HIS103Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 45: Vought F4U Corsair, Takeo Kurita, Grumman F6F Hellcat
Document Summary
Second sino-japanese war & the pacific war; 1931-1937, 1941-1944. Simultaneously attacking the u. s fleet and occupying the philippines did not make sense. Thus, the japanese military performance from 1937-1945 was plagued with strategic illiteracy. Waging war against china in the late 30s, which was the most populous nation on earth. Waging war against both the u. s and the british empire, powers which had vastly greater riches. The u. s had 10x the gdp of japan"s. Waging war with the greatest land power, the soviet union, was futile (although the soviets declared war on them first) First begins with their invasion of manchuria in 1931-32. The invasion is initiated by the japanese staging of the mukden incident. Japan"s top military brass were at odds with the diplomats. A cult of insubordination had manifested as a result of these tensions. The cowardly murders of ministers by army officers was hailed by the press as acts of patriotism.
