imperial japanese navy in the pacific war

Popular histories also help the reader develop a basic understanding of how the difficulties which the IJA faced in defeating the Chinese after 1937 led it to seek expansion in the southern regions. The aim was to acquire a secure supply of raw materials and resources, while at the same time neutralizing the threat posed by the Soviet Union, which the army command viewed as Japan’s foremost ideological enemy. The literature has broadly explained the IJA’s policies and military campaigns, and puts forward an overview of the motives which lay behind the army’s policies of seeking expansion on the Asiatic mainland during the 1930s. The army’s role in maintaining domestic law and order in wartime Japan is also a subject of sustained academic interest.Īs with any topic related to World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) has been covered in a number of general works, written by academic as well as nonacademic authors. Recent works have covered some contentious issues, including the Japanese army’s policies regarding the treatment of POWs and the motivations which lay behind the war crimes that its officers carried out during the course of the conflict. The existing historiography explains many of the key factors relating to the Imperial Army, including its role in the Japanese political system and its wartime strategy, the development of its tactics and weapons technologies, and the state of morale and combat motivation among its troops.

Nevertheless, when one includes the historical works on the Allied experiences in combating the IJA during the Pacific War, one is able to access a rich array of literature.

The availability of quality academic works has been significantly limited by the language barrier, which has meant that scholars face considerable difficulties in translating Japanese texts and documentary sources. The vast majority of the English language sources on the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) concentrate on its activities during the Pacific War of 1941–1945, with a small but nonetheless valuable collection of works written on its earlier campaigns against China and Russia in the late 1930s.

Imperial japanese navy in the pacific war