Japan’s leaders wanted the surprise attack on pearl harbor to cripple the u. s. navy’s pacific fleet and keep it from interfering with japan’s advance in the pacific. did the attack succeed in this goal?

In the primal years of conjunctive naval/aerial combat, the attack on Pearl Harbor was the most successful military amazement attack.

For decades, the US and Japan had been at odds, and it was only a matter of time before war broke out. Japan wanted to expand into China to address several demographic and economic challenges, as well as obtain control of the Chinese import market.

When Japan decided to launch war on China in 1937, America was outraged and retaliated with trade embargoes and economic sanctions.

Learn more about the attacks on Pearl Harbor:

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The attack incurred heavy damage to US military and the morale as it was the first and only foreign attack on US soil back then. But NO, it did not succeed in crippling the US forces.

Explanation:

This is mainly because most important naval vessels, the air craft carriers had gone out of the Pearl harbour prior to the commencement of the attack. So the most important ships in the fleet was intact and we're not sunk or damaged during the attack.

Moreover, even by 1941, USA was in a much stronger position in terms of economy and technology compared to the Japanese. So involving USA directly against the Japanese empire was a strategic mistake the Japanese made.