Victor Davis Hanson: America Didn’t Provoke Japan—Here’s What Really Led to Pearl Harbor

Dec 9, 2025

Victor Davis Hanson dives deep into the real motivations behind Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. He discusses Japan's aggressive expansions in Asia and its desperate pursuit of oil resources. The podcast explains the miscalculations that led to the attack and the myth of American provocation. Listeners will learn about the attack's timing, the damage inflicted, and crucial details like absent U.S. aircraft carriers. Ultimately, it frames Pearl Harbor as Japan's greatest strategic blunder and a turning point in World War II.

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INSIGHT

Broader Prewar Context Matters

The United States watched Axis powers expand for years while remaining officially at peace before Pearl Harbor.
Victor Davis Hanson argues Japan attacked to secure resources like oil from the Dutch East Indies, not because the U.S. provoked them.

INSIGHT

Timing And Targets Shaped Outcome

Japan deliberately struck at 7 a.m. on a Sunday to maximize surprise and civilian dislocation.
Hanson emphasizes the strike targeted battleships but missed carriers, repair yards, and fuel depots, limiting Japan's long-term success.

ADVICE

Reject Revisionist Provocation Claims

Do not accept revisionist claims that the U.S. provoked Japan into attacking.
Hanson advises remembering the attack occurred during peace and was a Japanese provocation, not a U.S. instigation.

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In an era of World War II revisionism, it’s worth remembering what really led to Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor 84 years ago on Dec. 7, 1941.

Victor Davis Hanson breaks down the real context behind the attack, why Japan miscalculated so badly, the myths that still distort this history, and how Pearl Harbor became the beginning of Japan’s greatest strategic blunder on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.”

“Why did they attack? They said that they did not want to attack. They were in the process of negotiating a peace settlement. They said that we had cut off their oil exports. And we had because we had no other mechanism to convince them to get out of China, it was not their territory, to get out of Korea, to get out of Southeast Asia, and to not absorb the Dutch East Indies.

“They had refused on all of those accounts and said, yet, we will find a peaceful solution, as they planned the attack. The attack happened at seven in the morning, deliberately, on a Sunday morning when people were either at church or still asleep from Saturday night partying. And they came out of the rising sun. Two waves. And they destroyed four battleships and injured, or just—I don't wanna say injured, they were inanimate objects. But they disabled four that sunk to the shallow bottom of Pearl Harbor.”

(0:00) Pearl Harbor and Revisionism

(0:14) Context Leading Up to Pearl Harbor

(3:53) The Attack on Pearl Harbor

(5:27) Aftermath and Misconceptions

(7:38) Final Thoughts

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