Posted on 06/07/2014 8:04:39 PM PDT by princeofdarkness
It's no secret that Japan was, shall we say, 'economically disadvantaged' in her ability to wage war against the Allies. However, the sheer, stunning magnitude of this economic disparity has never ceased to amaze me. So, just go give you an idea of the magnitude of the mismatch here, I decided to compile a few statistics. Most of them are taken from Paul Kennedy's "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers" (which, among other things, contains an excellent analysis of the economic forces at work in World War II, and is an all-around great book) and John Ellis' "World War II: A Statistical Survey." In this comparison I will focus primarily on the two chief antagonists in the Pacific War: Japan and the United States. They say that economics is the 'Dismal Science'; you're about to see why....
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearhistory.com ...
We could not win a world war as we stand today…. flame away
When the war started we still had guys on horseback, practicing with brooms instead of guns and trucks that said “I am a tank” on them.
The real production shot up AFTER the war started.
They thought they could shock the US out of fighting at Pearl Harbor and they lost the gamble.
Interesting comparison of the war production capabilities of the U.S. vs. Japan.
I’ve read that the biggest mistakes that made at Pearl Harbor was not destroying dry docks and the oil farm.
With US might on his side victory was assured against the Nazi. As for Japan they would "be ground to powder".
Japan won the first months of the war by courage determination, high quality pilots and air crew and better planes and ships.
By 1943 we had equaled them in every respect and probably surpassed them in quality of aircraft. We then totally surpassed them in production. We kept increasing that edge as the war went on.
We probably never did produce pilots as good as the Japanese early war pilots but we did produce ones who were better than what the Japanese had later.
Eventually we just overwhelmed them with numbers and courage.
“We could not win a world war as we stand today…. flame away
“
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No flaming here——I agree.
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John Parshall co-wrote, with Anthony Tully, “Shattered Sword, the Untold Story of the Battle of Midway.” I consider this one of the most exhaustive, well-researched books to come out in the last 20 years. And it is in a very readable style as well.
He hosts the “Nihon Kaigun” website, one of my top internet resources regarding the Imperial Japanese Navy.
“I’ve read that the biggest mistakes that made at Pearl Harbor was not destroying dry docks and the oil farm.”
Their biggest mistake was not catching our aircraft carriers at dock at Pearl Harbor.
Upon hearing that no carriers were destroyed in his Pearl Harbor attack, Yamamoto said that Japan had just lost the war.
We could not win a world war as we stand today
You may be right. America, in WWII, fought the war on 2 fronts - Europe, and the Pacific. In Europe, Russia is credited with ‘breaking’ the Nazi Military. But, they could not have done it without American supplies & materiel.
In the Pacific, there was the United Kingdom. But America, and the USMC, did the yeoman’s work, sacrificing thousands.
One must always ‘wonder’, given the might of America’s industrial base, could we still have that vast, un-tapped reservoir to fight another war, on 2 Fronts...
But beyond that, never forget - WE WALKED ON THE MOON !
Destroying the dry docks and tank farm would have been a set back, but could not have changed the outcome. The biggest mistake of Pearl Harbor was not destroying the shipyards that turned out 24 Essex Class aircraft carriers.
There was nothing Japan could do to win the war. They could only prolong it.
Fewer than 1 or 2% of the American public really know why Japan surrendered. Yes, their shipping was gone and two cities blown away —very impressive military blows. But that is STILL not the reason why they quit:
Part of the Yalta Agreement was that within a short time of the end of the war in Europe Stalin was required to aid in the defeat of the Japanese, and no Japanese decision maker expected that Soviet conquerers would permit the Emperor system to continue:
At the time of that signing of Yalta the Americans and Japanese both had front row seats see theing way the Soviets were snapping up conquered lands in Europe and the suspicion was that they’d never be in a move to leave those lands —evar.
That is the reason why Germany ended up divided (food had to be flown into a surrounded Berlin by air). That is the reason Korea was divided and is divided to this day —because of the special nature of losing to the *Soviet Union*.
1. The Japanese knew if the Soviets were major players in the defeat of Japan that the Emperor and his family would probably have to be hung.
2. The Americans realized Japan would end up a divided country (the only pre-1900 lands that Japan lost and are still lost are those she lost to the Soviets).
True. As a whole however, we were better prepared for World War II than World War I despite the early setbacks of 1942.
We could win a world war today, IF we had:
A President dedicated to win
A President who was loyal to this country.
A ruling party who didn’t punish American Industry.
A ruling party that didn’t try to eliminate the firearms industry.
Enough young people who were not so self absorbed.
An American media that was loyal to this country.
In fact, I thought I recognized the excerpt you posted. Follow the link and it is one of Parshall’s articles on the Combined Fleet website I linked.
By the way, if you want some really tragic reading, read the article about the sinking of Shokaku at the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
Japan lost because we took the war to them and destroyed their ability to make war. Then we nuked them.
“Japan won the first months of the war by courage determination, high quality pilots and air crew and better planes and ships.”
I don’t think so. If we had been preparing for war for months and years as they had been, they would have won nothing. They launched surprise attacks. If they weren’t a surprise, they wouldn’t have fared as well as they did.
Thanks, I’ll do that.
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