The Pacific War Clash of Empires in World War II

by Ford, Douglas

• ISBN13: 9781847252371
• ISBN10: 1847252370
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-02-23
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Drawing on recently released documents in US and British archives, Douglas Ford explores why the belligerents in the Pacific war fought the way that they did. The book focuses not only on the battlefield level, but also provides a perspective from the military high command, government, and non-combatant citizens. How did Japan emerge as a Great Power following the breakdown of the Washington Treaty system of 1921-22? What factors propelled Japan's aggressive expansion on the Asian continent during the 1930s? After Pearl Harbor, Japan rapidly conquered Southeast Asia and the western Pacific but the tide of the war shifted in the Allies' favour at Midway and Guadalcanal. The book concludes with the reasons why the Pacific War ended with Japan's unconditional surrender, and the consequences of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Table of Contents

List of Maps	p. vi
Abbreviations	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Japan Emerges as a Great Power, c. 1860-1930	p. 11
Prelude to the Pacific War: the China Question, 1931-40	p. 23
The Road to Pearl Harbor, 1940-41	p. 36
Japan Triumphant, December 1941 to Spring 1942	p. 51
The Allies Turn the Tide, June 1942 to January 1943	p. 68
The Dynamics of War: Strategy and Operations	p. 83
Tactics and Technology	p. 101
Morale and Combat Motivation	p. 118
The Intelligence War	p. 134
Economies at War	p. 148
A War of Coalitions	p. 163
War and the Home Fronts	p. 179
The Endgame, Autumn 1944 to Summer 1945	p. 196
The Atomic Bomb and the End of the Pacific War	p. 213
Conclusion	p. 230
Notes	p. 243
Bibliography	p. 264
Index	p. 277
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