The outcome of the pacific war was directly related to the ability of the americans to adjust strategy to the realities of the pacific war, a unity of effort directed by the national command authority and superior industrial, technological and logistical. During world war i the japanese secured the german interests in shandong later restored to china and received the germanowned islands in the pacific as mandates. Operation downfall and the invasion of japan, 19451947 the definitive account of the first phase of wwii in the pacific. From then on, the allied forces slowly won back the territories occupied by japan. The 11th air fleet, the mainstay of the navys landbased air force, was pulled out of mainland china to. List of books and articles about japan, postwar period. Japans decision to launch a war against the united states is masterfully recounted in eri hottas japan. This forced the united states to enter a twofront war. On december 11, nazi germany, japans axis ally, declared war on the united states. Its one of the few japanese books to be honest about their actions during the pacific war. What renders the book unusual is that events are described in large part from the japanese point of view. Japan believed it necessary to destroy or neutralize american striking power in the pacificthe u. The war in the pacific, 19411945 chapter 15 the cambridge. For reasons big and small, understandable and unjustified, the war in the pacific during world war ii has largely been overshadowed by the allies war against hitler.
In world war ii, for the first time, the united states had to fight a war on two fronts. Are there any good bookspdfspapers on the japanese empire. War in the pacific world war ii was the most destructive war in history. The memoir shows many efforts of prince konoes efforts for negotiations with chinese and u. While some japanese forces were carrying out the attacks in the. Omar bradley is the only other high ranking army officer in wwii who wrote a better history book about that war.
The turning point in the pacific war was the battle of midway in june 1942. Some of the material is controversial and some is blatantly racist. A critical perspective on japans role in world war ii. Japan, which had been at war with china since 1937, had declared openly its intent to take over as much of eastern asia as it could. In spring 1945, us forces invaded okinawa in one of the war s bloodiest battles. The three episodes illustrate ways that memories of the asia pacific war are politicized in line with resurgent nationalism in japan today. An exceptional account of the people, which was pretty much everyone in japan, engulfed in this horrendous war. They agreed to attack japanese forces in manchuria on august 8, 1945. This 1925 novel inspired japans attack on pearl harbor the. The second world war in china was the single most wrenching event in modern chinese history.
In allied countries during the war, the pacific war was not usually distinguished from world war ii in general, or was known simply as the war against japan. Chinas war with japan and its impact, memory, and legacy, 1931 to the present. Japanese history textbook controversies involve controversial content in one of the governmentapproved history textbooks used in the secondary education junior high schools and high schools of japan. The japanese navy began gradually mobilizing its forces.
I only wish my other books on the wwii aircraft of various nations were this good. It killed more people and destroyed more property than any other war. While the main concentration is on the major naval actions, the book also delves into key island battles, like tarawa, saipan, iwo jima, and okinawa, as well as prewar and postwar. Rejecting recent trends that tend to whitewash or demonize the japanese, this book casts new light on many controversial issues from pearl harbor to hiroshima. Race and power in the pacific war, was published in 1986 and lifted the lid on the astonishingly raw racism that infused american war propaganda. Alaska during the pacific war in december 1941, alaska was a sparsely settled territory of the united states.
The beginning of the pacific war is traditionally dated to december 8, 1941, when the japanese. The oldest relevant books were the pacific war, a chronicle of a future. Yet even then, japans military almost derailed hirohitos decree to end the war. Chiangs resistance to the japanese during the pacific war 194145 forced. Chiangs resistance to the japanese during the pacific war 194145 forced the west to turn a blind eye. Lead aircraft ready to take off of ijn carrier akagi to attack pearl harbor beginning a 6 month chain of japanese victories in the pacific. Roosevelt described it as a date which will live in infamy 7 december 1941, the day the japanese bombed the american naval base at pearl harbor in hawaii. This includes the killing of up to 20 million chinese people. Pacific war the expansion of the japanese perimeter.
The book, which takes into account japanese and asian documents and scholarship in addition to american and european sources, chronicles events in the. Japan at war is a book to which americans and japanese will continue to turn for decades to come. The novel predicted a japanese surprise attack on u. Sep 15, 2011 refighting the pacific war focuses largely on naval battles and campaigns, including pearl harbor, coral sea, midway, guadalcanal, philippine sea and leyte gulf. Japanese and allied pacific strategies to april 1942 annapolis, md naval institute press, 1982, the barrier. The pacific war, also referred to as the asia pacific war was fought during world war ii between the empire of japan, thailand and japanese puppet states on the one side and the united states, britain, australia and other allied states on the other. This is a must have book for any world war ii aficionado. The decline and fall of the japanese empire, 19361945 pulitzer winning book on japan during ww2. Japanese memories of the asiapacific war history news network. You can see the pride the author still has for the japanize people and particularly the zero pilots. Much of the fighting took place in the jungles of southeast asia and on the islands and seas of the pacific ocean. The japanese were guilty of many war crimes during world war ii. The us pursued a twopronged offensive across the central and southwest. With more than 30,000 copies sold to date, this edition.
