First come, first served. (English proverb). Those that lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. (Native American proverb, Blackfoot). People are enemies of that which they don't know..
There is another similarity with these two warsâfanaticism and suicide tactics. While Japan apparently did not use suicide tactics at Pearl Harbor, we know of their use of the Kamikaze later in the war. One historian stated that by the end of WWII: 7,465 Kamikazes flew to their deaths; 120 US ships were sunk, with many more damaged 3,048 allied sailors were killed and anther 6,025 wounded Although there may be some question about the exact numbers, the damage done by Kamikazes is almost unbelievable.
The U-boat campaign then became a race between German sinkings of merchant ships and the building of ships, mainly in the United States, to replace them. In April 1917, 430 Allied and neutral ships totaling 852,000 tons were sunk, and it seemed likely that the German gamble would succeed.