By Michael W. Myers
Concerning the Allies' victory within the Pacific in WWII, it is going virtually with out query that Japan's defeat was once inevitable within the face of overwhelming American army may possibly and financial strength. however the end result, Michael W. Myers contends, was once truly something yet inevitable. This e-book is Myers's thorough and deeply proficient rationalization of the way contingent the "foregone conclusion" of the warfare within the Pacific particularly used to be.
However disproportionate their respective assets, either Japan and the Allied forces faced major stumbling blocks to final victory. One the 2 facets shared, Myers indicates, was once the shortcoming of a unmarried person with the information, imaginative and prescient, and authority to formulate and enforce powerful process. either exercised management by means of committee, and Myers cogently explains how this contributed to the contingent nature of the clash. A awesome workout in logical equipment of strategic considering, his e-book analyzes decisive campaigns within the Pacific battle, analyzing the industrial and strategic demanding situations that each side confronted and needed to triumph over to accomplish victory. Japan, for example, had targets going into the battle: to extend the limits of what they termed the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" and to finish their lengthy and problematical battle in China. those ambitions, as Myers indicates us, had unexpected and devastating logistical and strategic results. however the usa confronted related problems--as good as different hurdles particular to a state now not but on complete battle footing.
Overturning traditional historiography, The Pacific struggle and Contingent Victory clarifies the correct courting among freedom and determinism in historic pondering. A compelling retelling of the Pacific warfare that will simply were, the ebook bargains historic classes in considering modern American overseas coverage and American exceptionalism--most saliently concerning the risks of the presumption of yankee ascendancy.
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Additional resources for The Pacific War and Contingent Victory: Why Japanese Defeat Was Not Inevitable (Modern War Studies)
Example text
They chose other bases in more hospitable climes, but the Aleutians remained of potential strategic importance for much of the war. The Japanese occupied two of the islands, Attu and Kiska, as an adjunct to their Midway operation. The Japanese thus faced a number of complex possibilities at the end of Stage One operations. The War History Series explains these possibilities in terms of the choices that the Japanese war leadership faced. The difficult decisions were made in a spirit of detachment and consensus, although decisive leadership from the top was lacking.
The story of the war of attrition in the air is a complex tale of the interplay of men, machines, doctrines, and tactics. The Allies had an advantage from the beginning in their machines in the form of robust medium and heavy bombers, and later in their fighters as well. The Japanese used their Mitsubishi G4M Type 1 “Betty” land-based attack planes in roles similar to the Allied B-26 and B-25 medium bombers, and their Kawanishi H6K Type 97 “Mavis” flying boats like the Allied B-17 and B24 heavy bombers.
Evidence for Yamamoto’s offensive plan may be found in the various compromises that form the historical picture of the war as it unfolded. These include the Pearl Harbor air strike, the Midway operation, and the plans to invade Oahu and other key objectives in the Hawaiian Islands. The key to understanding the strategic plan is to acknowledge that Yamamoto recognized that the United States was the most dangerous enemy that Japan faced at the end of 1941, and that he understood that the best way to come to terms with the United States in all its real and potential force at that time was by negotiating an end to the war through a position of relative strength.