Admiral Yamamoto: The Man Behind Pearl Harbour

this video is made possible by audible use my link audible.com /by graphics or text via graphics to five hundred five hundred in the US only to get a free book plus you get two audible originals and a 30-day free trial so for free just click the link in the description below this Oroku yamamoto was the mastermind behind the worst attack on american soil ever that a snack on Pearl Harbor brought war with Japan bidding Yamamoto against the best military minds of the US Armed Forces in the end though it took a clandestine mid-air assassination to bring him to heel in this week's by graphics we examine the life of a soraka Yamamoto [Music] Yamamoto was born as Takano issuu rocku on April the 4th 1884 in the town of Nagaoka on the island of Honshu his father Takano sadayoshi had been involved in an unsuccessful samurai led rebellion against the imperial government back in 1877 the government's subsequent crackdown on the samurai made it difficult for Takano to find work and he was forced to move all over Honshu trying to secure a job after returning to nagar okay his wife died and soon after he married his younger sister-in-law together they had three children the youngest of these was issue rocku the name means 56 which was his father's age when he was born Takano was an educated man who when he could find a position worked as a school teacher he passed his appreciation for knowledge on to his children the most gifted of him was a sea rocky the boy saw education as the route to breaking the cycle of poverty that was his lot in life in 1901 a sea Rocky's diligence and application to his studies paid off when he won an appointment to the Imperial Navy Academy in fact his application test score was the second highest in the entire country for the next three years between the ages of 16 and 19 he lived at the Naval Academy at a Tajima city near Hiroshima in the southern part of Japan life of the Academy was spartan discipline it Sirocco acquitted himself competently but it was during the fourth year of the cadet ship which was spent at sea that he really began to shine his naval trainers quickly recognized leadership qualities in the man despite only standing at five foot three inches and weighing around 120 pounds he was physically skilled being adapted both gymnastics and the martial art kendo unlike most other students he was not interested in drinking and socializing but would rather spend his time reading the Bible and getting ahead on his studies in November of 1904 Missy rocky graduated from the Naval Academy seventh out of 200 since February of that year Japan had been at war with Russia and a surah ku was immediately thrown right into the fray who is assigned to the warship Nisshin on the night of May the 26th 1905 the climactic Battle of the war began with the Russian Baltic Fleet attacking the Japanese fleet in the trash Ashima Strait the Nisshin was one of eight Imperial ships presence out of 89 total ships with more modern ships greater speed and better trained crews the Japanese emerged victorious with 21 Russian ships being sunk and seven being captured it was the victory that the Japanese had been desperately needing and it propelled them to final victory however versi rocky the price for victory it was dear one of the gun barrels on board his ship and burst with the shrapnel flying everywhere he caught a large piece of metal in the thigh and dozens of smaller fragments peppered all throughout his lower body in addition two of his fingers were hanging by just a thread he was evacuated to a hospital and did not return to duty until August the fifth still he was recognized for his bravery in this first test under fire with a letter of citation and personal commendation from Admiral Hydra hero Togo after recovering from his injuries the Sirocco served on three ships on one of them he travelled to the west coast of the United States giving him his first American interaction in 1908 history rocky completed a basic course at the naval gunnery school going on to graduate from the Advanced Course in 1911 he then spent time on a battleship before attending the Naval Staff College in 1913 asou rocky excelled in staff training being earmarked by his tutors as a man on the rise following his graduation in 1916 he was appointed to the second battle squadron as a leftenant commander [Music] it was around this time that Takano is tsuzuku became Yamamoto is sir aku with both his parents having died in 1912 and having older brothers it was clear that a seer aku would never come to head the Takano clan yes the Yamamoto clan was in need of a new male heir the clan saw the rising young naval officer as the perfect fit this is opting of a man into a family in order to serve as the male heir was quite a common practice and it was accepted by a Scirocco however it required that he find a wife and have sons to continue the yamamoto name it was at the age of 34 in 1918 that hissing rock who entered into an arranged marriage a few months later in 1919 he was assigned to the United States to take up an assignment as a naval representative he spent a month at Harvard University is studying the English language he then continued to study independently to master English while also learning all he could about the oil industry which was vital to the operation of an efficient Navy while in the u.s. he also picked up a penchant for gambling at which he proved to be quite successful