Low permeability is one of the main factors restricting shale gas exploitation, and the type and complexity of fractures in rock mass are the key factors restricting permeability. Therefore, strengthening the study of shale damage and failure process is of great significance for improving the efficiency of shale gas exploitation. In view of this, based on the method of combining experiment and numerical simulation, the mesoscopic crack evolution, macroscopic crack fractal, damage evolution process and damage influencing factors of stratified shale under uniaxial load are deeply studied. The results show that the development of micro-cracks showed a trend of "steady rise - basically stable - rapid rise" during the loading of specimens. In terms of the stages of micro-crack development, the development of tensile cracks is the main at 0 degree and 90 degree bedding angles and its proportion is 94.7 and 96, while the development of shear cracks is the main at 30 degree and 60 degree bedding angles and its proportion is 65 and 86.9. The macroscopic failure cracks have obvious fractal characteristics, and the fractal dimensions of macroscopic cracks are 4.25, 3.44, 2.06 and 3.60 at 0 degrees, 30 degrees, 60 degrees and 90 degrees of bedding angles. The law of damage development affected by bedding. The damage is concentrated in the matrix at 0 degree and 90 degree bedding angles and is concentrated in the bedding at 30 degree and 60 degree bedding angles. In addition, the damage affected by the heterogeneity and anisotropy of the rock. For example, with the increase of the variance of the elastic modulus, the homogeneity of the specimen weakened and the damage range under the same load enhanced, while with the increase of the bedding stiffness, the anisotropy of the specimen weakened and the damage range under the same load enhanced.