Isoroku Yamamoto

Isoroku Yamamoto 1884-1943

Isoroku Yamamoto was born Isoroku Takano. He changed his surname when the Yamamoto family offered to adopt him in 1916. The Yamamotos were in need of a son and heir. Isoroku was the youngest Takano son and was honored to take on the famous Yamamoto name.

Isoroku means five, ten, six in Japanese. That's because his dad was fifty-six years old when he was born. Isoroku was born on April 4, 1884, in Nagaoka, Japan.

Isoroku Yamamoto lived 59 years and was an admiral in the Japanese navy. He also worked as naval attaché at the Japanese embassy in Washington, D.C., and held several other jobs for the Japanese government.

Military strategy was his forte. Yamamoto was also very attentive to details and nothing came between himself and his duty.

Yamamoto was against getting into the Second World War and the war with the United States because he thought the US was too powerful. But it was not for him to decide.

So, once Japan made the decision, he knew that his country's only chance for victory lay in a surprise attack that would cripple the American naval forces in the Pacific. He therefore conceived the plan to attack Pearl Harbor.

Isoroku Yamamoto's Weaknesses

Isoroku underestimated submarine warfare on commercial targets. Another big mistake was that he didn't act decisively when he was told that the Americans had deciphered Japan's codes.