A critical perspective on japans role in world war ii saburo ienaga ienaga was a teacher who got himself into trouble by telling the truth as he saw it about japans conduct of the war. Strategic bombing of japan increased, both from the asian mainland, and from the pacific side. In the years prior to the outbreak of world war ii in europe, tensions were also escalating in the pacific region. The stories recorded in japan at war provide insight into the confounding complexity of extreme human behavior during the war. Nanasanichi butai, also referred to as detachment 731, the 731 regiment, manshu detachment 731, the kamo detachment. Grand strategy from the meiji restoration to the pacific war japanese grand strategy from the late19th to mid20th centuries. The war against japan us army center of military history.
Large companies survive after complete government defeat. Particularly important, then, is this new historical study o the pacific phase of world war war ii that coers not just the military, but also the political side of the war. Japanesecontrolled areas of china the japanese seized manchuria in 1931 and occupied much of the coast and north china plain by 1941. On february 10, 1942, the japanese occupied gasmata, in western new britain. Congress declared war on japan with only one dissenting vote. His subject was never japan so much as questions of war, race, selfandother, and the perspectives of others as these emerged during the pacific war. They seized lae and salamaua in eastern new guinea on march 8 and made their first landings in the solomons, at buka, five days later. The allied defensive phase of the war in the pacific ended on. Closely linked to the hbo tv series, this sizable book follows the experiences of five us servicemen four marines and a navy aviator during the four years of the pacific war, tracing their experiences from the japanese invasion of the philippines to the preparations for the invasion of japan, through the battles of midway and guadalcanal and. When germany and italy declared war on the united states days later, america found itself in a global war.
Japans defensive perimeter kept shrinking during 1944 and 1945, yet the war dragged on. During his first year of being a prime minister, the china incident happened, and the sinojapanese war raged on. Heres your opportunity to let others know your favorite books on the war that led us from pearl harbor to tokyo bay. San francisco chronicle hereafter no one will be able to think, write, or teach about the pacific war without reference to the cooks work. Aug 19, 2015 japans decision to launch a war against the united states is masterfully recounted in eri hottas japan.
All these books are currently available on in the u. It also had serious ambitions toward taking territory in the soviet union. Millions of soldiers and civilians were killed in these battles. When he found himself out of a job, he wrote this book and got even deeper into trouble.
The conflict is often termed the second sinojapanese war, and known in china as the war of resistance to japan. List of 10 greatest battles of the pacific war history lists. World war ii in the pacific the holocaust encyclopedia. The battles for iwo jima and okinawa were as bloody and horrific as any others during the pacific war. The pacific strategy, 19411944 the national wwii museum. In many of these cases, war memory has become a political position that one must take, polarized between two options. In 1915, japan presented the twentyone demands designed to reduce china to a protectorate. This epic yet accessible account sets a new gold standard for histories of the conflict. In the united states, the term pacific theater was widely used, although this was a misnomer in relation to the allied campaign in burma, the war in china and other activities within. The war against japan war in the pacific nzhistory, new. Though the central strategic principle governing allocation of resources to the two fronts provided for concentrating first on the defeat of the european axis, on the american side this principle was liberally interpreted, permitting conduct of an offensive. Jan 16, 2001 the many factors that led to japans participation in world war ii, and the horrifying battles that resulted, come into focus in japans war. The definitive onevolume history of world war ii in the pacific theater, the pacific war was the first book to weave together the separate stories of the fighting in china, malaya, burma, the east indies, the philippines, new guinea, the solomon islands, and the aleutians. The other world powers opposed those items that would have given japan policy control in chinese affairs, but china accepted the rest of the demands.
Some images will be upsetting, but this is all being presented as a historical examination of war and american attitudes towards the japanese during world war ii. The book, which takes into account japanese and asian documents and scholarship in addition to american and european sources, chronicles events in the pacific from 1853 to 1951. A personal recollection of the pacific war written in 1949 by the commander of the fifth army airforce. War in the pacific page 2 the war against japan united states president franklin d. This book is an interesting view of the war in the pacific, the superiority of the japanize zero in the early stages of the war, built by mitsubishi and still an industrial leader in japan. The controversies primarily concern the japanese nationalist efforts to whitewash the actions of the empire of japan during world war ii another serious issue is the constitutionality of the. The soviet union had been at peace with japan during much of world war ii. The book seeks out the true feelings of the wartime generation and illuminates the contradictions between the official views of the war and living testimony yomiuri shimbun, japan. The population of 72,000roughly divided between native innuit peoples and europeanamericanswas concentrated in coastal towns, such as anchorage, juneau and ketchikan, though fairbanks was a sizeable city deep in the interior. Most people are quite familiar with the basic parties, dates, and events of wwii in the pacific theater but these amazing, and at times heartwrenching, firstperson narratives give much clearer glimpses and interesting perspectives by the japanese themselves into what it really felt. Japan s decision to launch a war against the united states is masterfully recounted in eri hottas japan. This section will deal with aspects of world war ii as it relates to japan. A book s total score is based on multiple factors, including. Institute for the study of war and on december 7, 1941, japan staged a surprise attack on pearl harbor, severely damaging the us pacific fleet.