Japan's decisive-battle expectations and an American long war

The Greek and Roman comparison is a generalization with exceptions about what follows a battle. Greek city states and Carthage are associated with bargaining after combat, while Rome is associated with rebuilding after defeat and returning to fight. Japan's experience of victory over Russia at Tsushima encouraged expectations that a sufficiently large victory could also force American negotiation. Its plan envisaged an angry American advance across the Pacific, attrition along the way, and a final decisive battle. Pearl Harbor damaged the force expected to make that advance without delivering the political decision Japan wanted. American war gaming had also anticipated the trap, leaving Japan to fight a long war after planning around a short one.