What Were The 7 Cascade Events Leading Up To Pearl Harbor?

Most disasters require 7 things to go wrong; my rule of 7. Whether it be a plane crash or a military disaster. Pearl Harbor was no different. It wasn’t one or two or even six things that went wrong: it was seven.

Free today through 9 December is Stuff Doesn’t Just Happen II: The Gift of Failure. Pearl Harbor is one of seven events I detail, showing how and why they occurred. By studying that, we can prevent future disasters, because a man-made error is always at least ONE, if not more of the Cascade Events.

Here briefly are the Cascade Events detailed for this event in the book:

Cascade One: Political misunderstanding and maneuvers that backfired.

Cascade Two: Military strategic planners in both countries seriously miscalculated each other.

Cascade Three: Warnings were ignored and/or not given to those who needed to get the warnings.

Cascade Four: Tactical considerations worked both ways.

Cascade Five: New technology was not used correctly.

Cascade Six: Timing is everything.

Final Event: At 7:48 am on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese Empire conducted a surprise assault on the island of Oahu, primarily focused on the American Pacific Fleet in the harbor, with a secondary objective of destroying military aircraft at outlying bases.