Imperial Japan's World War Two
Imperial Japan's World War Two

Author: Werner Gruhl

Publisher: Transaction Publishers

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9780765803528

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The full extent and brutality of imperial Japans actions before and during the Second World War has not had the same cultural and political resonances as those of Nazi Germany, nor are they as well remembered. Werner Gruhls objective is to present a fresh overview of the Asian-Pacific War and its victims, drawing particular attention to the neglected history of Japans invasion of China and Southeast Asia. Gruhl seeks to show that the war in Asia and the Pacific is as much about Shanghai, Nanking, and Manila as about Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Hiroshima. Gruhls narrative makes clear why Japans World War II aggression still touches deep emotions with East Asians and Western ex-prisoners of war, and why there is justifiable sensitivity to the way modern Japan has dealt with this legacy. Knowledge of the enormity of Japans total war is also necessary to assess the United States and her allies policies toward Japan, and their reactions to its actions, extending from Manchuria in 1931 to Hiroshima in 1945. Gruhl takes the view that World War II started in 1931 when Japan, crowded and poor in raw materials but with a sense of military invincibility, saw empire as her salvation and invaded China. Japans imperial regime had volatile ambitions but limited resources, thus encouraging them to unleash a particularly brutal offensive against the peoples of Asia and surrounding ocean islands. Their 1931 to 1945 invasions and policies further added to Asias pre-war woes, particularly in China, by badly disrupting marginal economies, leading to famines and epidemics.Altogether, the victims of Japans World War Two aggression took many forms and were massive in number. Gruhl offers a survey and synthesisof the historical literature and documentation, statistical data, as well as personal interviews and first-hand accounts to provide a comprehensive overview analysis. The sequence of diplomatic and military events leading to Pearl Harbor, as well as those leading to the U.S. decision to drop the atom bomb, are explored here as well as Japans war crimes and postwar revisionist/apologist views regarding them. This book will be of intense interest to Asian specialists, and those concerned with human rights issues in a historical context.

The Pacific War, 1931-1945
The Pacific War, 1931-1945

Author: Saburo Ienaga

Publisher: Pantheon

Published: 2010-06-16

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 0307756092

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A portrayal of how and why Japan waged war from 1931-1945 and what life was like for the Japanese people in a society engaged in total war.

Japan's Imperial Army
Japan's Imperial Army

Author: Edward J. Drea

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 2016-05-03

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 0700622349

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Popular impressions of the imperial Japanese army still promote images of suicidal banzai charges and fanatical leaders blindly devoted to their emperor. Edward Drea looks well past those stereotypes to unfold the more complex story of how that army came to power and extended its influence at home and abroad to become one of the world's dominant fighting forces. This first comprehensive English-language history of the Japanese army traces its origins, evolution, and impact as an engine of the country's regional and global ambitions and as a catalyst for the militarization of the Japanese homeland from mid-nineteenth-century incursions through the end of World War II. Demonstrating his mastery of Japanese-language sources, Drea explains how the Japanese style of warfare, burnished by samurai legends, shaped the army, narrowed its options, influenced its decisions, and made it the institution that conquered most of Asia. He also tells how the army's intellectual foundations shifted as it reinvented itself to fulfill the changing imperatives of Japanese society-and how the army in turn decisively shaped the nation's political, social, cultural, and strategic course. Drea recounts how Japan devoted an inordinate amount of its treasury toward modernizing, professionalizing, and training its army-which grew larger, more powerful, and politically more influential with each passing decade. Along the way, it produced an efficient military schooling system, a well-organized active duty and reserve force, a professional officer corps that thought in terms of regional threat, and well-trained soldiers armed with appropriate weapons. Encompassing doctrine, strategy, weaponry, and civil-military relations, Drea's expert study also captures the dominant personalities who shaped the imperial army, from Yamagata Aritomo, an incisive geopolitical strategist, to Anami Korechika, who exhorted the troops to fight to the death during the final days of World War II. Summing up, Drea also suggests that an army that places itself above its nation's interests is doomed to failure.

Blood and Ruins
Blood and Ruins

Author: Richard Overy

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2023-04-04

Total Pages: 1041

ISBN-13: 0143132938

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“Monumental… [A] vast and detailed study that is surely the finest single-volume history of World War II. Richard Overy has given us a powerful reminder of the horror of war and the threat posed by dictators with dreams of empire.” – The Wall Street Journal A thought-provoking and original reassessment of World War II, from Britain’s leading military historian A New York Times bestseller Richard Overy sets out in Blood and Ruins to recast the way in which we view the Second World War and its origins and aftermath. As one of Britain’s most decorated and respected World War II historians, he argues that this was the “last imperial war,” with almost a century-long lead-up of global imperial expansion, which reached its peak in the territorial ambitions of Italy, Germany and Japan in the 1930s and early 1940s, before descending into the largest and costliest war in human history and the end, after 1945, of all territorial empires. Overy also argues for a more global perspective on the war, one that looks broader than the typical focus on military conflict between the Allied and Axis states. Above all, Overy explains the bitter cost for those involved in fighting, and the exceptional level of crime and atrocity that marked the war and its protracted aftermath—which extended far beyond 1945. Blood and Ruins is a masterpiece, a new and definitive look at the ultimate struggle over the future of the global order, which will compel us to view the war in novel and unfamiliar ways. Thought-provoking, original and challenging, Blood and Ruins sets out to understand the war anew.

