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Two souls beat in the chest of Isoroku Yamamoto (1884–1943).
One belonged to a samurai who had worked his way up to the head of the Japanese fleet from a humble background.
The other drove a visionary who, like few strategists of his time, drew conclusions for the sea war from technical progress and thus destroyed the US Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
His samurai legacy should ensure that he failed in the end.
Born on April 4, 1884 with the name Isoroku Takano as the son of an impoverished ex-samurai, he made a name for himself with excellent performance in the navy, so that he was promoted to corvette captain at the age of 31.
Therefore, the influential Yamamoto clan made him the not unusual offer to take the place of a deceased heir.
That accelerated his ascent, but didn't narrow his horizon.
Yamamoto learned English at an early age, read the Bible and, among other things, got to know and appreciate the USA as a naval attaché.
Unlike most of his comrades, he quickly realized that the future of the Navy was not on cruisers and battleships, but in the air.
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As the captain of aircraft carriers, the commander of aviation schools and the vice minister of the navy, Yamamoto used all his energy to create the best carrier fleet in the world for Japan.
Cruisers and battleships were converted into carriers.
The most powerful aircraft types of their time were created in cooperation with industry.
Their pilots were even trained in night raids.
Bet on the quick decisive battle against the US Navy: Isoroku Yamamoto
Source: Getty Images
Knowing the industrial potential of the US, he opposed the army's course of war, but since 1939, as Commander-in-Chief of the United Fleet, developed a strategy that gave Japan the chance to win a war against the US and the Western colonial powers.
The Allied fleets in the Pacific were to be destroyed in swift blows in order to create a glacis in which counterattacks would get stuck.
With the attack on Pearl Harbor, for which he deployed six large carriers with 440 aircraft, he set an example with which he turned the war in Europe and China into a world war.
But the US really turned out to be the "sleeping giant" Yamamoto had always warned about.
Just six months after Pearl Harbor, his fleet suffered a crushing defeat at Midway, in which it lost four large porters.
The calculation to face the opponent in a decisive battle turned out to be a mistake.
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The self-confidence of the samurai to achieve victory with practice and discipline was insufficient against the resources of the USA.
Because Yamamoto hadn't thought of the necessary deep armor.
There was a lack of modern-minded admirals, reserves of trained pilots and carriers and a powerful submarine weapon.
Instead, Japan's steel was invested in the construction of two conventional super battleships that were later sunk by US bombers.
Convinced that the Americans would not crack his code (which they had long since done), Yamamoto went on an inspection flight to the Solomon Islands on April 18, 1943.
On landing he was shot down by US long-range fighters.
His death marked the turning point in the Pacific War.
Until then, Japan's fleet had been able to keep the US Navy at a distance.
From now on the way to total defeat opened up.
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