audiobook Japan's Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall (Modern War Studies (Paperback)) by Edward J. Drea in History

Review

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Everything you want to know about the Japanese Imperial Army (IJA)By Carrosio RobertoI could begin this review saying that reading this book you will be able to understand why Japan has been able to win the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) and the Russo - Japanese War (1904-05) and to lose WWII; but this book gives you much more ; indeed it gives the IJA's most complete history that you can possibli find.The author explaines how happened the transition from the samurai's time to the imperial army; he gives you a complete account of all the rebellions and the attempted coups happened in the Japan's history since 1853.At the same time the author follows the IJA's technogical and tactical evolutions.He explaines how Japan got involved in the first Sino-Japanese War and how he won it; then he follows the birth and the development of the causes of the Russian-Japanese War and he shows all the problems and the failures met by the IJA before to effectively win this conflict.Then coming near to WWII; he is able to show how the IJA and the IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy) were not able to agree which would have been to be considered the next Japan's "true" enemy; indeed the IJA was thinking about Soviet Union; and the IJN was thinking about the USA; and because of the fact that in Japan it had never existed a political or militar control about both IJA and IJN; this question has never been solved ; bringing to the absurd situation that both of them wanted an huge budget to fight; each; their own "true" enemy.So; Japan has been able to unify; even before the WWII's beginning in Europe; two groups very different groups of nations; as Soviet Union and USA and the British Empire; in an undeclared coalition against itself; when Japan began the long war against China (1931-1945).The book is full of first hand accounts; because of the author's access to a lot of diaries; the maps are detailed and relevant.The author brings to the discovery of an entire world; with its traditions; legends and myths.Very; very interesting and charming.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The japanese armys destruction lay within itself.By CustomerThis very informative book; follows parallel paths to tell its story. It not only traces the armys formative years; but at the same time; traces the seeds of its demise. The armys creation; mirrors the history of japan itself. The rigidity of the culture; the dangerous samurai class; the rigid casts system in force. In my opinion these factors and probably many more contributed to the modern japanese armys destruction. When faced with a nation like america; where ideas were given a chance to be tried out. Where new methods of warfare were embraced; after some trials; the japanese system utterly failed to keep up. As i said; its demise lay within itself and the japneswe nation. JRV7 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Scratching A Very Old ItchBy HighlanderLet me take a slightly different approach to this review. I have long pondered how the Japanese Army and the Japanese nation got themselves into a do or die war with the United States. Folly; ignorance; arrogance; internal issues .... what caused Japan to decide to duke it out with the most powerful economic force on earth?Drea is able to address my curiosity; scratching a long irritating itch.Drea is able to condense and summarize the historical and cultural currents that began with the Meiji Restoration and which ended with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet he is still able to develop the more complex issues that resulted in the creation of an army whose reputation exceeded its capability and whose accomplishments were as much the result of debilitating Western unpreparedness as they were of military prowess.Drea shows us a Japanese military and political establishment that was unable to coordinate and cooperate a coherent strategy -- an establishment that was shackled by an economy without the resources to create and sustain a truly modern Army. He traces the creation of a myth in order to link an ancient and idealized samurai history to a 20th century army. He is able to reveal how educated and motivated military professionals blinded themselves to the reality of their material inferiority and confused overcommittment. And who actually considered simultaneous victorious wars with the US; Russia; and China.Command and control; chains of authority; stratetic and operational planning are all examined in light of attempts to model the Army to compare with contemporary Western examples -- while unable to shed itself of its samurai antecedents and the convoluted nature of the Meiji (and later) state.The equipment; tactics; structure; and operations of the Japanese Army are traced and connected to wider economic and political issues within the Japanese state. The experiences of the Army in its conflicts outside Japan -- wars with China and Russia and several interventions -- are related to the further development of the Army. Lessons learned and; more importantly; lessons ignored contributed to an Army that optimized for conflict with poor Chinese forces but quite unsuited for battle with the United States.Although not a major theme; the Army is contrasted with the Imperial Navy and additional insight is provided into the Army itself. In addition; the poisonous results of an Army independent of the civil government are evaluated.Relatively short for such a complex ambition; this book is as fine a broad military history as I have ever read.