fleet after decades of failed attempts . Jourdan ’ s book does not provide any new details on the Battle of Midway other than the exploits of the USS Nautilus . Along with this book , the achievements of Jourdan and his team of deep-sea explorers are rewarded in the Discovery Channel documentary The Search for the Japanese Fleet . The film complements this book greatly to instill a greater understanding of USS Nautilus ’ s actions during the battle and the difficult task of locating Kaga after years of unsuccessful underwater exploration .
With the Battle of Midway arguably being the turning point in the Pacific during World War II , this book is worthwhile to service members and veterans interested in modern-day underwater exploration and search efforts . For individuals interested in the Battle of Midway , this book is valuable in understanding the interesting dynamic that American and Japanese submarines played in this pivotal battle . Maj . Matthew Prescott , U . S . Army , Fort Leavenworth , Kansas
HIROHITO ’ S WAR The Pacific War 1941 – 1945 Francis Pike , Bloomsbury Publishing Company , New York , 2015 , 1,184 pages
The Japanese Empire reached its peak by June 1942 . In just ten years , Japan achieved a remarkable expansion of its empire from 243,500 square miles to 2.9 million square miles . Japanese forces achieved victories so stunning and in such rapid succession that planning did not go beyond March 1942 . Despite its success , Japan was no closer to its initial objective of forcing the United States to a negotiated settlement that permitted Japan to keep its Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere . Japan ’ s defeat at Midway and the strategy that followed doomed the island nation to failure .
Historian Francis Pike , author of Empires at War : A Short History of Modern Asia Since World War II , provides the most comprehensive single volume account on the Pacific War to date in Hirohito ’ s War : The Pacific War 1941 – 1945 . Pike offers a fresh interpretation of the conflict and balances the Western-centric view with attention to the Japanese perspective . Pike challenges widely held perceptions of historians and scholars concerning the Pacific War .
For example , Pike challenges a widely held belief that Secretary of State Cordell Hull ’ s ten-point ultimatum delivered to Japanese Ambassador Nomura on 26 November 1941 gave Japan no other choice but war with the United States . Pike counters that this ignores the simple fact that Japan was already deploying forces to attack the Philippines , Malaya , and Pearl Harbor when the ultimatum was delivered .
Among Pike ’ s many significant observations and reflections , two stand out . First , Pike challenges the longheld belief by many historians that Hirohito was simply a constitutional monarch forced into war by his generals . Pike asserts that Hirohito demonstrated his absolute powers on three separate occasions : he forced the resignation of the prime minister in 1929 , he overruled his military advisors to insist on the harshest treatment of officers involved in an attempted coup in 1936 , and he overruled his advisors by insisting on a Japanese surrender in 1945 .
Second , the Imperial Japanese Navy ’ s plans for war with the United States were predicated on a Japanese invasion and defeat of American forces in the Philippines . It was assumed that the U . S . Navy would then steam across the Pacific Ocean to relieve or retake the Philippines . Japanese submarines armed with modern torpedoes would attrite the U . S . Navy by 30 percent by the time it arrived at the Marshall Islands . The Japanese Navy would then destroy the American Navy in a repeat of the destruction of the Russian fleet at Tsushima . Destruction of the American fleet would
134 July-August 2016
MILITARY REVIEW