Japan’s Road to War | EP1
Why did Japan enter WW2? How did Japanese expansion in China lead to a deteriorating economy? When did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?
Join Al Murray and James Holland for Part 1 of this new series as they explore the warhawks and shifting geopolitics which brought an un-winnable war to the shores of Japan.
WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk
Listen: linktr.ee/wehaveways
17 Comments
first at the bomb shelter!
Japan stated war with the Chinese before Pearl Harbour
Japan backed into a war they were strategically unprepared for (essentially, their short-term goal was to secure the resources they needed…to fight the war they've just started), but were tactically far superior in the early phase of the war than any of their opponents in the Pacific and East Asia.
Japan's problem was they had no exit strategy of any kind, and fundamentally lacked the ability to regenerate forces in an attritional fight – and proceeded to get themselves involved in an attritional fight with the largest industrial power on the planet. After the IJN had suffered losses to their first-line naval strength by the end of 1942, they simply lacked the ability to assemble and project sufficient force into any of the theaters they considered necessary to consolidate their early conquests. The result was strength being dissipated across the Asian continent and far-flung Pacific bastions that never managed to accomplish any serious strategic benefit, and a near total inability to effectively hinder the Colossus of the American Pacific Fleet's inexorable march across the Pacific to the Home Islands of Japan.
Bracing for when the lads murder Nipponese pronunciation… four, three, two, one…
The Ukraine analogy is a bit wrong. America isn't underwriting the defence of Ukraine. It hasn't been for a while, Europe is underwriting the defence of Ukraine, Trump stopped directly supporting Ukraine a long time ago.
What I've never understood is the attack on Pearl Harbour – totally unnecessary – they could have swept up Indonesia, French Indochina, Singapore, Malaya, Burma and even India without too much bother as we were busy elsewhere. They could have achieved their aims without it.
Brilliant guys look forward to hearing more, fascinating topic especially the lead in to, i guess it was on the cards sadly. Cheers
I'm delighted you're covering this. It's every bit as fascinating as pre-war Germany and Europe but, as you say, rarely covered in-depth in the West. But James, learn how to pronounce Meiji – you're a professional historian for heaven's sake 😅 By the way, you mentioned that the government couldn't control the military, but if I'm not mistaken there's an additional nuance: the Japanese army in China – the Kwantung army – was in some measure a law unto itself, and it would engineer situations that would leave even the military hierarchy in Tokyo in a fix, having to back up actions that it had not authorized and of which it had no warning. Congratulations – a great series!
The Japanese Navy had a destroyer named Kamikaze and a class named after her. Kamikaze survived the war
Japanese racism and China atrocities were widely communicated in print and movie newsreels before Dec 1941. Singpore, et al provided first hand confirmation.
Being woke is a good thing
Could this militarism be traced to the adoption of the Prussian model for the army? The Navy followed Royal Navy influences which tended to be a bit more reasonable.🤔
This is accurate history. WWII didn't start in Poland, it started at Mukden. We're taught Japan became militarist and expansionist in response to American sanctions. Why did America sanction Japan? Their aggression in China, which suffered as bad; or worse; as anyone; the Soviet Union included; in WWII. They were used by the Allies to absorb a large part of Japan's military capability, while fighting themselves.
Aggression, resistance, doubling down on aggression … could only end one way.
What was that movement behind him and door closing 23m 51sec
Good job yet AGAIN!! Looking forward to more 🙂
How much of the pre-game of this can be seen in the First Sino-Japanese War? Japan saw the Western powers to pry open China as a sign of strength. And the US intervention in the Russo-Japanese War peace process, robbing Japan of some its spoils? It feels like this had been building up to the events in 1931.