ABSTRACT
By the summer of 1941, Japanese leaders were openly considering the possibility of war with the United States. The nation was firmly enmeshed in the Tripartite Alliance with Germany and Italy, and the Soviet threat had been eliminated by Hitler’s Soviet invasion; Konoe’s Cabinet discussed new opportunities. The decision was made to advance into Southeast Asia and secure access to the area’s vast natural resources, recognizing that this courted war with the United States. Over the next several months, the Japanese leadership continued to discuss the implications of such a war. In December, Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor, and the ‘wanted, unwanted war’ was begun. It was a war that would end four years later, when Japan faced the £utter devastation’ promised by the Potsdam Declaration.
