From Sword to Zero
The video is a recap of the history leading up to Pearl Harbor, and then it spends a significant amount of time on that attack, getting rather overdone towards the latter part of the video.
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The Zero.
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The A6M2, another name for the Zero.
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Pearl Harbor.
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The American who forced Japan to open itself to the world after they had shut off Japan from outside contact.
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Japan was lagging behind the west economically and technologically.
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1868: The Emperor moves from Kyoto to Tokyo (Edo).
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The samurai lose their rights and privileges. The Emperor becomes considered holy.
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The 1870's was a decade of important changes for Japan.
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The Army was modeled on the German system, and the Navy on the British system.
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In 1894, the Koreans asks the Chinese for help against the Japanese.
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Japan defeats China and gets concessions in China and control of Taiwan.
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The Russians built a railroad through Manchuria to Port Arthur.
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1904: Japan attacks the Russians at Port Arthur. Japan wins that war, also.
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The Japanese gain more and more control over Manchuria, and in 1932 set up the independent state of Manchuko.
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Japan leaves the League of Nations.
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The Japanese launch a vast offensive in Northern China.
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As nationalism rises, the codes of the samurai come into effect again.
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One of the chief hawks in the Japanese military.
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The US establishes a trade embargo against Japan, and Japan considers that an act of aggression.
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The Japanese make the decision to attack Pearl Harbor.
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The Val dive bomber, used at Pearl Harbor.
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The Kate torpedo bomber.
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The Zero fighter.
The first video that I've seen that mentions the fact that the US was supposed to have been informed that Japan had declared war with it before the actual attack on Pearl Harbor, but the message didn't get handled quickly enough by the Japanese Embassy, so it didn't get to FDR until after the attack had already begun. Technically, then, although the attack would still have been a surprise, it would have been a surprise after a declaration of war, not before as it actually ended up being.
The movie also notes the Japanese air fleet was detected before the attack, but the radar operator's warning was ignored. (The video spends a lot of time on the Pearl Harbor attack.)
The Japanese midget submarine that was captured.
The video says that many of the battleships that were lost at Pearl Harbor actually soon would have been considered obsolete anyhow. The Japanese failed to destroy the facilities there (oil, docks, etc,), and the US carrier and submarine forces remained intact. It was a technical military victory for the Japanese, but they could have done a great deal more damage than they did. As far as scaring the US out of becoming involved in a two-front war, the attack failed miserably.
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