Sweden, Japan, and the Long Second World War
Sweden, Japan, and the Long Second World War

Author: Pascal Lottaz

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-07-13

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1000402290

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We thank Ekman & Co AB and Gadelius Holding Ltd for their kind and generous support, making this research available online for free. Lottaz and Ottosson explore the intricate relationship between neutral Sweden and Imperial Japan during the latter’s 15 years of warfare in Asia and in the Pacific. While Sweden’s relationship with European Axis powers took place under the premise of existential security concerns, the case of Japan was altogether different. Japan never was a threat to Sweden, militarily or economically. Nevertheless, Stockholm maintained a close relationship with Tokyo until Japan’s surrender in 1945. This book explores the reasons for that and therefore provides a study on the rationale and the value of neutrality in the Long Second World War. Sweden, Japan, and the Long Second World War is a valuable resource for scholars of the Second World War and of the history of neutrality.

Imperial Japan's World War Two
Imperial Japan's World War Two

Author: Werner Gruhl

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-12

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1351513249

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Gruhl's narrative makes clear why Japan's World War II aggression still touches deep emotions with East Asians and Western ex-prisoners of war, and why there is justifiable sensitivity to the way modern Japan has dealt with this legacy. Knowledge of the enormity of Japan's total war is also necessary to assess the United States' and her allies' policies toward Japan, and their reactions to its actions, extending from Manchuria in 1931 to Hiroshima in 1945. Gruhl takes the view that World War II started in 1931 when Japan, crowded and poor in raw materials but with a sense of military invincibility, saw empire as her salvation and invaded China. Japan's imperial regime had volatile ambitions but limited resources, thus encouraging them to unleash a particularly brutal offensive against the peoples of Asia and surrounding ocean islands. Their 1931 to 1945 invasions and policies further added to Asia's pre-war woes, particularly in China, by badly disrupting marginal economies, leading to famines and epidemics. Altogether, the victims of Japan's World War Two aggression took many forms and were massive in number. Gruhl offers a survey and synthesis of the historical literature and documentation, statistical data, as well as personal interviews and first-hand accounts to provide a comprehensive overview analysis. The sequence of diplomatic and military events leading to Pearl Harbor, as well as those leading to the U.S. decision to drop the atom bomb, are explored here as well as Japan's war crimes and postwar revisionist/apologist views regarding them. This book will be of intense interest to Asian specialists, and those concerned with human rights issues in a historical context.

Uniforms and Equipment of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II
Uniforms and Equipment of the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II

Author: Mike Hewitt

Publisher: Schiffer Publishing

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9780764316807

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Among the major powers of World War II, the uniforms and equipment of the Japanese army have received the least coverage. This new, detailed volume presents the subject with a superb collection of actual vintage items, and rarely seen World War II era photographs. Among the subjects covered are: the Imperial Japanese army uniform series; undergarments; footwear; headwear; personal field equipment; extreme climate uniforms; work and specialty uniforms; soldier's personal items; and firearms. A short chapter examines reproductions.

Japanese Army Air Force Units and Their Aces, 1931–1945
Japanese Army Air Force Units and Their Aces, 1931–1945

Author: Ikuhiko Hata

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2009-04-21

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 1909166286

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An extensive guide to Japan’s Army Air Force Units and their ace pilots during conflicts in the 1930s and ‘40s, now in English. Commencing with a detailed study of the development, equipment, and operations flown by this force since its inception immediately after the end of World War I, until the catastrophic conclusion of World War II, the initial section deals with the wars in China and Manchuria, as well as the Pacific War of 1941-1945. The second section explores the history of each unit, listing the types of aircraft used, the bases from which they flew, and the unit and formation commanders. Notable mission details are also included. Finally, the third section offers biographical notes for notable fighter pilots and features supporting listings and a glossary of Japanese terms. Photographs of pilots and aircraft are also included, along with line drawings indicating the unit markings carried. This revised edition is a companion volume to Japanese Naval Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces, 1932–1945.

A Concise History of Japan
A Concise History of Japan

Author: Brett L. Walker

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-02-26

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 1316239691

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To this day, Japan's modern ascendancy challenges many assumptions about world history, particularly theories regarding the rise of the west and why the modern world looks the way it does. In this engaging new history, Brett L. Walker tackles key themes regarding Japan's relationships with its minorities, state and economic development, and the uses of science and medicine. The book begins by tracing the country's early history through archaeological remains, before proceeding to explore life in the imperial court, the rise of the samurai, civil conflict, encounters with Europe, and the advent of modernity and empire. Integrating the pageantry of a unique nation's history with today's environmental concerns, Walker's vibrant and accessible new narrative then follows Japan's ascension from the ashes of World War II into the thriving nation of today. It is a history for our times, posing important questions regarding how we should situate a nation's history in an age of environmental and climatological uncertainties.

The Japanese Army 1931–45 (1)
The Japanese Army 1931–45 (1)

Author: Philip Jowett

Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Published: 2002-01-25

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781841763538

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During Japan's devastating Pacific offensive of the 1941-42 period of World War II, the Allies paid a high price for their failure to take seriously an army which had already been fighting in Manchuria and China for ten years. That army was a unique blend of the ancient and the modern and its up-to-date equipment and resourceful tactics served an almost medieval code of unquestioning obedience and ruthless aggression. This first of two titles covers the organisation, equipment, uniforms and character of Japanese ground forces in the Chinese and early Pacific campaigns, illustrated with insignia charts, many rare photographs, and eight meticulous uniform plates.