ABSTRACT
THEORETICALLY it was still possible for Japan to drop her plans of aggression and conquest and to emerge from the Second World War as the most prosperous industrial empire in Asia. Any discerning student of Far Eastern politics, however, knew that she could no longer do so of her own free will. In none of her previous wars had she been committed as she had committed herself during four years of conflict and rape in China. She could not back out, as she would have to if she wanted to restore good relations with the countries around the Pacific. Moreover, the chances of even richer booty really looked too alluring. After the first uneasy flutter about Hitler’s attack on Russia, of which he seems to have given no previous intimation to his dear friends in Tokyo, the outlook became still more promising. The Tripartite Pact did not require Japan to join, and as the German Panzer divisions smashed their way across the Russian plains the ever-dreaded menace from Eastern Siberia and Vladivostok receded. The British Empire had to con centrate its forces in Europe and the Middle East and was considered a doomed concern by the more enthusiastic Axis partisans. The only dangerous opposition might come from the United States, but the whole width of the Pacific could be placed between that danger and Japanese aspirations.
