Yamamoto Isoroku (1884 - 1943)

Today marks the one hundred twenty-fourth birthday of Yamamoto Isoroku., born on April 4, 1884. A Japanese military officer, Yamamoto is remembered for conceiving and carrying out the plan to bomb Pearl Harbor during World War II.

Yamamoto worked for the Japanese navy as a representative to the United States during the mid-to-late 1920s. From 1926 to 1941, Yamamoto rose up the Japanese military ranks, becoming the commander in chief of Japan's combined navy and air forces in 1941.

In 1941, Japanese relations with the United States were stressed. Yamamoto advised against starting a war with America, but the man with the final say, Tojo Hideki, decided to fight. Yamamoto then argued that the only chance of victory was through a crippling surprise attack on the United States Navy. Yamamoto also issued an ominous prediction for Japan: If Japan did not defeat the U.S. within one year, Japan would fall.

Yamamoto's careful planning of the Pearl Harbor attack (Pearl Harbor was a key U.S. Naval base) resulted in a successful strike. Over 3,400 Americans lost their lives, 180 U.S. aircraft were wrecked, and the United States battleship fleet experienced substantial damage; all of this occurred within half an hour on December 7, 1941 (The History Channel Website).

Yamamoto became a hero in Japan, but his glory was short-lived. America, seeking to settle the score, tracked him down in an airplane over Bougainville Island in the Pacific in 1943. Yamamoto met his death in the ambush as his plane was shot from the sky.

Upon his death, Japan lost one of its greatest strategists. According to the History Channel Website, "Yamamoto died having been right about two things: the effectiveness of aircraft carriers in long-range naval attacks and that Japan would lose a drawn-out struggle with the United States" (The History Channel Website).

Yamamoto's legacy is tainted by Japan's defeat and his role in planning the Pearl Harbor attack. Today, he is viewed as a villain in many World War II Pacific Theater films.

Sources: The History Channel Website