Bankrupting the EnemyȘ The U.S. Financial Siege of Japan Before Pearl Harbor - Edward S. Miller (mobi)seeders: 1
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Bankrupting the EnemyȘ The U.S. Financial Siege of Japan Before Pearl Harbor - Edward S. Miller (mobi) (Size: 3.52 MB)
Description  This book covers in detail the economic relationship between Japan and the U.S. from the Meiji era to the eve of WW2. It shows how Japan used foreign trade to develop and strengthen its economy. As it moves into the 1930's, it clearly shows the devastating effect of Smoot-Hawley on Japan's efforts to diversify and expand trade with the U.S. Many histories gloss over the economic origins of war. Seeing how U.S. trade barriers imposed duties of up to 600% on Japanese products, you can better understand the reasoning behind military expansion of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere to secure markets. Although a complex topic, the book gives a very good explanation of the U.S. attempts to understand the weak points of the Japanese economy and how to leverage that into political pressure. It is particularly interesting to see how high level political objectives of graduated and flexible pressure were transformed by mid-level bureaucrats into a total embargo of crucial materials. This forced Japan to confront the stark choices of total submission or war, leading directly to Pearl Harbor. This book is highly recommended for anyone who wishes to understand the economic factors that drove the political calculations for both Japan and the U.S. The question that one is left with (and it isn't in the scope of this book) is why the U.S. was so concerned about Japanese actions in China, given the trivial strategic interests of the U.S. in that country. Was it the hangover of Wilsonian moral rectitude, or some higher calculation of how best to get the U.S. into the Second World War? Sharing Widget |