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From the notebook
Pacific War
The War in the Pacific: How WWII Changed the World Forever - Dr Robert Lyman (link)
- U.S. deeply isolationist
- Japan
- Didn’t need to attack U.S.
- Oil Embargo
- Main issues: They wanted build an Empire by force
- Went to war because they were weak
- Fascist
- Race exceptional thinking
- Militarialistic
- Totalitarian
- Feudal Culture 19th-20th century
- 1941 - Attack Malay Peninsula - Conquered 1942
- Bashido Culture
- Emperor was a pawn to the Military Generals
- Militarist himself - encouraged aspects
- Not enough moral courage to stand up to Generals
- Britain was not focused on Japan
- Focused on North Africa, Iran, Syria
- Caught with pants down
- Objective Burma
- U.S. / Britain Force: Southeast Asia Command
- U.S.: 277,000
- Brits: 100,000
- India produced the largest voluntary military in human history
- 2.5 million (30,000 women)
- Want to fight against Japan
- Not because they were poor or needed food
- British & India stopped Japanese invasion of India (1944) then smashed in Burma
- Africans joined the colonial forces to fight in Burma to fight for their rights
- Atomic Bombs
- West had to win unconditionally, moral war. Fight all the way to the end
- Purpose
- Bring war to an end
- Stop million lives lost in an invasion
- B-29 bombing failed
- Lacking precision
- Area bombing to stop war
- Japanese Emperor wanted to stop war after Hiroshima, but Military Generals started a coup
- Second bomb was dropped because Tokyo didn’t say anything after the first
- Nagasaki
- 40,000 killed were Korean slave laborers
- Japan didn’t surrender because Bushido codes, dishonorable
- Death is the most honorable
- Japanese killed more of their own troops than any other
- Send their troops in to die even if it was useless
- Wouldn’t surrender in battle, suicide or rush attacks
- Western people can’t conceive of this type of mindset