Japan's War: The Great Pacific Conflict, 1853 to 1952

Hoyt's book takes in the entirety of Japan's national grand strategy from the time of Japan's 'opening' by the Americans in 1853, to its destruction by the Americans in 1945. Along the way we are treated to a look at Japan's world view, her national leaders for good or mostly for ill, her overall aims, frustrations, crimes and seemingly inevitable immolation and downfall. Hoyt uses as the basis of his narrative Japan's own declassified 101 volume history of the war, and what we thus have is a departure from the standard Pacific War history as told from the point of view of the United States and her allies. For the most part, it succeeds in bringing a valuable, though by no means flawless, perspective to the subject. Examining the arc of Japan's development, empire building and destruction does not mean Hoyt is an apologist for Japan's militarist dictatorship; quite the opposite. Hoyt examines in detail the infighting between leading cliques in Japan's government, the role of the Emperor as it waxes and wanes, the connivance of the press and military public relations in spreading lies, disinformation, shamelessly inaccurate propaganda, and radicalizes the youth and people of the nation; the rogue elements of the army as it plunges the nation into foreign adventures the government itself ruled out, ultimately culminating in the China Incident which in the minds of Japan's rulers forced the logic of so much else; and the rationale behind their cynical plans for the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japan's various hideous war crimes are touched on often, apparently in insufficient detail for some of the reviewers here, but they are there; so, uncomfortably, are some of the actions perpetrated against the Japanese by the Allies, which in the eyes of the Japanese would certainly also be considered war crimes, such as the deliberate policy of mass murder of civilians in the fire bombing of Japanese cities. The vengeful victor's justice of the war crimes trial in Tokyo forms somewhat of an afterword to the book. The book's writing is fluid, straight forward, journalistic in nature. Hoyt can be scathing and sarcastic and sometimes arch in covering the actions and motivations of the Japanese leadership as it lurches seemingly unconcerned towards catastrophe; his characterizations of people like Tojo ("stupid") are, shall we say, blunt. It is not true that he somehow is unbalanced in favor of Japan's side, but it IS true that he is unsparing of feelings when he examines Americans such as General LeMay, or what might be seen as inadequate foresight by Roosevelt's foreign policy team. Hoyt is trying to give a balanced view, but again, the book focuses on the view from Tokyo, not from Washington. This is not the only book the reader should pick up for a good one-volume treatment of the Pacific Theater. However, it is somewhat unusual in its point of view, reads quickly, and gives the reader an appreciation (though certainly no endorsement)

Quite apart from the history of the war from Japan's viewpoint, this book gives one of the most lucid thumbnail histories of Japan you will find anywhere. It also clearly shows that although we in the West frequently confuse the ethos of bushido with those of chivalry, they were very different. One of the reviews here mentions the "unsophisticated" style of writing. I don't like that description but I'm not sure I can think of a better one. It struck me as the exuberant writing of a really good high school report--which sounds derogatory but in fact works very, very well here and makes it a pleasant read that draws you on easily. Some of the other criticisms in the reviews I think may be due more to typesetting and proofing than to mistakes by the author. (The aircraft mislabeled is in fact not a Betty at all but due to the twin tail surfaces I believe to be a Nell.) My only criticism of the book would be the illustrations which frequently add nothing to the text. I get the impression they were assembled by someone who hadn't really read the book. The space given to illustrations of Americans is totally wasted. Does anyone who would be reading this book need a picture of Bull Halsey? The fact that there are no substantive criticisms of the book's content in these reviews indicates its excellence. *Chapter Four

