Critique of Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War

Critique of Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War

Akira Iriye in his book Pearl Harbor and the Coming Pacific War strives to “give students a deeper and more nuanced understanding of what the world was like in the late fall of 1941 and what forces produced the Pearl Harbor tragedy.” He argues these forces consisted of political, economic, and military components that led irrepressibly to conflict regardless of the skill or incompetence displayed by national leaders. The powerful nations involved in the escalation to December 7th were all operating from the assumption that imperialism was an effective manner in which to obtain national prosperity, security, and prestige. This premise forced a conflict between the young imperialistic nation seeking to expand (Japan) and the established nations (Britain, United States, and the Netherlands) seeking to maintain the status quo. Iriye successfully convinces the reader this conflict was irrepressible because he reve...