in fact he undertook a tour of Mexican oil fields which was partly financed from his gambling proceeds in 1921 to see rocky returned to Japan where he received at posting as an instructor at the Naval Staff College over the five years of his service in this capacity he deepened his knowledge of oil while also developing a fascination with aviation in 1926 he was assigned to the United States for a second time where he stayed for two years I see Rocky's two great passions combined in 1928 when he was given command of the Imperial Navy's first aircraft carrier Akagi he retains this post for a little over a year within that time he developed a strong bond with the men under his command he greatly admired their strict but fair commander [Music] this Iraqis mastery of the English language made him a valuable asset to the Japanese High Command and in October of 1929 he was stationed to London to act as an assistant to the Japanese delegation to the London naval conference of 1930 during his time in London he received the news that he had been promoted to Rear Admiral back in Japan Yamamoto was given yet another role within the Imperial Navy he became head of the technical division of the Aeronautics Department after three years he then found himself back in command of the ACOG II he threw himself into this role disciplining and training as aviators with absolute precision however a months into this role he was again selected for service overseas the preliminary discussions for the second London Naval conference took place in London in October of 1934 and Yamamoto was selected as a chief delegate he was tasked with pressing Japan's claim for a better naval construction ratio which had previously been set at 60% of the battleship and carrier strength of the United States and Britain despite his own personal misgivings he proved to be the right man for the job his opposition negotiators from Britain and the US were impressed with his intelligence and his reasonableness he put the demands from his government on the table which were for naval priety with the other two powers this was never going to be acceptable to the Brits and the Americans and Yamamoto he knew this the negotiations they went nowhere and the conference broke up without resolution even though he had not been able to achieve his government's ambitions yamamoto's prominence at the conference had made an internationally famous yet when he returned to Japan he faced a period of stagnation which was very troubling to him in fact he seriously considered at this point resigning from the Navy [Music] Yamamoto's funk it was resolved though in December of 1935 when he was appointed chief of the Aeronautics department at the Navy ministry he was now the boss of everything to do with naval aviation in Japan this gave him the ability to put into development some of the concepts that he had previously worked on these included the type 96 land-based attack plane this was the most advanced attack plane possessed by any Navy in the world and would form a central part of Yamamoto x' offensive plans against the United States now on February the 26th 1936 there was an attempted military coup in Japan the nationalistic government placed Admiral Meghani Osama as the new minister of the Navy Yamamoto accepted the position of vice Navy minister he sat about re instilling a lost discipline in the Navy's command dismissing those who didn't meet his standards he also actively worked to prevent the Army's push towards war [Music] 19:37 was to prove to be a key in the advancement of Japan's war stance in the wake of starting a war on her doorstep with China she signed a tripartite pact with Germany and Italy Yamamoto was against the pact and he wasn't shy about voicing his opinion this brought him into increasing conflicts with the army administration and their right-wing followers he received numerous death threats these didn't faze him and he appears to have accepted that sooner or later he would simply be assassinated a crisis occurred in 1939 this was when the Germans signed a non-aggression pact with Russia the traditional enemies of the Japanese on August the 23rd the entire Japanese cabinet resigned resulting in Yamamoto z' loss of his position as vice Navy minister along with his superior Navy Minister you and I before leaving office however you and I had appointed Yamamoto as the commander-in-chief of the combined Imperial fleet Yamamoto was a highly experienced commander and he had the respect of his men he was seen as a pacifist at a time when the country was marching towards war however he threw himself into the position with his usual gusto pushing aside his own reservations and stepping up training in preparation for the coming conflict by the end of 1940 the pro German factions within the armed forces were driving the country towards a conflict with the United States though personally opposed to taking on the u.s. Yamamoto began planning for such an eventuality he was adamant that the only chance for success against America lay with a massive surprise attack that would take out the American fleet followed up by the bitts Krieg like tactics that the Germans were using with such positive effects in Europe he repeatedly stated that if a war was to be won against the United States it had to be completed within six months otherwise the economic and manpower advantage of the Americans would inevitably prevail in July 1941 the United States responded to continued