Japanese plan against America was literally "hopefully we cripple the American fleet enough that they leave us alone and we are free to consolidate the entirety of the Asian Pacific including the resources we capture from Allied territories."

It was at least plausible, if unlikely.

>>2847158
Remember that the Empire of Japan also attacked the U.K. and the Commonwealth on December 8. Also the Kingdom of the Netherlands and a couple of other countries as well.

>>2847221
Not the same poster, but that was the Japanese mentality, as weird as it seems now. They viewed China, Russia, and America all as "continental" powers that could be defeated the same way.

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>>2847199
>no bases in the Pacific.
What about Pearl Harbor?
>It is tough coming back from that
Weren't we the largest economy in the world at the time? We were already ramping up to supply the Allied war effort in Europe (and probably would have become involved in it officially as an eventuality, just like in WW1), so the economic tide was already turning against the Japanese before their early naval victories.

>>2847158
They were just stupid.