Yamamoto was educated at the Japanese naval academy. He fought and was wounded in the Japanese naval battle with the Russians at Tsushima. He attended Harvard from 1917- 1919, and served as the Japanese Naval Attache in Washington from 1926-1928. Yamamoto became the Assistant Naval Minister in 1936. In 1939 he became Commander of the Navy. He opposed Japanese entry into World War II, fearing that the Japanese could not defeat the US. He planned and commanded the attack on Pearl Harbor. Yamamoto commanded the Japanese forces at Midway, who were decisively defeated by the US Navy. In April 1943, in a planned ambush, his plane was shot down by US fighters.