Japanese aggression in China by imposing a trade embargo on Japan and freezing all Japanese assets in its country Britain and the Netherlands they quickly followed suit the most crippling effect was the loss of oil imports which accounted for 90% of Japan's usage and of course the largest user of oil in the country was Japan's Imperial Navy the Japanese response was to further step up preparation for war while also looking to seize control of the oil reserves held in the Dutch East Indies and that the British had in the Far East Yamamoto believed that any attack on Dutch or British possessions would draw the Americans into an armed conflict it was at this time that Yamamoto formulated the plan for a decisive preemptive strike on the American naval base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii he believed that such a crushing blow would destroy American morale and lead to a negotiated peace settlement the plan was risky and many officials were opposed to it it speaks volumes about Yamamoto's prestige an influence that he was able to push the plan through to a final approval the plan was actually rejected by the Navy General Staff several times but finally mo moto had to put his foot down as long as he was commander-in-chief he told his commanders the Pearl Harbor attack would go ahead he then went to the naval general staff and told them that unless the plan was approved he and his entire staff would resign the idea of going to war with Yamamoto was a scary prospect to the Navy brass and they finally relented Yamamoto is planned for Pearl Harbor was to sink as many battleships as possible he saw the battleship as the symbol of American naval superiority and figured that the sudden loss of the majority of their reserve would destroy the American fighting spirit however staff air officer for the first air fleet Minoru ganado I felt that it was more advantageous to concentrate on sinking American aircraft carriers in the end a compromise was reached the first wave of the attack comprising of 40 torpedo planes would be directed at two carriers the other 24 planes would focus on the eight battleships that could also potentially be that another 50 level bombers worked ahead for Battleship Row where most of the battleships were expected to be birthed meanwhile fifty-four dive bombers with the squating fighters were to attack the oil fields on Oahu the second wave of the attack was to comprise 81 dive bombers and was intended to finish off the cruisers with their bombs being too small to damage the battleships as it turned out of the attack during the early hours of December the 7th 1941 was far more successful in its targeting of battleships and cruisers none of which were actually in the dock that day the battleship so climber in West Virginia were sunk while the California was struck with two torpedoes eventually sinking and the Nevada with a single strike that also brought her down all of this was achieved in only 11 minutes in battleship row the Arizona was struck with a 1760 pound armor-piercing bomb the forward magazine of the ship exploded killing 1177 officers and crewmen the attack was a complete success achieving Yamamoto's objective of decimating american naval power in one fell swoop 18 ships had been sunk or damaged while only 29 japanese aircraft had been shot down most pleasing TM Emoto was that five battleships at either and sunk or beached in the bigger picture of things however the attack of Pearl Harbor in achieved little em'ly motos emphasis on destroying battleships it was not a sound policy the Americans were already moving towards carriers rather than battleships and the Pearl Harbor attack merely sped up this transition furthermore rather than breaking American morale as Yamamoto had thought the attack served as a rallying cry to drive the Americans on to final victory [Music] with the United States declaration of war against Japan on December the 8th 1941 the Japanese had to devise a strategy to overcome this far greater power it was decided to fight a defensive campaign where the Americans would be drawn into the Pacific East and worn down to the point of accepting a negotiated peace settlement meanwhile the Japanese would occupy key territories in the Asia Pacific moving down into Australasia and the Central Pacific Yamamoto believed that when Singapore was taken the time would be right to sue for peace with the success of his brainchild the Pearl Harbor attack Yamamoto s influence grew he was instrumental in planning invasions on Malaysia in the Philippines as well as Guam and Singapore in early February of 1942 he moved his staff headquarters onto the super battleship yamato with singapore having fallen Yamamoto believed that it was time for his government to pressure the Allies for peace its lack of action on this greatly frustrated him despite his conviction that a campaign that went for more than six months would be disastrous he was forced to plan out the next phase of the war however his ideas were at odds with the naval general staff who wanted to concentrate on Australia whereas he was intent on taking control of the Indian subcontinent the army however refused to back such a plan and it was quickly taken off the table [Music] the first major setback for the Japanese occurred with the Battle of Coral Sea between May the 4th and the 8th 1942 which successfully halted the Japanese invasion of New Guinea Yamamoto continued to butt heads with the naval General