Imperial Japanese Army Responsible For Ww2 Essay

Japan during the 1940’s was a nation that prided itself on the concept of never surrendering. It was something that they took fierce and obsessive pride in. Their culture dictated that they are never to give up, even if they fought until every single man,woman, and child living in Japan was slaughtered, they would never surrender. This doctrine was one of the key deciding factors that influenced Truman in making the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Several weeks before the Atomic bomb was dropped, The Untied States of Military issued a warning to the Japanese government. “It warned the Japanese to surrender immediately or face ‘prompt and utter destruction.” (Yes! Harry Truman’s Simple Decision) Unfortunately, a mere two weeks before the first atomic bomb dropped, the Japanese prime minister publically dismissed the warning and refused to surrender. Even after the bombing of Hiroshima, the Japanese government refused to stand down. Even though they had suffered over 225,000 civilian casualties in the attack, the Japanese military refused to surrender. It took until the second bombing of Nagasaki to finally force the Japanese to surrender on American

Japan was a very nationalistic country in which the purpose of the civilians was to fight until death for their emperor. This was evident in the fact that they had practiced an extremely nationalistic concept of Bushido. This concept made surrender unacceptable for all Japanese people and they lived to die for the emperor. There nationalism was fueled by the fact that they won 2 large battles (Sino Japanese War and Russo Japanese war) against larger countries. Along with this, the Japanese also had Kamikaze pilots who suicide by deliberately crashing planes into American warship as a tactic of fighting. This extreme nationalism shows that they could not be fought with regular weapons and so posed a threat for the whole world.

They were taught that they were the supreme beings and everyone is beneath them as shown in their actions. There have been multiple accounts of soldiers witnessing the cruel brutality of the Japanese soldiers. Their belief that they are superior was supported by a Japanese Citizen asked about why they believe that Japan will win the war, “Japan has never lost a war. She cannot be beaten. All of Japan is one mind” (Doc B[2]). This statement confirms that Japan was sure of herself. This signifies the strong and deep belief that the citizens hold of

The us armies are foolish to believe that Japan have not surrendered yet and is their fault they have caused millions of death. After the military analysts insists that Japan is on its knees because they are weak, they claim that the “American ….

The reasons for the Japanese behaving as they did were complex. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) indoctrinated its soldiers

In order to understand the Japanese and their methods we must first research into why they went to war. The attack on Pearl Harbor had been a surprise, but the two countries had been edging towards ar for years. The U.S. and Japan had been bickering and fighting for decades and it was inevitable that things would eventually turn into a war. Japan had many imperial ambitions to expand to China to solve it’s demographic and economical problems, and to be in charge of the Chinese import market (Heinemann 14). In nineteen thirty seven, Japan had decided to declare war on China.

According to the General, who was also the Commander of the American Air Force at the time, Japan was already on the brink of economic collapse. He writes, ¨Our B29s had destroyed most of the Japanese industries and, with the laying of mines, which prevented the arrival of incoming cargoes of critical items, had made it impossible for Japan to carry on a large scale war.¨ (Document B). It had become increasingly unfeasible for Japan to launch offensive attacks and defend themselves for much longer, because they were out of resources and money. The tactics the army was using were working, and it wasn´t going to be much longer until the economy of Japan collapsed. This would have forced Emperor Hirohito to surrender, because his country would be unable to fight the war given their economic

This needless division of their fleets held major repercussions in the future because when the Mobile force was surprised by American Task force 16 and 17, the main force could not support the mobile force due to the large distance between them. The other main contributor to the Japanese loss at the battle of midway was the fact that the American Fleet caught the Japanese fleet off guard and surprised them thanks to breaking their code. In May of 1942 a group of code breakers who worked for the Navy’s office of Intelligence learned that the Japanese were planning an invasion of the atoll of Midway. Because of this information, Task force 16 and 17 were able to get into position to surprise the Japanese fleet while they were trying to attack the atoll of midway. Due to these issues with their code being cracked by Naval intelligence and their unconventional organization of their fleet, the Japanese suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Midway. The “Chapter 5: The Battle of Midway, The Campaigns of the Pacific War: United States Strategic Bombing Survey

In May of 1942, Japanese Admiral Isorosku Yamamoto devised a plan to draw the US Pacific fleet into battle where he could completely destroy it. To accomplish this master plan of his, he sought out the invasion of Midway Island which would provide a base for the Japan troops to attack Hawaii. Unfortunately for Yamamoto, America decrypted Japanese radio transmissions and Admiral Chester Nimitz was able to establish a counter attack against this offensive. Nimitz sent three aircraft carriers, The USS Enterprise, The USS Hornet and The USS Yorktown to destroy the Japanese. This is just a short overview of The Battle of Midway, or as commonly referred to as, the battle that changed the war. People argue that it had no affect on the war, but

