Why would the Japs bomb Pearl Harbor?

The U.S. embargoed oil on them.

>>136487060
We cut them off from our oil after Nanking happened, so naturally the best course of action was to kick the hornet nest.

>>136487060
You think they attacked just to awake sleeping giant?

File: 10671354_599831650146631_8277081994151585265_n-png.187016.jpg (121KB, 575x761px) Image search: [Google]

121KB, 575x761px

>>136487060
>Why would the Japs bomb Pearl Harbor?

I know, its silly they ended up doing it.

My best guess is we're in a simulation running an alternative timeline. In reality Italy waited for conclusion of barbarossa before invading yugoslavia and greece and Japan didn't invade China in the 1930s but instead the Japanese and Germans managed to convince China to join the axis and Japan went north bolstered by large conscript armies

US was going to enter the war anyway so they tried to cripple the navy to make them unable to launch an offensive against Japan.

Had Midway not been such a disaster for Japan, their gamble would have worked.

>>136487060
originally they tried to destroy the carriers.
the carriers were their goal but they weren't there that day

It was a preemptive strike to cripple the US fleet. They thought war was inevitable so they wanted to hit their fleet so they would have time to consolidate their gains.

It was a hail mary play that failed miserably but from their POV they had few good options.

They didn't. Us just needed a pretext to go to war.