*** World War II Pacific Theater -- national preconceptions








World War II: Pacific Theater--National Preconceptions

Pacific War preconceptions
Figure 1.-- Racist attitudes led America to view the Japanese as a people small in stature with terrible eyesight. Japanese victories in night time naval battles during the Solomon Campaign (1942) came as a shock to the Americans as did the effectiveness of Japanese aviators during the first year of the War.

Rarely in the history of war have two great nations moved toward war with such huge eronious preconceotions about each other. The misconceptions include both individual maters as well as industrial and scientific capabiliies and for the Japanese the importance of industry and science. One very important matter to understand is the importance of race. America in the 1940s was a racist country, but country that was changeing and not a country that was willing to kill on a racial basis. American racism caused the United States to underestimate the Japanese, it did not push America to war. Japan on the other hand was a virulently racist country and this racism led to brutal colonial policies like in Korea and horific attricities like the Rape of Nakig (1937). Racist attitudes led America to view the Japanese as a people small in stature with terrible eyesight. Japanese victories in night time naval battles during the Solomon Campaign (1942) came as a shock to the Americans as did the effectiveness of Japanese aviators during the first year of the War. The Japanese for their part viewed the Americans as soft and whose women would never allow them to fight a long war. The fundamental miscalculation was Japan's failure to understand the full potential of America's industrial an scientific might. America underestimated Japan's industrial capability, but this underestimation was small in comparison of the collosal miscalculation of the Japanese militarists who launched the War.

Individual Matters

Rarely in the history of war have two great nations moved toward war with such huge eronious preconceotions about each other. The misconceptions include both individual maters as well as industrial and scientific capabiliies and for the Japanese the importance of industry and science. One very important matter to understand is the importance of race. America in the 1940s was a racist country, but country that was changeing and not a country that was willing to kill on a racial basis. American racism caused the United States to underestimate the Japanese, it did not push America to war. America in the 1930s was a country that was beginning to question racism. America had not yet rejected racism, but for the first time since Reconstruction, it had begun to question racism. Japan on the other hand was a country that was empracing racism. Japan was a virulently racist country and this racism led to brutal colonial policies like in Korea and horific attroicities like the Rape of Nankig (1937). Racist attitudes led America to view the Japanese as a people small in stature with terrible eyesight. Japanese victories in night time naval battles during the Solomon Campaign (1942) came as a shock to the Americans as did the effectiveness of Japanese aviators during the first year of the War. The Japanese for their part viewed the Americans as soft and whose women would never allow them to fight a long war. The Marines the Japanese encountered on Guadacanal were not what thet they had expected.

Industry and Science

The fundamental miscalculation of the War was Japan's failure to understand the full potential of America's industrial an scientific might. America underestimated Japan's industrial capability. Both the Americans and British were staggered when they found the Japanese had profuced and deployed a high-performance fighter that outclassed their aircraft. Americans though of Japan that produced cheap tin toys. The idea that they could produce fist class naval vessels surprised America. It is notable that Admiral Calihan in Hawiia was more concerned with sabatoge than a Japanese naval attack. But the American underestimation was small in comparison of the collosal miscalculation of the Japanese militarists who launched the War. Admiral Yamamoto understood the potential power of America. The Japanese Government was, however, dominated by the Army and they did not appreciate the potential of American industry. And people like Yamamoto who argued against war put theor lives in danger. But the Japanese miscalculation was even greater than underestimating American industry. The Japanese industrialists convinced themselves that the indistrial gap between America and Japan was not that important. Rther it was the fighting spirit of the Japanese sholdier, the Samari spirit that would prove decisive.







HBC







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Created: 5:38 AM 4/23/2008
Last updated: 5:38 AM 4/23/2008