The Imperial Japanese army was responsible for their own downfall in WWII, as they were too egotistical, putting pride before logical and effective decisions, started making fatal mistakes and planning failures, and made game-changing decisions that ultimately caused great defeat for the Imperial Japanese army. The Imperial Japanese army was responsible for their own downfall in WWII as they made fatal decisions. First, the Japanese army neglected to routinely change their codes. American code breakers quickly broke the Japanese code and were able to anticipate almost all Japanese moves, resulting in many victories for the Allies, such as the Battle of Midway and the assassination of Admiral Isoruku Tammamoto, and consequently great defeat for Japan. Elliot Carlson, a journalist and historian states in an NPR interview, “That victory was possible, in large part, because of the work of a little-known naval codebreaker named Joe Rochefort,” “His work deciphering …show more content…
To begin, they decided to go to war with two of the most powerful industrial and naval forces, the US and Britain, during Japan’s attempted Occupation of Indochina (now Indonesia) from the 22nd to the 26th of September 1940, even though they knew it was impossible to win. All because it was either that or surrender, and they thought that would make them look weak. That, and during all of their battles, they would fight to the death even though they knew they had no chance of winning. They would much rather commit suicide than surrender, as dictated by the “Bushido” code, or the “Way of the Warrior” or Samurai. According to Bushido, it was “preferable to commit suicide rather than suffer the disgrace of being captured by the enemy.” [3]. Putting pride before ethical, logical and effective decisions by the Imperial Japanese Army caused their own downfall in
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
The reasons for the Japanese behaving as they did were complex. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) indoctrinated its soldiers
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 ….
A common characteristic of people that tends to show up in many literary works is the overwhelming sense of pride in oneself. Having pride can either lead to positive or negative effects depending on how careful it is used. For example, pride can be a benefit for someone when it involves what they do for a living because it can lead to success and happiness for that person in their particular field; however, pride can also lead to arrogance, stubbornness and, worst of all, the lust for revenge. If pride is not controlled correctly, it can potentially lead to erratic behavior. This is best exemplified in Edgar Allan Poe’s work, “The Cask of Amontillado,” which focuses on the main character, Montresor, who feels as though he should be avenged for Fortunado’s hurtful words towards Montresor. Montresor’s intense pride in himself causes him to plot the destruction of his acquaintance, while Fortunado tries his best to deny Montresor the satisfaction of his attempt at revenge. Not only does Montresor’s pride drive him to do something that he will live with for the rest of his life, but Fortunado’s own pride results in his own demise. Poe seems to be illustrating the point that pride of one’s name can lead to deceptiveness in order to get vengeance; however, the outcome can potentially lead to self-destruction.
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
Of the many conversations pertaining to the United States on a global scale, the presumed superpower has found itself as the center of a myriad of debates concerning its probable demise as a hegemon. Many experts conclude that this decline is a result of threats imposed by emerging powers like Russia and China. I argue that the internal issues of polarization and trust in the government are potentially paving the path of slow decline for the United States on an international level. As this paper aims to support my argument, the first portion will describe the U.S.’s rising political gap, as well as its correlation to the American public’s low level of confidence in the federal government’s performance. The second section of this
The biggest decision that I have had to make this year was to take on coordination of our annual school Student Leadership Society event, Swoosh for Change, a charity basketball game between teachers and students that brings the whole community together. In addition to the game, there are also performances by local high school bands and elementary school children. Coordinating Swoosh for Change is one of the largest decisions I have made in the past year due to the high level of commitment and leadership skills required. As a three sport athlete and competitive student, I was initially hesitant to take on the responsibility; however, doing so improved my time management skills, connected me with a great network and team, and most importantly,
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