The Pacific War and Contingent Victory: Why Japanese Defeat Was Not Inevitable (Modern War Studies)

About the Allies' victory in the Pacific in WWII, it goes almost without question that Japan's defeat was inevitable in the face of overwhelming American military might and economic power. But the outcome, Michael W. Myers contends, was actually anything but inevitable. This book is Myers's thorough and deeply informed explanation of how contingent the "foregone conclusion" of the war in the Pacific really was. However disproportionate their respective resources, both Japan and the Allied forces confronted significant obstacles to ultimate victory. One the two sides shared, Myers shows, was the lack of a single individual with the knowledge, vision, and authority to formulate and implement effective strategy. Both exercised leadership by committee, and Myers cogently explains how this contributed to the contingent nature of the conflict. A remarkable exercise in logical methods of strategic thinking, his book analyzes decisive campaigns in the Pacific War, examining the economic and strategic challenges that both sides faced and had to overcome to achieve victory. Japan, for instance, had two goals going into the war: to expand the boundaries of what they termed the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" and to end their long and frustrating war in China. These goals, as Myers shows us, had unforeseen and devastating logistical and strategic consequences. But the United States faced similar problems - as well as other hurdles specific to a nation not yet on full war footing. Overturning conventional historiography, The Pacific War and Contingent Victory clarifies the proper relationship between freedom and determinism in historical thinking. A compelling retelling of the Pacific War that might easily have been, the book offers historical lessons in thinking about contemporary American foreign policy and American exceptionalism - most saliently about the dangers of the presumption of American ascendancy. -- from back cover Cover 1 The Pacific War and Contingent Victory 4 Copyright 5 Contents 8 Preface and Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 12 Chapter 1: Discerning Japan’s Strategic Possibilities 20 Chapter 2: Strategy and Contingency in Stage Two Operations 45 Chapter 3: Contingencies in Prosecuting the War 66 Chapter 4: Allied Strategic and Economic Challenges 85 Chapter 5: Evolving Strategy for a Two-Ocean War 104 Chapter 6: An Accomplishment, Not a Given 125 Chapter 7: Rethinking Japan’s Defeat 148 Appendix 1: Japanese Operation Names and Allied Code Names 162 Appendix 2: Japan’s Merchant Shipping 165 Appendix 3: Chronology of the War in Asia and the Pacific 168 Notes 184 Bibliography 194 Index 198 Content: Machine generated contents note: 1. Discerning Japan's Strategic Possibilities -- 2. Strategy and Contingency in Stage Two Operations -- 3. Contingencies in Prosecuting the War -- 4. Allied Strategic and Economic Challenges -- 5. Evolving Strategy for a Two-Ocean War -- 6. An Accomplishment, Not a Given -- 7. Rethinking Japan's Defeat.