ABSTRACT
Fanaticism is a vaguely defined label often used to describe the behaviour of certain kinds of enemies, and which serves to remove any sense of obligation to observe limits on the conduct of war against them. In the context of the United States during the Pacific War, the Japanese were characterised as a fanatical enemy with two key consequences. First, in operational terms, the label helped promote a barbarous ferocity that was distinct from American soldiers’ behaviour in Europe. Indoctrination of soldiers and marines exploited concerns about Japanese fanaticism. The resulting esprit de corps girded troops for the rigours of ground combat with a suicidally tenacious enemy, but it also promoted behaviours that might be viewed on the surface as similarly fanatical. Second, when American society described as fanatical not just the Japanese military but the entire culture, its judgement, in effect, removed a fail-safe on the means that might be employed to defeat this implacable enemy. With very muted dissent and without having to provide elaborate justifications, US military and political leaders were able to set any formal or tacit policies in place – ignoring American battlefield atrocities, adopting unrestricted submarine warfare immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack, and conducting unrestricted air campaigns that had genocidal overtones. General acceptance of Japanese fanaticism removed the wartime protections ostensibly shared among civilised societies.