Being fascinated by the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, among other war crimes perpetrated on Axis civilians by the Allies in World War II, I read Edwin P. Hoyt's "Japan's War" in order to get the broad context on these crimes by learning about the deep history of the Pacific War and Japan's own war crimes during World War II. Hoyt met my first expectation : not only is the second part of "Japan's War" a thorough military and diplomatic history of the Pacific War, its first part is also an in-depth analysis of the long historical build-up to Dec 7, 1941. For if Pearl Harbour is where the Pacific War began for the average American, the famous surprise attack is only launched on page 222 of the book, almost exactly halfway through. This means that readers unfamiliar with the chain of events leading to the American entry into the war will learn a lot, as Hoyt documents not only the so-called "China incident", which served as Japan's rationalization for all its further aggressions in the Pacific, but the whole mindset of the Japanese, the phrases they used as a substitute for nuanced political thought, their military traditions, their transfers of Western technology, their racism, and the incredible insubordination of local troops in China, which dragged the whole country to its doom. As for Japan's war crimes, the book is much more succinct on that count, even though the cover claims it "sheds new light on ... the rape of Hong Kong, the Bataan Death March, and the murder camps of the East Indies." Actually, as far as those events are concerned, Hoyt is usually satisfied with a two-page treatment at best, and focuses on getting the statistics right rather than giving vibrant eyewitness accounts of the persecutions and massacres. On the Rape of Nanking, for instance, you will learn that the city "was looted, the women were raped and murdered, and children were shot and bayoneted if they annoyed the Japanese", and that the figure of 200,000 victims is probably accurate. Add a more visual, one-paragraph account of how a group of five hundred Chinese were mowed down with machine guns in front of the city wall, and you have Hoyt's whole treatment of the subject. I was also curious about America's other war crimes beside the two atomic bombings, which have tended to eclipse the even more devastating casualty figures of the more traditional bombing campaigns. Hoyt is almost as statistical about these too. He tells us that "the B-29 firebombing campaign... brought the destruction of 3,100,000 homes, leaving fifteen million people homeless, and killing about a million of them" (p420.) These are quite impressive numbers indeed, especially if one takes into account another piece of information provided by the book : that in the raids on small cities, the victims were mostly women (59%) and children (30%) (p402.) Hoyt explains how the fright campaign orchestrated by the Japanese government and their demonization of the American soldiers were actually su

One interesting aspect to this book is the fact that it traces Japanese military history back to the mid 19th century, which provides the reader with a better historical perspective to understand the rampant militarism and unbridled war fever characterizing that country at the outset of WWII. Author Edwin Hoyt does an impressive job covering the details of the war, and brings some provocative and fresh insights into several issues concerning the war as to why Japan decided to initiate it, why we were so unprepared to meet the challenge in 1941, and why they so fatefully misunderstood American character and behavior so badly to not understand that the US would enter the fray with a "terrible vengeance and resolve".The author provides a lot of interesting data for the reader's consideration along the way. For example, he introduces the strategic notion held by the Japanese of the "eight corners of the world under one roof", or 'hakko ichiu'. This, according to the author, is key in understanding their military preparations for the war, and why their historical rivalry with the United States made them believe war was quite likely, if not inevitable, between the two countries. This is something the Japanese seemed to understand much better than did most Americans, who never saw the conflict as either likely or inevitable. Of course, given American tendencies toward international isolation, it isn't surprising we were caught so unaware. The book is impeccably researched and documented, and the writing style is literate yet not to scholarly to be off-putting. While it certainly doesn't read like a novel, it is very entertaining to read. The author gives credence to the notion that the war in the Pacific was a quite complicated and intricately interwoven series of events that takes some deliberate effort to understand in context. Thus, his approach is painstakingly deliberate, detailed, and comprehensive. This is an excellent one-volume study of WWII in the Pacific theater of operations, and I recommend it to anyone seriously inclined to learn as much as possible about the history of the Japanese so as to better understand what happened that led to the decision to attack Pearl Harbor as well as an excellent overview of the conduct of the war itself.

An interesting history of Japan that covers the development of Japanese society, thought and politics from before Western contact up to, and through, World War II. This book is not a history of the battles that Japan fought, but an analysis of the events leading up to WWII and beyond. It was confusing at times especially in the time period of the early 1930's to understand who was doing what to whom and why. The seemingly ambiguous political structure made it difficult to determine who held power. A well balanced account of the war from all sides. The Japanese as a whole were treated fairly in this account.