Can Japan ever win WWII
Discussion
Pesty said:
Not enough resources, people or land. fighting the Americans only not a chance, but they were also fighting other allies they were doomed from the start. with or without the a bombs.
by the end of the war the sheer amount of gear the US had was staggering.
Yup. Zero technological advantage also. by the end of the war the sheer amount of gear the US had was staggering.
Japan's incursion into China and then further across the Pacific, into European/American controlled land, was driven due to their lack of natural resources. Coal, oil, rubber, iron ore etc. The Japanese strategy was to grab as much land as possible, whilst at the same time delivering a bloody nose to both European & US forces in the area. They then calculated that a truce would occur and through negotiations, they would have to give up some of their conquered lands, whilst being allowed to keep some others. Thus the Japanese Empire would be born and they would be the major force in region.
There was never any idea of actually defeating the USA, nation to nation, across the Pacific. They had merely assumed that the previous 100 years or so of expansion, followed by small-scale military action and then territorial exchanges would continue. They were very wrong. In fact probably NOT attacking Pearl Harbour would have seen them with a far greater chance of achieving their goals.
There was never any idea of actually defeating the USA, nation to nation, across the Pacific. They had merely assumed that the previous 100 years or so of expansion, followed by small-scale military action and then territorial exchanges would continue. They were very wrong. In fact probably NOT attacking Pearl Harbour would have seen them with a far greater chance of achieving their goals.
TheJimi said:
^^
I'm assuming that the question precludes the use of "the bombs".
Iroc, is that what you meant?
given that there is some debate (valid or not I won't say) as to the effectiveness of the bombs we could include those... but the question has to be can Japan stop the US from getting close enough to use them? Or even knock the US out of the war. I just can't see it. Even if they'd declared war and then a week later bombed Pearl (so not a day in infamy) the US would have rolled them overI'm assuming that the question precludes the use of "the bombs".
Iroc, is that what you meant?
Axionknight said:
The Japanese had a string of initial successes against the Allied forces but once they had regrouped and gained momentum, along with America gearing its economy for warfare output, especially in building planes and warships, they had no chance at all IMO.
As I say, their whole mind-set and strategy was that their initial successes would bring the US & UK to the negotiating table and they'd get to retain some of their spoils. I don't think a full-on war of annihilation with the US was something they had bargained for.Axionknight said:
The Japanese had a string of initial successes against the Allied forces but once they had regrouped and gained momentum, along with America gearing its economy for warfare output, especially in building planes and warships, they had no chance at all IMO.
If the Germans had won decisively in Europe and developed the atom bomb before the Americans, they might have been able to attack the US from the West with Japan attacking from the East. That could perhaps have resulted in victory for Japan.Zod said:
If the Germans had won decisively in Europe and developed the atom bomb before the Americans, they might have been able to attack the US from the West with Japan attacking from the East. That could perhaps have resulted in victory for Japan.
Do you mean Japan from the west and Germany from the east? Or am I getting confused here?As mentioned above I think Japan had little appetite for a protracted war initially - they tried knocking the allies out of the war as quickly as possible with the attacks on Singapore and Pearl Harbour and it didn't work (obviously).
TEKNOPUG said:
Axionknight said:
The Japanese had a string of initial successes against the Allied forces but once they had regrouped and gained momentum, along with America gearing its economy for warfare output, especially in building planes and warships, they had no chance at all IMO.
As I say, their whole mind-set and strategy was that their initial successes would bring the US & UK to the negotiating table and they'd get to retain some of their spoils. I don't think a full-on war of annihilation with the US was something they had bargained for.Axionknight said:
Zod said:
If the Germans had won decisively in Europe and developed the atom bomb before the Americans, they might have been able to attack the US from the West with Japan attacking from the East. That could perhaps have resulted in victory for Japan.
Do you mean Japan from the west and Germany from the east? Or am I getting confused here?
k outta the Americans, always keep the enemy off balance 
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