Their militaristic attitude came from their sense of duty. Their duty to the Emperor and the on they wear that made it necessary to fight for their country and the rightful order of society. This duty is what made their transition from militaristic to peaceful so seamless and shocking to the United States. Benedict stated, “As many prisoners said, the Japanese ‘will fight unhesitatingly, even with nothing more than bamboo poles, if the Emperor so decrees. They would stop just as quickly if he so decreed’; ‘Japan would throw down arms tomorrow if the Emperor should issue such an order’” (Benedict, 1946:33). While the U.S. will fight for their country, it does not go as deeply to their very being and the way they are raised the way the Japanese do. From the beginning their people are raised in their hierarchal society, knowing their place and understanding the importance of the on that they must wear for their family, the emperor, friends, and everyone in their

By the beginning of September 1944, Japan was almost completely defeated through a practically complete sea and air blockade. The Japanese military was still not willing to surrender. “If the decision could have been made by Japan's civilian leaders or even the Japanese people, the war probably would have come quickly to an end, but unfortunately the decision was not theirs. It lay in the hands of the military, and particularly in the hands of army leaders. “By this time the Japanese Navy had virtually ceased to exist, almost all its ships having become either unserviceable or having been sunk. Leaders of the Japanese army and the Emperor had decided to fight on, whatever the cost, and

Hideki Tojo was born on December 30, 1884 in Tokyo, Japan. His fathers name was Hidenori Tojo, a Samurai that turned into an Army officer. His Mom was the daughter of a Buddhist priest. They were very poor. Tojo was raised to be a soldier. When he was little a message was drilled into his head (and the other boys at the school with him) that war was beautiful and that the Japanese emperor was an actual living god, so it would be an honor to die for him. Japanese girls were taught that it was an honor to have a lot of sons so that they could die in the war for the Emperor. When Tojo was young he was very stubborn, He was not nice and he loved to get into fights and he always got what he wanted. He was not very smart, but people were infatuated with his ability to work very hard. Tojo always said, "I am just an ordinary guy with no shunting talents. Anything I have achieved I owe to my capacity for hard work and never giving up." Browne, P. 20. At 15 years old, Tojo entered into the Army Cadet School. He graduated from the Japanese Military Academy, he was ranked 10th best cadet out of 363. Later in March he was ordered to be the second lieutenant in the infantry of the Imperial Japanese Army. He was very angry when Japan made the Treaty of Portsmouth, that ended the war with Russia. He

Yamamoto’s planning had some faults after the Pearl Harbor attack and he lost 4 crucial carriers including his old command ship the Akagi. The Japanese were still facing a very dangerous enemy. The Japanese thought less of the American Navy and Air Force and underestimated them. Yamamoto made some terrible mistakes during the war with the United States. He was unwilling to let the Japanese use their big guns against the US force, it cost him a defeat because it was already too late when he gave the order to use the big guns. He was killed while being flown to inspect US bases by US aircraft.

The Russo-Japanese war boosted Japanese moral and nationalism across Asia. The Japanese Military’s nationalism greatly increased(History Extra) with each victory. For the first time in modern history, an Asian country defeated Europeans. This Highly contrasted with prior European Asian conflicts. Prior to Japan’s victories over Russia, China had its military completely destroyed during the Opium Wars, which lasted 1839-1842, and 1856-1860(World History Patterns of Interaction). By beating the mighty Russians on fair terms, nationalism among the Japanese military skyrocketed. During the Russo-Japanese war, Japan also established the “Dai Nippon Teikoku” - Japanese Empire(Britannica). Since the Military was deeply integrated into politics(Krabs, Gerhard), this furthered Nationalism among both the Army and Navy. By becoming an Empire, Japan was now exhibiting influence over other territories. In the case of the Russo-Japan War, Japan extended its influence to

The Second Sino-Japanese war began on July 7th, 1937 and ended on September 9th, 1945. It was a military conflict which was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. As part of the struggle against fascism, Japan invaded China. It is clear that, due to the restriction of its natural resources, Japan tried to increase by robbing resources from other countries. Japan used the conquered Manchuria as a launching base for their troops. Manchuria was an enormous region that consisted of three provinces- Liaoning in the south, Jilin in the middle and Heilongjiang in the north. In 1905, when Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese war, Russia, which used Manchuria for business and