Staff as he now proposed an attack on Midway Atoll that would draw out the remnant of the American fleet from Hawaii where it could be utterly destroyed resistance was stiff with General Staff members pointing out the Midway was too close to Pearl Harbor and too far away from Japan Yamamoto now used his old tactic of threatening to resign and he got his way again the attack on Midway required Yamamoto to coordinate his fleet over huge stretches of water Yamamoto aboard the Yamato personally led one battle group himself what he didn't know was that the Americans had broken their secret code sands were already aware of the attack in advance three US carriers were sent to Midway in order to surprise the Japanese in the ensuing battle four Japanese carriers were sent to the bottom of the ocean acknowledging defeat Yamamoto ordered his remaining ships back to base the defeat of Midway was a humiliation for Yamamoto and he received much criticism for it still he was able to retain his position as commander-in-chief largely because to remove him would have been too demoralizing for the men under his command over the next few months the Japanese achieved limited success against the fleet around Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands the Battle of Guadalcanal however was another crushing defeat for the Japanese [Music] in the wake of Guadalcanal Yamamoto set out on a morale-boosting tour of air force bases across the South Pacific on April the 14th 1943 a message which announced his exact itinerary on route to a base in the Solomon Islands was intercepted by US intelligence this presented the Americans with the perfect opportunity to assassinate the Japanese naval commander in-chief it was a risk in that it would betray the Americans ability to break Japanese code but Yamamoto was seen as such a big fish that it was deemed worth giving up this intelligence a plan nicknamed Operation vengeance was put into operation with the objective of killing Yamamoto 18 US fighter pilots were chosen from the base at Guadalcanal to participate in the operation 14 of them would provide cover at around 20,000 feet while four others formed a strike force to blow Yamamoto splain right out of the sky the attack it was set for April the 18th that morning that was not one but two g4 m1 type 1 Betty bombers along with six a 6m zero fighters to provide escort in yamamoto's fleet it wasn't long into the flight when the four american p-38s were seen approaching the bomber that was carrying em Emoto immediately began to descend while the escort planes moved in to intercept the Americans but they weren't able to prevent the p-38s from achieving their objectives with both of the Vettii bombers receiving strikes both of the planes crashed however an autopsy on his body revealed that Yamamoto who was sitting on the starboard side of the plane behind the plane commander had been struck by bullets to the jaw and shoulder and was probably dead before the plane at the ground Yamamoto body was found later that day it had been thrown from the wreckage still strapped to the seat the death of Yamamoto was not revealed to the Japanese people until May the 21st more than a month after he was shot down more than a million people lined the streets of Tokyo as his ashes passed by so today's video was made possible by audible who I'm sure many of you know about already I've been a longtime customer of audible reading tons of books on all sorts of subjects in fact it's kind of a funny story I personally really love autobiographies and biographies and listening to those through audible or what actually inspired me to start this channel no kidding it all kind of full circle so thanks for that audible there are loads of autobiographies on audible and I bet that if it's a notable book there's going to be a cool audiobook version of it as well also related to this video there are tons of audio books on world war ii the Pacific Theater Pearl Harbor itself lots and lots of those I just did a quick search and the entire first page of results are all super highly rated books about this attack and its consequences now audible was always a good deal that you've got an audiobook a month for a low fee but now there's even more in addition members now get to audible originals every single month in addition to their book of choice these are from some of the world's most celebrated storytellers journalists novelists and many others there's plenty to choose from there's also fitness and health workouts for members so what of all was always great but now there's even more if you've been putting off signing up for it do so no longer go search Pearl Harbor inaudible and grab something that takes your fancy this loads of great reviewed books like I say just go to audible.com forward slash bio graphics that's also a link in the description below doing that also helps supports this show and helps us keep more biographic Svidler way again get started with a free 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Channel: Biographics

Views: 358,550

Rating: 4.8913894 out of 5

Keywords: admiral yamamoto, Isoroku Yamamoto, Isoroku Yamamoto biography, attack on pearl harbour, pearl harbour, yamamoto biography, biography of admiral yamamoto, admiral yamamoto biography, who was admiral yamamoto, death of admiral yamamoto, world war II, world war II generals

Id: 4iH1mo__3vI

Length: 21min 55sec (1315 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 30 2018