Is it true that the attack on Pearl Harbor was also made to cower Americans into dropping its anti-Japanese demands?

by [deleted]

[deleted]

TheFerritoJ

Well no, but the question needs to be unpacked a bit. Demoralizing was certainly an objective, but even Japan didn't foresee the raid being as successful as it was - wargames had theorized that 2 of the Kido Butai carriers would probably be lost in the attack.

The objective was primarily to destroy the Pacific Fleet to the extent that it could not interfere with IJN operations in the South Pacific for a few months to a year, long enough to seize the crucial resource areas of the Dutch East Indies and create a sustainable defensive perimeter.

This defensive perimeter formed the crux of Japanese strategy - the theory that the US was not prepared to fight a long, bloody war was the idea here.

Despite their lowly views of the US, not even the most fanatical Japanese officers expected Pearl Harbor to be the single act of the war - there was no way the US would simply say, "alright, fine, you got us, have your way with China." Nobody expected that. So I guess to directly answer your question, no.