ABSTRACT
The defeat in 1945 was not just the loss of one war, but represented defeat of the foreign policy goals which had been pursued since the mid-nineteenth century. By that I do not mean specific territorial goals, but the broad goal of achieving great power status and equality with the Western powers. It is still debatable as to how planned or inevitable the war was, but historians agree that until 1945 war had been seen by most Japanese as a legitimate means of pursuing national interests. With defeat and occupation this assumption was destroyed.
