ABSTRACT
Katō and those opposed to the ‘American plan now shifted their energies to preventing the ratification of the Treaty indicating that whilst they may have lost a battle they still believed that they could win the overall campaign. The government and the ‘hardliners’ within the navy were now to find themselves involved in a long drawn out and often acrimonious struggle over ratification which lasted almost six months and caused a series of domestic political crises and placed great strains on civil-military relations as well as intra-navy relations. During this period the government came under attack from sections of the military, reservists, the Opposition Party (the Seiyūkai), right wing forces in the Diet and sections of the press. The more serious threats to the government’s position, however, came from the Supreme Military Council, and especially the Privy Council.
