1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910969737303321

Autore

Kawamura Noriko <1955->

Titolo

Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War / Noriko Kawamura

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Seattle : , : University of Washington Press, , 2015

©2015

ISBN

9780295806310

0295806311

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (247 p.)

Disciplina

940.54/26

Soggetti

World War, 1939-1945 - Japan

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

The aftermath of the Paris Peace Conference, 1919-1933 -- Crises at home and abroad: from the February 26 incident to the Sino-Japanese War -- The road to Pearl Harbor -- An uneasy commander in chief -- Imbroglio: moves to end the war -- The "sacred decision" to surrender.

Sommario/riassunto

This reexamination of the controversial role Emperor Hirohito played during the Pacific War gives particular attention to the question: If the emperor could not stop Japan from going to war with the Allied Powers in 1941, why was he able to play a crucial role in ending the war in 1945? Drawing on previously unavailable primary sources, Noriko Kawamura traces Hirohito's actions from the late 1920s to the end of the war, analyzing the role Hirohito played in Japan's expansion. Emperor Hirohito emerges as a conflicted man who struggled throughout the war to deal with the undefined powers bestowed upon him as a monarch, often juggling the contradictory positions and irreconcilable differences advocated by his subordinates. Kawamura shows that he was by no means a pacifist, but neither did he favor the reckless wars advocated by Japan's military leaders.