By far the most talented and imaginative of Japan's admirals. Yamamoto went to college in the US, and was one of the few Japanese military leaders familiar with the country. He was opposed to war, warning that the Japanese underestimated America's military strength. Since Japan's ruling hunta was determined to go to war, Yamamoto insisted on a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor; he believed that Japan had to make a devastating attack and force peace quickly, since eventual US mobilization would overwhelm the Japanese. Yamamoto's plan came dangerously close to success, but failure to destroy Pearl Harbor's oil tanks (this would have forced the US to reconquer the Pacific from San Diego-a very long haul) enabled the Americans to rapidly bounce back. Together with the successful code-breaking operation that let the Americans know every Japanese move in advance, the war soon turned in favor of the US. Yamamoto's plane was shot down in 43', one of the rare targeted assassinations of enemy generals in WWII; an act of revenge, or a recognition of his skill, or both.

Yamamaoto realized that he had a hard fight ahead of him before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His only failure was that he failed to fully estimate the power of the aircraft carrier, which he began to fully understand after the battle of Coral Sea, but due to a breakthrough in American Intelligence gathering with the Battle of Midway, the Japanese were dealt a crippling blow which would lead to the Allied victory in the Pacific Theater.

Using the intelligence reports, limited supplies, and naval power he had, Yamamoto is given less credit than he probably deserves as one of Japan's greatest naval commanders. He was able to catch America completely off-guard, and from that America should have learned that it was critical to fix flaws in their intelligence-gathering methods...something that seems to have plagued the United States throughout its history.

With the exception of Pearl Harbor, the only major battles before his death were Midway, Coral Sea, and Solomon Islands. The lost 2 carriers at Coral Sea (we suffered only one being damaged), we completely destroyed the Japs at Midway (4 carriers destroyed- Taga, Hiryo, Soryo, and the Akagi. And we conquered the Solomon Islands. Tell to tell the truth, he didnt really have any victories in WW2 at all. Its true- FDR did know that the attack was coming. So he dosnet get credit for that- actually the only point of raiding Pearl Harbor was to destroy our Carriers, which at the time weren't in port.

Yamamoto never wanted to attack Pearl Harbor. His government forced him to, and he new the results would turn out like they did.

Eh, anyone can attack pearl Harbor successfully when FDR knows the attack is coming and refuses to do anything about it.