Japanese Military Strategy in the Pacific War - Was Defeat Inevitable?

In this provocative history, James B. Wood challenges the received wisdom that Japan's defeat in the Pacific was historically inevitable. He argues instead that it was only when the Japanese military abandoned its original strategic plan to secure resources and establish a viable defensible perimeter that the Allies were able to regain the initiative and lock Japanese forces into a war of attrition they were not prepared to fight. The book persuasively shows how the Japanese army and navy had both the opportunity and the capability to have fought a different and more successful war. If Japan had traveled that alternate military road the outcome of the Pacific War could have been far different from the ending we know so well-and, perhaps a little too complacently, accept.

List of contents

Introduction: Pacific War Redux
Chapter 1: Going to War
Chapter 2: Losing the War
Chapter 3: Winning the War
Chapter 4: Missing Ships
Chapter 5: Sunk!
Chapter 6: A Fleet-in-Being
Chapter 7: The Battle for the Skies
Chapter 8: The Army in the Pacific
Conclusion: The Road Not Taken

About the author

James B. Wood is Charles Keller Professor of History at Williams College.

Summary

Challenges the wisdom that Japan's defeat in the Pacific was historically inevitable. This book shows how the Japanese army and navy had both the opportunity and the capability to have fought a different and more successful war.

Product details

• Authors: James B Wood, James B. Wood, Wood James B.
• Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 02.08.2007
• EAN: 9780742553392
• ISBN: 978-0-7425-5339-2
• No. of pages: 152
• Dimensions: 159 mm x 235 mm x 19 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Japan, HISTORY / Military / General, HISTORY / Asia / Japan, Second World War, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), Asian History, Battles & campaigns, Modern warfare, c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), Battles and campaigns, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General, asian studies;japan studies